Authors : S. Tabatabaei , R.A. Batavani and A.R. Talebi
Abstract: The aim of this study, was to compare oviductal sperm age on fertility, hatchability and embryonic death in Iranian Indigenous and Ross-308 broiler breeder chickens. Twenty four Ross-308 broiler breeder and 24 Indigenous hens were used in this study. For insemination of those hens, 8 Indigenous and 8 Ross-308 broiler breeder roosters were used. Semen was collected from roosters by abdominal massage. Semen of each rooster was diluted in range that each insemination volume (0.1 mL) contains 100 billion sperm. After dilution, semen of each rooster was inseminated to 3 hens with the same strains of it. After single insemination of all hens, eggs were collected daily from the 2nd day after insemination which was the 1st day of fertile eggs. The collection and incubation of eggs continued for 21 days post insemination. Altogether, 3 hatches were taken for this study. The fertility, total hatch, hatch of fertile eggs, death of fertile eggs, early death, mid death and late death percent in each hatch were recorded for both Indigenous and Ross chickens. Maximum fertility for Ross and Indigenous chickens were on 3 days and 2 of fertility, respectively. For consecutive days, the fertility, total hatch and hatch of fertile rates in Indigenous chickens were significantly higher than Ross chickens (p<0.05). In both strains, there was a significantly positive correlation between fertility and hatch of fertile eggs rates and negative correlation between fertility and embryonic mortality rates (p<0.01). There was no trend toward the embryonic mortality at a younger age with increasing age of the spermatozoa.
S. Tabatabaei , R.A. Batavani and A.R. Talebi , 2009. Comparison of Oviductal Sperm Age on Fertility, Hatchability and Embryonic Death Rates in Iranian Indigenous and Ross-308 Broiler Breeder Chickens. Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances, 8: 85-89.