Age effect of male and female broiler breeders on sperm penetration of the perivitelline layer overlying the germinal disc

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to test the effect of age (male and female) on the number of spermatozoa penetrating the perivitelline layer (PL) overlying the germinal disc (GD) in broiler breeders. Eighty young broiler breeder hens (39 wk old, Y), and 80 old spent broiler breeder hens (69 wk old, O) were randomly divided into eight groups of 20 hens each by age. Hens were inseminated weekly for 4 consecutive wk with 5 x 10(7) pooled sperm/50 microL from either young or old broiler breeder males. Sperm penetration (SP) of the PL at the GD was assessed in a random sample of 12 oviposited eggs from each hen group for each day postinsemination, with the remainder of the eggs incubated for 10 d to obtain fertility values. For the main effect of sex, and for age within sex, there were differences in mean SP (7.3 vs 4.8; Y vs O hens; P < 0.02) and fertility (73.7 vs 54.9%; Y vs O hens; P < 0.002) values. Old males had higher mean SP values and fertility (7.2 and 70.6%) than young males (4.8 and 58.0%; P < 0.03 and 0.01, respectively). Following artificial insemination of a constant number of sperm, age of hens appears to contribute more to the decrease in SP and fertility than the age of male broiler breeders. Eggs were obtained from naturally mated broiler breeder flocks from different strains (A and B), lines (male and female), and ages. There was an effect on overall mean SP values due to strain (105.8 vs 78.6 holes per GD area; Strains A and B, respectively; P < 0.0001), and line within Strain B (106.4 vs 50.8 holes per GD; male and female line, respectively; P < 0.0001). There was a quadratic relationship between SP of the PL and age in Strain A with values ranging from 153.3 to 20.0 holes per GD area (P < 0.003). In Strain B, SP holes in the PL decreased in the male line due to age (127.8 to 59.7 per GD; P < 0.01), with an effect of age on the female line also (62.1 vs. 37.8 holes per GD; P < 0.05).