A Proper Assessment of Boar Sperm Function May Not Only Require Conventional Analyses but Also Others Focused on Molecular Markers of Epididymal Maturation

In swine, predicting the fertilizing ability of boar ejaculates before using seminal doses for artificial insemination purposes is very important for pork breeders. Routinely, semen quality is evaluated by means of sperm concentration, viability, motility and morphology. However, in some cases, these spermiogram parameters may not be precise enough to detect altered/non-functional spermatozoa within boar ejaculates that may yield lower reproductive performance. The present work reviews the conventional parameters most used for assessing porcine semen quality, and it also describes other markers recently found that may help for evaluating more accurately the boar sperm function and survival. These markers are related to alterations induced by defective spermatogenesis, epididymal maturation or sperm handling.