VII-VIII List of abbreviations XIV List of tables XVI List of figures XVIII List of appendices XXVI 1 2 2.1 2.1.1 2.1.1.1 2.1.1.2 2.1.1.3 2.1.1.4 2.1.1.5 2.1.1.6 2.1.1.7 2.1.2 2.1.2.1 2.1.2.2 2.2 2.2.1 2.2.2 2.3 2.4 2.4.1 2.4.1.1 2.4.1.2 2.4.2 2.4.3 Introduction Literature review Boar reproductivity Boar sperm quality traits Appearance of semen Sperm concentration Sperm motility Semen volume Pl...

Sperm competition favors increases in relative testes mass and production efficiency, and changes in sperm phenotype that result in faster swimming speeds. However, little is known about its effects on traits that contribute to determine the quality of a whole ejaculate (i.e., proportion of motile, viable, morphologically normal and acrosome intact sperm) and that are key determinants of fertil...

VII-VIII List of abbreviations XIV List of tables XVI List of figures XVIII List of appendices XXVI 1 2 2.1 2.1.1 2.1.1.1 2.1.1.2 2.1.1.3 2.1.1.4 2.1.1.5 2.1.1.6 2.1.1.7 2.1.2 2.1.2.1 2.1.2.2 2.2 2.2.1 2.2.2 2.3 2.4 2.4.1 2.4.1.1 2.4.1.2 2.4.2 2.4.3 Introduction Literature review Boar reproductivity Boar sperm quality traits Appearance of semen Sperm concentration Sperm motility Semen volume Pl...

Sperm competition is widely recognized as a potent force in evolution, influencing male behavior, morphology, and physiology. Recent game theory analyses have examined how sperm competition can influence the evolution of ejaculate expenditure by males and the morphology of sperm contained within ejaculates. Theoretical analyses rest on the assumption that there is sufficient genetic variance in...

The objectives of this study were to determine whether (i) the presence and concentration of ovarian fluid (OF) affects sperm performance traits, and (ii) variation in sperm performance traits is due to male identity, female identity, and/or male×female interactions in lake trout, Salvelinus namaycush. Spermatozoa from four males were activated in river water and OF from four females at two con...

Male ornaments and armaments that mediate success in mate acquisition and ejaculate traits influencing competitive fertilization success are under intense sexual selection. However, relative investment in these pre- and post-copulatory traits depends on the relative importance of either selection episode and on the energetic costs and fitness gains of investing in these traits. Theoretical and ...

The objective of the present study was to estimate heritabilities and genetic correlations for semen and litter size traits using full animal model analyses. Litter size data were available from 28,485 Czech Large White and 10,410 Czech Landrace sows farrowing between 1995 and 2008. The number of litter records was 91,922 and 30,937, respectively. Records on semen traits (37,137 ejaculates from...

The striking diversity of sperm shape across the animal kingdom is still poorly understood. Postcopulatory sexual selection is an important factor driving the evolution of sperm size and shape. Interestingly, morphometric sperm traits, such as the length of the head, midpiece and flagellum, exhibit a strong positive phenotypic correlation across species. Here we used recently developed comparat...

When females are sexually promiscuous, sexual selection continues after insemination through sperm competition and cryptic female choice, and male traits conveying an advantage in competitive fertilization are selected for. Although individual male and ejaculate traits are known to influence paternity in a competitive scenario, multiple mechanisms co-occur and interact to determine paternity. T...

Current industry estimates of reproductive performance for cattle, sheep, and swine operations indicate that males contribute significantly to fertility failures. This appears to be due to the use of subfertile individuals and emphasizes the need for additional research in identifying characteristics of sperm that compromise fertilization. In theory, sperm characteristics, such as motility or t...