BASIC RESEARCH
IN REPRODUCTIVE
PHYSIOLOGY WILL
HELP IMPROVE
FERTILITY OF
BROILER BREEDER MALES
H. S. Siegel
Professor Of
Poultry Science
For many years, the semen qual
ity of male chickens and turkeys
was evaluated on the basis of the
number of sperm cells in a certain
volume of semen, the motility or
movement of the cells, the number
of malformed cells, or the meta
bolic activity of the cells.
Although these measurements
informed researchers and breeding
African pygmy hedgehogs,
entire stock of seventeen
proven breeders and
babies includes all equip.
$2OOO or sell separate.
Chester Co. 610-932-5808.
2 Radiators 6' wide 45 long
32 high BV6 wide, 58 long,
26 high IH rd. 806 injection
pump, injection lines 50.00.
Lane. Co. 717-626-0811.
Champion wood stove and
spring wagon. Lane. Co.
717-738-3539.
Two Coco Cola round top
machines, both working, 1
red $l,OOO. 1 Red and
white $BOO. Good Cond.
Snyder Co. 717-837-3150.
Massey Harris 90 special
combine, bad engine,
needs work or for parts.
Cumb. Co. 717-532-5010.
18’ Smucker manure ele
vator needs new web $475.
Jonas Sioltzfus, HCR Box
• 10, Rebersburg, Pa.
16872. Centre Co.
Purebred Simmental cattle,
good stock, polled, club
calves, heifers, some
black, year old bull:, good
prices. Bedford Co.
814-733-4705.
companies about the qualityof the
semen outside the body of indivi
dual males, or groups of males,
they did not give much informa
tion about the semen where the
action is, that is, at the point of fer
tilization of the egg.
When the female is insemi
nated, either naturally or artificial
ly, the sperm cells are first stored
in spam storage tubules that are
located at the uterus-vagina junc
tion of the oviduct The sperm cells
are released from these sperm stor
age tubules at various times for a
week or more after insemination.
Fertilization takes place in the
uppermost section of the oviduct
called the infundibulum, immedi
ately after the yolk, or ovum, is
shed from the ovary, and before
Briggs & Stratton 2 cyl. 18
HP industrial/commercial
engine. 1993 like new
$450. Two cylinder Detroit
diesel $1075. Lane. Co.
717-733-8434.
Grade Alpine milk goats
freshened April 1995. 2
years old, gallon a day
milkers. Chester Co.
610-932-8169.
1982 AQHA buckskin geld
ing 15.2 hands, sould,
quiet, super disposition
4-H, lessens, traits, very
pretty. $lBOO. Evenings.
Juniata Co. 717-436-9522.
Honda 4 track #250 runs
well. 1986 model 1200 or
best offer. 717-866-7110
Leb. Co.
Sanden air conditioner,
compressor new $B5, PTO
shaft for 26 NH blower $75.
Worm gear for Gehl 810
$lOO. Lane. Co.
717-656-2615.
Old plow made by Syra
cuse Chilled Plow Co.
#1341D make offer or trade
for what have you? Bill -
Chester Co. 610-692-2188.
4 Cylinders 4xlo New,
automatic roller mill 400x4
5 HP. Bedford Co.
814-766-3831.
Big black standardbred
driver, traffic safe, ready for
trips $1450. Jacob E.
Kauffman, 266 Bell Rd..
Christiana, Pa. 17509.
Wells industrial band saw,
older Schwinn 2 speed
bike, V&E coal stoker, extra
parts, two 2 HP electric
motors, all items good
cond. Leb. Co.
717-273-6683.
International #93 10 ft.
combine, good cond. field
ready, also 12x65 house
trailer in good cond. Berks
Co. 717-933-5232.
Four year old saddlebred
traffic safe, sound, ready
for long trip, El) Hoover,
1180 Woodlyn Dr., Denver,
Pa. 17517. Lane. Co.
any albumen is secreted to sur
round it So, in order to fertilize the
egg, the sperm cells must travel the
length of the oviduct and attach
themselves to the membrane sur
rounding the yolk (called the peri
vitelline membrane). Keep in mind
that the yolk, or ovum, is a single
large cell with a nucleus (located in
the germinal disc) and a huge
amount of fat and protein to nour
ish the developing embryo during
incubation.
Research by Wishart (1987),
who used fluorescent dyes to iden
tify the sperm cells, showed that a
certain number of sperm cells must
attach to the yolk membrane to
assure fertilization. The average
number has been placed at 2.0 to
2.S cells on the first day of insemi
nation according to Wishart
(1989), and will reach 1,000 cells
or more by the second day after
insemination according to Alexan
der and her coworkers at Penn
State (1993), Further work by
Bromwell and associates (1992) at
the University of Georgia suggests
that not only is binding of the
sperm cells to the membrane
necessary but penetration of the
membrane must also occur. These
Mobile home, 1989,3 bed
rooms, 2 baths, propane
heat, stove, refrigerator, on
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your lot $lO,OOO. Dauphin
Co. 717-367-7207.
JD manure spreader, trail
er, chisel plow, Allis Chal
mers 2300 disc, hire and
tobacco wagons. Lane. Co.
717-285-5345.
Nice apple crates for book
shelves, storage or fruit
$3.00. Free kittens, welt
trained, new Red Ryder BB
gun $39. Lane. Co.
717-872-5263.
John Deere 3SOB tractor/
loader rebuilt engine, steer
ing clutches and under
carriage machine is in ex.
cond. $12,750. Balt. Co.
410-357-4862.
Pair Rheas, laying $9OO
pair. Emus coming two
$2OOO. Manure spreader
HIOA on rubber, nice
$1250. Ct 203-564-2579.
Tobacco sprayer 8 rows or
less on Silver King tractor
$9OO 080. K. Habecker
Lane. Co. 717-393-4187.
researchers developed a method to
count the number of penetration
holes produced by the sperm cells
in the area covering the germinal
disc.
This basic research is helping
researchers and poultry breeders
solve two important questions
about reproduction in domestic
fowl.
■ 1. Effects of frozen storage of
semen. Although artificial insemi
nation of fresh semen has been
highly successful in domestic
chickens and turkeys, in contrast to
mammalian semen, the use of fro
zen then thawed semen of birds has
been notably unsuccessful. Penn
State scientists have found that the
number of previously frozen
sperm cells that attach to the yolk
membrane is severely reduced in
frozen compared to fresh semen,
even though the cells appeared
normal by such criteria as concent
ration and motility. They hypo
thesize that the reason for the poor
fertility of frozen semen is that
many of the sperm cells fail to
enter the sperm storage tubules or
have reduced ability to leave the
tubules and transverse the length
of the oviduct to attach to the yolk
membrane.
■ 2. Effect of high environmen
tal temperature. The second
important question that is being
investigated is how elevated temp
erature during the summer months
reduces fertility in broiler breeder
flocks. It has been estimated
(Keirs, 1982) that fertility declines
by an average of ISpercentin July,
August and September, resulting
in a potential reduction of 279 mil
lion broiler chicks nationwide.
McDaniel and his associates at the
University of Georgia (1995)
showed that although semen vol
ume. sperm concentrations and the
HELP Vo Oßsew? d
Lancaster mining, Saturday, July IS, 19954)3
percentage of dead spam were
unaffected by environmental
temperatures, the number of sperm
cells that are able to penetrate the
yolk membrane is reduced in
males exposed to 85-90 degree F
for periods as short as 12 hours. It
is not unusual for afternoon temp
eratures to reach such levels in the
summer in broiler producing areas.
Thus, research into the basic
mechanisms of reproduction may
lead to improvements in fertility
and increased broiler chick yield.
For more about this subject, see the
following publications:
Alexander, A., J. Graham, R. H.
Hammerstedt, and G. F. Barbato,
1993. Effects of genotype and
cryopreservation of avian semen
on fertility and number of pen
vitelline spermatozoa. Brit. Poult.
Sci. 34:737.
Bromwell, R. K., H. L. Marks,
and B. Howarth, Jr., 1992. Quanti
tative determination of spermato
zoa penetration of the perivitelline
membrane of the hen’s ovum as
assessed in oviposited eggs. Poult.
Sci. 72(Suppl 1):140.
Keirs, 8., 1982. Summer heat,
loss of fertility in hatching eggs.
Poultry Digest 41:352.
McDaniel, C. D., P. K. Brom
well, J. A. Wilson, and B. How
arth, Jr., 1995. Fertility of male and
female broiler breeders following
exposure to elevated ambient
temperatures. PoulL Sci. 74:1029.
Wishart, G. J., 1987. Regulation
of the length of the fertile period in
the domestic fowl by numbers of
oviductal spermatozoa, as
reflected by those trapped in laid
eggs. J. Reprod. Fertil. 80:493.
Wishart, G. J., 1989. Physiolog
ical changes in fowl spermatozoa
during in vitro storage. Brit Poult
Sci. 30:443.