EGG FERTILTIY AND EMBRYO VIABILITY OF TURKEY HENS INSEMINATED WITH VARIED SEMEN DILUTION RATIO AT DIFFERENT INTERVALS

Abstract

When semen is diluted, the number of sperm cells inseminated is reduced and this reduction can affect fertility especially with the frequency at which insemination is done. The objective of this study was therefore to determine the effect of the interaction of semen dilution ratio and insemination intervals on turkey fertility and embryo viability. Local turkeys were used for the study, ten toms and sixty-four hens. The hens were randomly divided into eight groups of four replicates. In a 4x2 factorial arrangement of a randomized complete block design (old and young hens), two insemination intervals (one and two weeks) and four dilution ratios of semen to normal saline (l :0, l: l, I :2 and 1:3) were used in insemination. Eggs collected were incubated weekly for 10 weeks. Fertility and embryo mortality (early and mid) were assessed by breakout of candling clears, while unhatched eggs were considered late embryo mortality. Analysis of variance was done on square root transformed data at (10.05. Results of the main effects indicated no significant difference in fertility between weekly or fortnight inseminations, however, dilution of and 1:2 were significantly higher than 1:3. When the interaction of factors was observed, 1:0 and (86.8+3.0) were significantly (p<0.05) higher than 1:3 (72.8±4.4%) at fortnight inseminations only, though values were not significantly different from all other groups. Embryo mortality was not affected by the interaction. Therefore, to maximize fertility in local turkeys, semen should not be diluted beyond 1:2 (minimum of 30x10⁶ motile spermatozoa) at fortnight insemination intervals.