Date of Award:

5-1-1979

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Biology

Department name when degree awarded

Life Sciences:Biology

Committee Chair(s)

James A. Gessaman

Committee

James A. Gessaman

Committee

Keith L. Dixon

Committee

LeGrande C. Ellis

Abstract

Individuals representing twelve species of birds were selected from the San Diego Zoo's avian collection to investigate optimal semen collection techniques and semen quality. Each bird was manually massaged to elicit ejaculation twice a week over a two month period. During massage, the state of cloacal excitement was evaluated by scoring the characteristics of protrusion, tissue hardness and color, and twitch, on a scale of one to five (one being the least excited state). The most successful method of massaging the bird was found to be a technique used to collect semen in domestic poultry, with slight modifications for each body type. Semen was collected by mouth aspiration in micropipettes and examined in the laboratory to quantify semen color, volume, concentration, number of sperm per ejaculate, motility, and the percentage of live sperm. Poorest semen quality and collection success was found in two species of ducks and four species of psittacines. Highest semen quality and collection success was found in the domestic pigeon, ocellated turkey, and crested tinamou. When all individuals were pooled together, significant correlations (P <0.01) were found among most of the semen and cloacal characteristics. These correlations indicated that, for the birds in this study, the state of cloacal excitement appeared to be a reasonable indicator of semen production and quality.

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