Pooling of gametes.

<p>The interactions of gametes during <i>in vitro</i> fertilization were assessed by examining combinations of individual and pooled gametes. Specifically, a clutch of eggs was divided into four parts for 4 treatments containing: 1) an individual female's oocytes and an individual male's sperm (N = 36 trials); 2) an individual female's oocytes and pooled sperm from at least 5 males (N = 58 trials); 3) pooled oocytes from 3 females and an individual male's sperm (N = 62 trials); and 4) pooled oocytes from 3 females and pooled sperm from at least 5 males (N = 49). Fertilization success was assessed at 1, 4 and 24 h. There was no affect on fertilization success using pooled male sperm (P>0.05) with individual female eggs, suggesting that there was no male/male interactions or effect that inhibited fertilization, but a 50% reduction in fertilization success for pooled female eggs was observed (P<0.05). The means were significantly different (P<0.05; ANOVA) between the groups that have different letters.