Some Effects of Diluting Cock Semen

THE term “dilution effect” has been used frequently in the literature but no consistent definition has been adopted. Many writers have used it to denote adverse effects which dilution has on sperm survival, but Bishop (1954), working with bovine spermatozoa, defined it in a wider sense to denote any changes in sperm physiology which result from dilution. Effects of dilution have been discussed in reviews by Emmens and Blackshaw (1956) and Austin and Bishop (1957). Primary effects include some, and possibly all, of the following: decrease in sperm density, “mechanical” damage during the process of mixing, introduction of substances toxic to spermatozoa and dilution of nutritive substances necessary for sperm survival; metabolic changes especially in oxygen uptake, changes in permeability of the cell wall and dilution of protective substances have also been observed. Some, if not all of these effects, if sufficiently severe, will result in a decrease in fertilising …