Sperm quality is affected by the inbreeding value and age of the individuals in Spanish Purebred horses

PIROSANTO YAMILA; VALERA M; MOLINA ANTONIO; DEMYRA-PEYRAS SEBASTIAN

New York

Congreso; 46th international Embryo Tecnology society; 2020

Sperm quality is affected by the inbreeding value and age of the individuals in Spanish Purebred horsesYamila Pirosanto1, Mercedes Valera2, Antonio Molina3; and Sebastián Demyda-Peyrás13*1 Departamento de Producción Animal, Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina 2 ETSIA, Departamento de Ciencias Agroforestales, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Andalucía, España3 Departamento de Genética, Universidad de Córdoba, Córdoba, Andalucía, España* Corresponding author: sdemyda@igevet.gob.ar (SD-P) AbstractInbreeding depression, a genetic condition produced by the mating of close-related individuals, has been associated with a reduction of fertility in several species. However, a loss in sperm quality was also associated with age. In horses, the few existing reports have described a tendency of both parameters to produce a negative effect on sperm quality. However, those reports were performed using a subjective evaluation of sperm motility. In the present study, a total of 692 ejaculates from 86 Pure Spanish stallions (PRE), aged between 3 and 22 years, were evaluated using a computer assisted methodology in order to determine the effect of inbreeding in 4 different semen parameters: Free-gel volume (V), sperm concentration (C, by haemocytometer) and total (TM) and progressive (PM) sperm motility (by SpermvisionTM sperm class analyzerd; Minitube). The inbreeding coefficient (F) was estimated using 300,000 PRE pedigree records approximately (minimum pedigree depth, eight equivalent complete generations (ECG); range, between 1 and 30.1%). Stallion, age, ejaculate and season of semen collection were the variables included in the statistical model (GLM), with ejaculate and season being the variables with a major effect (by variance components analysis). Our results showed that sperm concentration (r = -018, p