Effect on Fertility of Temperature, Handling Methods, Lake's Solution and the Addition of Egg White, Egg Yolk, and Sugars to the Diluent Used in Storing Chicken Semen

IN A RECENT investigation (Wilcox, 1959b), an improvement of fertility was observed when fructose and other carbohydrates were added to the solution used in resuspending sperm after storage. This raised the question of whether or not the addition of carbohydrates during storage would further improve fertility. Accordingly experiments have been conducted to test the effect of adding carbohydrates as well as egg white, egg yolk, and milk to the diluent used in storage. Other variables tested in these experiments have been (1) the use of Lake's solution in place of the phosphate buffer, both during storage and for resuspending sperm after storage, (2) storage temperature, and (3) a 1 to 2 dilution as compared to a procedure involving a 1 to 10 dilution followed by reconcentration. Egg white was used since it is known that chicken sperm can be stored in the oviduct for over a month (Nalbandov and Card, …