A Mobile Sperm Analyzer with User-Friendly Microfluidic Chips for Rapid On-Farm Semen Evaluation

Area of Science:

• Veterinary Science
• Biotechnology
• Agricultural Engineering

Background:

• Accurate boar semen evaluation is crucial for efficient swine artificial insemination programs.
• Current methods for semen analysis often require specialized equipment and trained personnel, limiting on-farm accessibility.
• There is a need for rapid, user-friendly, and field-deployable solutions for quantitative semen assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a mobile-based system (iSperm) for rapid, accurate, and on-farm quantitative evaluation of boar semen.
• To assess the system's performance, user variability, and diagnostic accuracy compared to established methods.

Main Methods:

• Development of a mobile-based system integrating a tablet, microfluidic chip, optical module, and heater.
• Real-time image analysis software for automated measurement of sperm concentration, motility, and progressive motility.
• Validation using precision, user variability, method comparison (Passing-Bablok, Bland-Altman), and ROC curve analyses with farm-collected boar semen samples.

Main Results:

• The iSperm system provided automated measurements of sperm concentration, motility, and progressive motility in under one minute.
• High concordance was observed between iSperm, CASA, and hemocytometer methods, with minimal user variability.
• Method comparison and ROC analyses confirmed excellent agreement and diagnostic accuracy (AUC > 0.95) for all parameters.

Conclusions:

• The iSperm platform offers a reliable, user-friendly, and field-deployable solution for on-site boar semen quality assessment.
• This technology can improve decision-making in swine artificial insemination by providing rapid and accurate data.
• The system empowers non-specialist users to perform quantitative semen analysis directly on the farm.