Efficacy of sperm mobility assessment in commercial flocks and the relationships of sperm mobility and insemination dose with fertility in turkeys

Germplasm and Gamete Physiology Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service, USDA, Beltsville, Maryland 20705, USA.

Our objectives were to evaluate: 1) the efficacy of the Sperm Mobility Test on commercial turkey farms, and 2) the influence of sperm mobility phenotype on fertility when insemination parameters are varied. In research flocks, differences in sperm mobility among toms are predictive of fertility. We wanted to test the efficacy of this sire selection test in practical, real-world situations, evaluating its usefulness in terms of assessing large numbers of toms, different strains of turkeys, and variable management practices. Utilizing field study results, controlled studies were then conducted to improve test parameters. For the field trials, semen from each of 405 breeder toms (11 strains or lines) was evaluated either in duplicate (n = 285) or in triplicate (n = 120). Sperm mobility was normally distributed among all toms tested, except for one strain. Because the sperm mobility indices for toms evaluated in these field trials were higher than those observed in research flocks, the Sperm Mobility Test was modified to increase the separation between high and low sperm mobility phenotypes by increasing the concentration of Accudenz. To determine the effects of sperm mobility and insemination dose on sustained fertility through time, hens from a research flock were inseminated twice before the onset of lay with sperm from toms classified as high-, average-, or low-mobility in concentrations of 25 to 400 million sperm per artificial insemination dose, and egg fertility was evaluated over a 5-wk period. Toms with the high-mobility sperm phenotype maintained higher fertility (P < 0.05) over the 5-wk period at all insemination doses compared with toms with low-mobility sperm. Toms with high-mobility sperm sired equal numbers of poults in a sperm competition study in which numbers favored low-mobility toms by 3:1. These results demonstrate that the Sperm Mobility Test can be used for on-farm evaluation of semen quality of toms in commercial flocks and that sperm mobility influences fertility and sire fitness.

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