Author
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Bakst, Murray |
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Submitted to: European Poultry Conference Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings Publication Acceptance Date: 2/1/1995 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Poultry semen storage technology has not advanced significantly in over a decade. It is the premise of this work that further advances will only be realized when the biological mechanism which promote sperm survival in the hen's oviduct for several weeks are understood. This paper reviews current ideas and offer some speculation on the mechanisms controlling oviducal sperm transport and storage in the hen. Based on the observations reviewed it was suggested that sperm carrying foreign DNA should be inseminated immediately after oviposition in order to maximize the number of sperm at the site of fertilization at the upper end of the oviduct. Technical Abstract: Future significant advances in artificial insemination (AI) technology, which includes semen collection and insemination, as well as the storage and evaluation of semen, will only be realized when fundamental biological mechanisms describing the transport and storage of sperm in the hen's oviduct are understood. This brief review includes old as well as new ideas regarding possible biological mechanisms regulating oviducal sperm storage in hens. Also included are observations describing the distribution of sperm in the oviduct of turkey hens inseminated before or after the onset of egg production. Hens were inseminated with sperm stained with the nuclear fluorescent stain bisbenzimide. Using dual imaging techniques to visualize whole mounts of uterovaginal junction (UVJ) and infundibular mucosae, sperm distribution was assessed. Observations reveal that previous investigators underestimated the percentage of sperm storage tubules (SST) containing sperm. The onset of egg production resulted in reduced percentages of filled SST, indicating that the sperm storage capacity of the SST is diminished with the onset and continuation of egg production. |
