Effects of slight agitation on the quality of refrigerated boar sperm

The main objective of this study was to test the effect of slight agitation upon characteristics of seminal quality in refrigerated boar semen. Storage of refrigerated (15–17°C) boar insemination doses for 48 h with slight agitation increased percentages of viability and total motility compared with similar doses stored without agitation. Agitation also reduced the percentage of altered acrosomes. Incubation in an iso-osmotic medium with fructose (osmotic pressure 300 mOsm) increased the percentage of osmotic resistance (ORT), and L-lactate production. The form of storage did not alter the ability to detach an acrosome in a hypo-osmotic medium (osmotic pressure 100 mOsm), as reflected in the percentage of hypo-osmotic sensitive spermatozoa (HSS). Similar results were observed when doses were stored for 92 h. While these data indicate that storage of refrigerated, diluted boar sperm with agitation may improve quality by increasing the percentage of viable spermatozoa, the HSS results suggest that the quality of the individual viable sperm was unaffected.