Semen Cardona works on the inhibition of any bacteria through antibiotic-free diluents with the help of natural peptides. This is in line what is undoubtedly the future of the livestock sector: produce without antibiotics in any of the points of the value chain. Semen Cardona believes that, however difficult, this condition begins in the first gear: artificial insemination. This system will undoubtedly be an added value for the future production of seminal doses. Ph1 will enable us to fully assess the technical and commercial feasibility of the solution. Pig breeding is currently carried out by means of artificial insemination. Since pig semen can be a carrier for pathological agents, it is essential for refrigerating thinners to contain antimicrobials. In this way, the growth of bacteria in semen can be controlled, thereby preventing losses both for seminal fluid production centres and for pig farms where the semen is used. However, the use of antibiotics has been increasingly restricted to prevent the development of antibiotic resistance. For the above reasons, artificial insemination producers, as well as research centres and the industry is looking for new technologies that do not uses antibiotics. Our company that is one of the most important artificial insemination centres working on the possible substitution of current preservation methods with methods based on antimicrobial peptides rather than antibiotics. Our company comes with a novel approach to combat the presence of antibiotics in semen doses. The objective of the project is the development of new technologies which allow obtaining free antibiotics doses for swine Artificial Insemination (AI).
Semen Cardona produces and commercializes multigenetics porcine semen doses with the maximum health safety, accomplishing all the possible bio safety measures and minimizing at maximum the risk of pathogen agents entry. This project therefore fully fits in our R&D strategy, because besides the opportunity of having a unique product in the market, we are the first ones interested in having such a solution. With ECOEXTENDER we can produce without antibiotics in any of the points of the value chain.SEMEN CARDONA will focus on the development of a dilution for refrigerated semen able to supersede current antibiotics with other biological agents: antimicrobial peptides. The diluents are in a phase of market maturity, although the new solutions to lower the antibiotic load are in an embryonic phase. With a population of around 150 million on the European Union's (EU) agricultural holdings, pigs represent the largest livestock category in the EU, ahead of bovines (about 89 million head). Currently, in Spain the reference market represents a use of 1,540,000 litres of diluent per year, approximately € 2,310,000 per year, in Europe the reference market amounts to 8,470,000 litres per year, approximately € 12,705,000 per year.