ABSTRACT
An investigation was conducted with a total of one
hundred and fifty
(150) semen samples collected randomly from six (6)
toms and one thousand three hundred and fifty eggs (1350) from forty-five (45)
hens to evaluate the effect of diluents, age of semen and insemination doses on
viability and fertility of turkey semen preserved at ambient temperature.
Results of the work revealed that the semen qualities of those toms used for
the work were not statistically different (P>0.05). The rate of semen
survival per hour shows that in diluent (DIII) containing coconut milk a highly
significant difference (P<0.01) in rates of survival of sperm during the 8
hour period was observed. Other diluents preserved sperm for a reasonable
period of time, diluent (D0) lasted for 4 hrs, DI
lasted for 5 hrs whereas DII also sustained survival of sperm for above 6 hrs
before the sharp decline. The level of fertility recorded in all the diluents
using different dosages showed that diluent D0 containing 0.2ml recorded the
highest yield. The overall result in this case showed a highly significant difference
(P<0.01). In the aspect of hatchability, diluent DI produced the highest
number of chicks valued 63.48+8.27% .Significantly higher (P<0.01) hatch of
fertile eggs and eggs set was obtained from hens inseminated with semen diluted
in DIII than other diluents. From the work, it is evident that metabolizable
substrates containing coconut milk and other diluents used proved efficient.
The results show that careful improvement and utilization of those local and
affordable diluents would enhance turkey semen preservation and artificial
insemination practice in our local environment.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
of the study
Turkey, a
large poultry bird, is fast gaining popularity among peasant farmers in the country
to the extent that they are produced throughout the year for commercial
purpose. All over the world Turkey is produced by breeders due to its body
size, comformation and edible meat yield. Reproductive traits like its
oviparous nature and low to medium fertility have not prevented a reasonable
rate of improvement under natural condition even in developing countries
(Esminger, 1977).Following the quest for massive production of animals like
pigs, rabbit and poultry with short reproduction cycle as a major remedy to
acute animal protein shortage in Nigeria, emphasis is placed on poultry and its
products because they are acceptable to almost all peoples, religions and
communities. Among all the species of poultry in Nigeria, turkeys appear to be
the less distributed with a population of (0.2 million) (FDLPCS, 1992).
However, it is highly cherished
due to its large body size and high meat quality. In Nigeria, about 90% of
turkeys are produced for Christmas market mainly for these reasons (Smith,
1990; Veg.Soc.2007).
Although
this may be the case, the scanty distribution of turkey in the peri-urban and
rural areas of the country calls for serious concern. A notable reason for low
distribution of turkey could be its reduced fertility compared to chicken, which
factor places serious constraints to its rapid development
The development of artificial insemination technology
over the past decades has resulted in some significant advances in Turkey breeding.
The objective of turkey artificial insemination programme is however not to
produce fertile eggs but to produce viable poults (Murray, 1993). The US turkey
industry relies on artificial insemination for the production of 300 million
turkey annually (William, 2003). In developed world where artificial
insemination is exclusively used to achieve acceptable level of fertility,
donor toms as a rule are subjected to semen quality evaluation for fertility
prediction (Donoghue, 1998). This idea coupled with the improvements on the
technique of avian semen storage at ambient temperature, has led to increased
multiplication of turkey in developed parts of the world. The situation is
rather different in developing countries where these techniques are not adopted
and producers have to rely on natural mating and egg hatching techniques to
produce poults. Nigeria is one of such developing countries where the use of
Artificial Insemination (AI) is still at the experimental stage such that
turkey poults are imported for rearing and natural methods are applied on
existing local stock to produce poults for turkey meat production.
1.2 Statement
of the problem
It is well
known that male breeders (stags) are usually bred for large body size and
become too broad breasted and heavy to mate naturally with the comparatively
smaller hen. The accompanying results in the inability of males to complete
mating sessions successfully, causing low fertility under natural mating
condition. Apart from this, ejaculated turkey spermatozoa is reported to perish
after several minutes outside its own seminal fluid (Free potent soline.com
2001) and rapidly lose viability and fertilizing capacity when stored either
undiluted or diluted at physiological temperatures (Leighton et. al.,
1969; Lake and Ravie, 1982). AX et al. (2000) also reported that the
survival of turkey ejaculated sperm in seminal plasma alone is limited to a few
hours. As such its fertilizing ability is impaired or hampered and this often
results to low production of poults.
In turkey
breeding there is need to prolong the viability and duration of the fertilizing
capacity of turkey sperm for genetic improvement and economic advantage. There
is also the need to have repeatable techniques necessary to maintain the
fertilizing potential of ejaculates from 6 to 24 hours under field condition.
It is necessary to develop effective techniques for semen collection, dilution
and insemination in the field to solve the problem of infertile mating under
natural conditions for the benefit of small and large scale turkey producers in
the country....
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Item Type: Postgraduate Material | Attribute: 75 pages | Chapters: 1-5
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