STORAGE AND SURVIVAL OF TURKEY SPERMATOZOA IN THE DOMESTIC HEN'S OVIDUCT

The percentage of fertilized eggs from chicken hens inseminated with turkey semen is very low (Warren & Scott, 1935; Quinn, Burrows & Byerley, 1937; Asmundsen & Lorenz, 1957; Wisoki & Soller, 1968), but it can be considerably increased by depositing the spermatozoa beyond the utero-vaginal junction(Kempenich-Pinto, Schindler, Bornstein & Baroutchieva, 1970). The question arose whether the insemination techniques also affected the accumulation of the turkey spermatozoa in the chicken oviduct. Therefore, in the present work, the storage of turkey spermatozoa in the chicken hen oviduct was studied by histological examinations after intravaginal inseminations or inseminations beyond the utero-vaginal junction. Semen obtained from a local strain of Broad Breasted White Empire turkey toms was washed and diluted to its original volume with Tyrode solution con-taining chloramphenicol (500 \g=m\g/ml).S.C. White Leghorn hens were insemin-ated with 0\m=.\2ml of the sperm suspension into the vagina (Smyth & Jeffrey