THE EFFECT OF DILUTION AND DENSITY ON THE FERTILIZING CAPACITY OF FOWL SPERM SUSPENSIONS

Abstract

The effect of variations in dilution and numbers of fowl sperm injected into Brown Leghorn hens has been observed in a study of artificial insemination. Fertilization is influenced by the number of sperm introduced in a single injection into the vagina. The number of fertile eggs subsequently produced is affected when the number of sperm is about one hundred million or less, and none are fertile when the number falls below one million.A synthetic diluent containing sodium sulphate, glucose, and peptone supported motility in vitro, but affected the fertilizing capacity of fowl sperm in proportion to the percentage occurrence of the diluent in the suspension. Sperm serum, comprising about 75% of normal fowl semen, produces little harmful effect and appears to be a more favorable diluent. However, the development of the zygotes conceived by the sperm surviving an unfavorable medium is not impaired, and "hatchability" of the eggs remains unaffected.By comparison of Walton's data for the rabbit with those reported here for the fowl, it is shown that rabbit sperm are more highly resistant to the "toxicity" of certain types of synthetic fluids. Also, it apparently requires 100 times more sperm in the fowl than in the rabbit for conception to result; this may be related to the comparative anatomy of the reproductive tracts.