Artificial insemination versus natural mating: Twenty impact on pig improvement in the past 35 years and Large White Yorkshire (LWY) sows at second parity

Aim: To assess the reproductive performance and managemental advantages of Artificial Insemination of swine. Materials and Methods: Large White Yorkshire sows were grouped into two batches (10 each) for AI and natural mating. AI 9 group was given two inseminations with semen extended with Beltsville Thawing Solution (BTS,3 x 10 spermatozoa per dose), at standing heat. Similarly, for natural mating group, triple mating was followed. The reproductive performance was studied after maintaining the sows under optimal managemental conditions. Results: The results indicated that AI and natural mating practices showed 100% conception rate. The litter size of AI group was 8.36±0.28 and that of the natural mating group was 10.6±0.64, that varied with high significance. The still birth rate was 0.7±0.26, which was significantly higher in natural mating group. The pre-weaning mortality was 4.34% and 7.5% for AI group and natural mating group respectively. The time consumed during mating per sow also varied highly significantly which was 11.46±0.47 minutes and 51.2±2.08 minutes for the AI group and natural mating group respectively. Conclusion: It was found that AI was found to be time and labor saving. The reduced litter size in AI group could be improved by ensuring that inseminations occur at an optimum time resulting in a high farrowing rate and litter size. AI can be successfully introduced in field conditions with some fine tuning.