TO HELP the country’s swine industry prevent pathogen transmissions, the College of Veterinary Medicine of the Visayas State University will launch a boar semen cryopreservation project.

The project, entitled Optimizing Boar Semen Cryopreservation Towards Effective Industry Utilization and Genetic Conservation, received a P10-million grant from the Livestock Research Division and the Institution Development Division of the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development.

The project will be led by Dr. Santiago T. Pea Jr., the CVM Dean, with collaborators from the Philippine Carabao Center and select pig breeder farms.

Pea is expected to lead the country’s development of boar semen cryopreservation technology through this project.

He said the initiative was built on a previous Department of Science and Technology-PCAARRD grant that helped VSU-CVM establish an advanced boar semen laboratory.

“The establishment of the PCAARRD-funded SemenLab with advanced capabilities will surely make this project a very exciting journey for all of us. The team couldn’t be more grateful to be given such an opportunity. Boar sperm is unique, more sensitive, and requires complex freezing requirements in order to survive LN2 temperatures, so there’s a great challenge for us in pursuing this very important work,” Peña said.

A portion of the grant will be used to improve the CVM’s SemenLab facilities by bringing in additional cryopreserve boar semen equipment.