Standardization of Insemination Frequency for Turkey Hens with Tom Semen Preserved at 5oC in Plant Based Extender
Adedeji Suleimon Balogun, 1, Akintunde Akinbola Akinosun, 1, Adetoun Janet Ajibade 2, Usman Ololade Hassan 1, Naimot B Maruf, 1
1Department of Animal Health and Production Technology, Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology, Igboora. Oyo State, Nigeria
2Department of Agricultural Technology, Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology, Igboora. Oyo State, Nigeria
Abstract
Use of chilled semen is necessary in turkey for better application of Assisted Reproductive Biotechnology Techniques. This experiment is therefore design to identify appropriate insemination interval to achieve optimum fertility with tom semen preserved with Tris Coconut-water Orange Juice Extender (TCWOE) for 4 and 12hours at 5oC. A completely randomized design (CRD), with a 4×2 factorial experiment involving four semen types and two insemination frequencies was used. Thirty-six (36) hens of 37 weeks age were used. Nine (9) Hens/group were inseminated once/week and twice/week with 0.05mL un-preserved semen (un-extended and extended) and 0.1mL tom semen preserved at 5oC (4h and 12h chilled semen) containing about 200 x 106 viable spermatozoa for 4 weeks. Eggs were collected daily, stored at room temperature and incubated weekly. The fertility rate (fertile/incubated eggs×100) was determined by candling 21 days after the start of incubation. The result revealed that twice/week insemination interval gave better percentage fertility for 4H and 12H TCWO chilled semen compared to once per week insemination interval. It was also indicated that 4H and 12H TCWO chilled semen inseminated twice per week has higher percentage hatchability of fertile eggs values close to 80.00% compare un-extended and TCWO extended tom semen. While twice per week insemination interval has higher percentage hatchability of eggs set values compare to once per week insemination interval in both preserved, unpreserved and un-extended semen. Conclusively, better fertility and hatchability is achieved in this study with twice per week insemination interval for turkey hen using TCWOE to preserved tom semen at 5oC.
Keywords: Artificial insemination, Chilled semen, Standardization, Extender, Insemination Interval
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