ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Antimicrobials, Resistance and Chemotherapy
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1611562
Pre-cooling of boar semen before transport in a hot environment enhances biosafety
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hanover, Germany
- 2Mejoramiento Porcino, San José de la Montaña, Costa Rica, Barva, Heredia, Costa Rica
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In a changing climate, the increase in temperature of boar semen doses during shipping to sow farms is a concern. Temperatures above the recommended storage range of 16-18 °C for boar semen may compromise sperm quality due to bacterial growth and heat stress. The aim was to investigate whether cooling semen doses to 5 °C prior to simulated transport at an environmental temperature of 30 °C could inhibit bacterial growth and maintain sperm quality. Extended semen was treated in three variants: with and without pre-cooling to 5 °C before simulated transport the next day at 30 °C, and a control held stationary at 17 °C. Transport vibration was simulated by shaking the semen doses for 6 h on an orbital shaker. Thereafter, all samples were stored at 17 °C for 144 h. Pre-cooling efficiently delayed exponential microbial growth in samples spiked with resistant bacterial species. Although sperm motility was reduced by approximately 13 % in the pre-cooled samples, minimum quality requirements were fulfilled. Sperm membrane and mitochondrial membrane potential were not affected by the treatment. In conclusion, pre-cooling of semen before transport in a hot environment enhances biosafety of semen doses, while maintaining quality standards for use in artificial insemination.
Keywords: Boar semen1, Climate change2, resistant bacteria3, semen transport4, vibration emission5, semen preservation6
Received: 14 Apr 2025; Accepted: 04 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Reckinger, Luther, Verspohl, Artavia and Waberski. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Dagmar Waberski, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hanover, Germany
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