Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 September 2010
Twenty-four 1-year-old boars of proven fertility were assigned randomly to one of two temperature-controlled trailers. A control group in each trial was held at 17 ± 0·5°C while the other group was exposed to a diurnal ambient temperature cycle. Cycles followed a sine-wave pattern with minimum and maximum temperatures occurring at 04.00 and 16.00 h respectively. Cycling temperature ranges were 17 to 33 ± 0·5°C (low-temperature stress), 19·5 to 35·5 ± 0·5°C (medium-temperature stress), and 22 to 38 ± 0·5°C (high-temperature stress). Semen samples were collected every 3 or 4 days over an experimental period of 42 days.
Low-temperature stress and medium-temperature stress boars were not affected significantly in the five parameters of semen quality observed. The difference between controls and high-temperature stress boars was highly significant for motility, abnormal spermatozoa, gel-free volume, and total spermatozoa per ejaculate. Concentration of spermatozoa was not affected by treatment. Significant time effects were observed for motility, abnormal spermatozoa and total spermotozoa per ejaculate. Significant differences began to appear after 2 or 3 weeks and changes still appeared to be occurring at 6 weeks.