Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Animal Biosciences & Biotechnology Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #334506
Title: Using diet to improve the fertility of frozen/thawed turkey semen

Author
item Long, Julie
item LIU, JIANAN - US Department Of Agriculture (USDA)

Submitted to: National Breeders Roundtable Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/15/2016
Publication Date: 5/18/2016
Citation: Long, J.A., Liu, J. 2016. Using diet to improve the fertility of frozen/thawed turkey semen. National Breeders Roundtable Proceedings. 1-6.

Interpretive Summary: The fertility rates of frozen/thawed turkey semen is highly variable and, although ongoing research has identified some physiological basis for the poor fertility, there are turkey lines considered to be “at-risk” which would benefit from immediate cryobanking. In this study, a different strategy was investigated to improve the fertility of frozen/thawed semen from four unique turkey research lines. Males were fed diets containing different types of oils for three weeks prior to semen freezing. It was found that diets containing fish oil, soybean oil or a combination of these two oils changed the type of lipid in the sperm membrane and improved the fertility of frozen/thawed semen. Studies are underway to further investigate the merit and feasibility of this approach.

Technical Abstract: Fertility rates from turkey semen frozen with current methods are not reliable enough for germ-line retrieval, especially from lines with low reproductive efficiency. To provide a short-term solution for preservation of semen from “at-risk” poultry lines, we have investigated an alternative strategy in the form of temporary dietary modification that also should be useful for the long-range goals of improving poultry sperm cryopreservation. Four specialized turkey lines, Random-bred control 1 (RBC1) line, Egg (E) line (sub-line of RBC1selected for increased egg production), Random-bred control 2 (RBC2) line, and Fast-growth (F) line (sub-line of RBC2 selected for rapid growth), developed and maintained by the Ohio State University’s Agricultural Research and Development Center have been evaluated for the response to the dietary lipids arasco oil, dhasco oil or soybean oil. Sperm membrane integrity was determined using the SYBR/PI dual stain and assessed by flow cytometry. For the RBC1 and RBC2 line, the percentage of sperm with intact plasma membranes was greater (P<0.05) for lipid supplemented diets (range: 33.9-47.0%) than the control (28.3.0%). For the E and F lines, not all diets improved sperm membrane integrity compared to control. Sperm that were subjected to LPO were detected by C11-BODIPY581/591/PI stain and flow cytometry. In RBC2 line, all diet treatments reduced (P<0.05) the percentage of peroxidized sperm (range: 10.1-33.0%) compared to the control (37.2%); a similar trend was seen in E line (control: 66.0%; Groups 2-6: 32.7-46.1%). For the RBC1 and F lines, only soybean oil reduced (P<0.05) LPO in sperm compared to the control. For fertility trials, commercial hens (n=5/diet group; 30/OSU line) were inseminated with 300x106 sperm for two consecutive days. Eggs were collected for 9 wks, candled on Day 7 of incubation and allowed to hatch. Fertility rates from control diets ranged from 4.0 to 10.7%; whereas, fertility rates from lipid-supplemented diets ranged from 22.0 to 33.3%. Taken together, results to date suggest that lipid-enriched diets may provide an alternative strategy to meet the immediate needs of poultry cryoconservation.