Seasonal Reproductive Ability of Male Domestic Turkeys as Observed under Two Ambient Temperatures ,

IN RECENT years, several investigations have been directed at studying the relationship of ambient temperature and reproductive ability in turkeys. These studies, particularly those of Burrows and Kosin (1953), Mitchell and Kosin (1954), and Kosin et al. (1955) have included fertility and hatchability and, more recently, semen metabolism (Kosin, 1958) as criteria for determining the effects of environment on the reproductive performance. The present study was designed to study the reproductive ability of the domestic male turkey as revealed by differential counts of spermatozoa; testes weight; and pertinent histology of the testes, epididymides, vasa deferentia and thyroid glands. MATERIALS AND METHODS Eighty 32-week-old Broad Breasted Bronze male turkeys hatched on April 23, 1952 were distributed at random equally into two environmental groups: outdoor group (an uncontrolled ambient temperature and partly controlled light), and indoor group (controlled ambient temperature and light). The males had been separated from the females since they . . .