Transport of Spermatozoa in the Reproductive Tract of Turkey Hens

RATE of sperm transport in the female reproductive tract has been reported for many mammalian species (Austin and Bishop, 1957; Parkes, 1960; and Bishop, 1961). The time interval between coitus or artificial insemination and the arrival of spermatozoa at the site of fertilization is surprisingly short: intervals of IS minutes or less have been recorded in the ewe (Mattner and Braden, 1963), cow (Van Demark and Moeller, 1951), and sow (First et al., 1968). In the hen, spermatozoa labelled with inorganic 32 P were recovered from the infundibulum within one hour after intravaginal insemination (Allen and Grigg, 1957). However, the same authors also reported that 32 P labelled spermatozoa deposited in the uterus reached the infundibulum in less than 15 minutes. No literature was found concerning the rapidity of sperm transport in the turkey hen. Consequently, this investigation was conducted to determine the distributions of living and dead spermatozoa in the reproductive…