A Comparison of Various Treatments of Fowl Semen

THE ability to hold fowl semen for a period of several days and still get satisfactory fertility when used would be of utmost importance to the poultry industry. Numerous diluents have been tried for diluting fowl semen for storage and to extend its usage. Motohashi and Moritomo (1927) compared the motility of cock sperm in whole egg white diluted with distilled water, Ringer’s solution, physiological salt solution (0.75%) and dextrose solution (6%). They found that motility was excellent in Ringer’s solution and somewhat poorer and about equal in the diluted egg white and physiological salt solution. Poor results were obtained with the dextrose solution. The motility of the sperm was decreased by increasing the amount of distilled water to the egg white. A modified Ringer’s solution, identical with the one used in this experiment, was used by Bonnier and Trulsson (1939) who found that when a mixture of 30% semen…