*2.4. Experimental Design*

Saliva samples from the 33 boars were collected at three different times in each boar: the day before ejaculate collection (DB); immediately after starting the ejaculation (T0) and two hours after ejaculation (T2). This collection protocol was carried out in February, 2019. Libido was measured according to a three-point scale adapted from that of Kozink et al. [25], namely a value of 1 for boars that showed little interest in the dummy sow and took more than 10 min to mount it; a value of 2 for the boars that did not show much interest but mounted it in less than 10 min; and a value of 3 for the boars that interacted with the dummy and quickly mounted it.
