| Source of Chen Zhihan | Science and Technology Publicity and Cultural Resource Library
gave a five- to six-month-old baby coconut a knife, and the sweet and translucent liquid was directly in the mouth. Coupled with lower calories and an electrolyte content comparable to sports drink , coconut water is the most healing drink in summer.
This natural liquid derived from unripe coconuts has been popular in tropical areas for centuries and is known as the "water of life". Because of this, nutrition scholars have always been committed to proving the drinking value of coconut water, such as its nutritional content and its efficiency in replenishing human body...
But now, an international study led by Gulu University in Africa has unexpectedly It was discovered that this kind of human-friendly drink may also be able to do a big favor for pigs - solving the breeding crisis.
The story starts with Uganda, Africa’s “big pig farmer”.
According to statistics from the International Livestock Research Institute, in Uganda, each person consumes about 3.4 kilograms of pork per year on average. The huge demand has driven the enthusiasm of local farmers to raise pigs. However, at the same time, unscientific breeding methods often destroy pork. This poses a serious threat to supplies and even the health of residents.
For example, in many remote villages, one boar is often responsible for breeding the entire village (or even more) sows. This not only greatly increases the probability of the spread of fatal diseases (such as African swine fever), but also reduces the amount of pork imported to the market. The quality of the meat is greatly compromised (inbred pork has an extremely high fat content).
Artificial insemination can help local farmers obtain the genotypes of superior varieties
Artificial insemination is the most effective way to solve the above problems and increase pork production (involving extracting high-quality breeding pig semen outside the body and injecting it into the reproductive tract of the sow, so that The latter can reproduce without mating), and the Ugandan government has been investigating the possibility of introducing it into the local pig industry.
However, due to the high cost of technology popularization and the extremely scarcity of high-quality breeding pigs (and relatively geographical isolation), ensuring the survival of sperm in vitro during long-distance transportation has become the first problem hindering local pig-raising plans. .
Since 2017, scientists have been working with local farmers to find a low-cost technology to "protect" the semen transportation of breeding pigs. Soon, they found hope to solve the problem in a common fruit-coconut.
Practical results show that using coconut water to assist pig semen transportation can significantly improve sperm survival rate.
"Under normal circumstances, sperm can survive for 4 hours outside the body of a boar, and then they quickly lose activity due to temperature changes and other factors. But we found that after storing them in coconut water, the life span of sperm increased to 96 hours, which This leaves more time for artificial insemination and increases the success rate of breeding," said researchers from Egerton University in Africa.
Although the principle behind it needs to be further explored, the researchers speculate that "the higher concentration of sodium and potassium in natural coconut water is the key to maintaining sperm activity." At the same time, the environment with sufficient water and low temperature created by it may also Creates suitable survival conditions for sperm.
Of course, the coconut water used for assisted insemination must be clean and hygienic at the same time, which means that effective disinfection and sterilization are also indispensable when completing artificial insemination. Currently, scientists are training local farmers in this regard.
researchers believe that after the experimental data are further improved, this auxiliary method can be widely promoted on the African continent, “because coconuts are spread all over the African continent and are within reach of everyone.”
△This is obviously helping mankind.
References
https://www.livescience.com/coconut-water-pig-insemination
https://phys.org/news/2022-06-coconut-aids-artificial- insemination-pigs.html
Previous issues Wonderful review
|The psychological explanation of the couple's appearance
|Shanghai Municipal Supervision Bureau responds
|Stop saying you are old! Research! Said the younger you feel, the healthier you are
|What is the propylene glycol detected in Maiquer milk? What effect does it have on the body?
-Scan the QR code to read more scientists’ stories-
The development of science and technology is inseparable from scientific workers. Dedication
Read "Technology Workers"
points share
points Collect
