- Email: [email protected]
Influence of Temperature on the Reproductive Performance of the Broad Breasted Bronze Toms12
180
RESEARCH NOTES
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors wish to thank Merck and Co., Inc., Charles Pfizer & Co., Inc., General Aniline and Film Co., and the S. B. Penick Co., for supplying many of the materials used in this study. REFERENCES Baron, A. L., 1949. Handbook of Antibiotics. Reinhold Publishing Corp., New York. McGinnis, J., J. R. Stern, R. L. Wilcox, and J. S. Carver. 1951. The effect of different antibiotics on the growth of turkey poults. Poultry Sci. 30: 492-496. Stokstad, E. L. R., and T. H. Jukes. 1950. Growth promoting effect of aureomycin on turkey poults. Poultry Sci. 29:611-612.
INFLUENCE OF TEMPERATURE ON THE REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE OF THE BROAD BREASTED BRONZE TOMS 1 ' 2 I. L. KOSIN, M. S. MITCHELL AND W. T. BURROWS
The State College of Washington, Pullman (Received for publication September 24, 1951)
The observed seasonal variations in turkey spermatozoa, in an investigation conducted in 1948 and 1949 (Wakely and Kosin, 1951) have led to further studies at this Station on the role of temperature in the reproductive complex of male and female turkeys. The preliminary investigation conducted in 1949-50 (Burrows and Kosin, 1950) at this Station showed that the preconditioning of the Broad Breasted Bronze toms, by keeping them at 65°F. prior to and during the breeding season, improved their fertilizing capacity. Furthermore, the hatchability of 1
Scientific Paper No. 1063, Washington Agricultural Experiment Stations, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, The State College of Washington, Pullman. * The study reported here was supported, in part, by funds provided under The Research and Marketing Act of 1946, and conducted at the Washington Agricultural Experiment Station as a sub-project of the Western Regional Poultry Breeding Project.
fertile eggs laid by the Broad Breasted Bronze hens, inseminated with the semen from these preconditioned toms, was also improved when compared with the hatchability of eggs laid by hens artificially mated to control (not preconditioned) toms. The second study was started in the fall of 1950, when one group of Broad Breasted Bronze toms received their premating heat conditioning for five weeks in an insulated pen, where the temperature was maintained at 65°F. The control toms were left in an outdoor pen. Artificial light was provided to both pens at the rate of 13 hours per day. The hens to which these toms were to be mated were divided, at random, just prior to mating, into two major groups according to the temperature environment in which they were to be kept during the breeding season. Forty-eight hens, split into two
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at University of Georgia on May 27, 2015
fed in this experiment are active in vitro against a very extensive range of microflora (Baron, 1949). It is, therefore, surprising that in no case was there a stimulus to rapid, early growth, although it is possible that the levels chosen were not optimal for growth stimulation. Assuming that the mechanism of the growth-promoting action of penicillin, aureomycin, terramycin, and streptomycin is by modification of the intestinal microflora, it would seem that these substances have an effect which is not equalled by those antibiotics which do not stimulate growth as greatly.
RESEARCH NOTES
lots of equal size, were placed in separate halves of an insulated breeding house where the temperature was maintained at 65 + 5°F. The other lot, made up of fifty-one hens, was placed in separated halves of an uninsulated breeding house in which no attempt was made to regulate the temperature. All four lots received 13 hours of artificial light daily. The pens were mated naturally in the following combinations:
Three toms were assigned to each pen. Table 1 shows the results of twelve hatches based on the eggs laid by hens in the above four pens from January 8 to June 24, 1951, inclusive. Because fertility
in Pen 1 had been dropping precipitously during May, it was found necessary to replace the toms in this pen with a trio from the outdoor torn lot. Following this change, a rise in fertility was observed. (See results of June 11 and June 25 settings.) Fertility was determined by breaking open all eggs which appeared "clear" on the 7th day of incubation, and examining the germ disc. Results as summarized in Table 1 indicate that heat preconditioning of toms was beneficial to them from the standpoint of their long-term breeding performance in a mating pen. Differences in the fertility levels between pens 1 and 2, and between pens 3 and 4, in which temperature treatment of toms before mating differed, while the subsequent treatment was alike, demonstrate the effect of such preconditioning. Moreover, as the fertility level in pen 3 shows, toms lacking the preseason heat conditioning apparently benefited from the higher temperature once
TABLE 1.—Influence of temperature conditioning of turkey toms and hens on fertility and hatchability of eggs* Percent fertile Percent fertile eggs hat;ched
Pen number Date
1
2
3
Pen number
4
P I O I P U 0 U ( < f d , X 9 9 ) (c?c? , X9 9 ) ( c ? c ? X 9 9 ) ( c f c ? X 9 9 )
1
2
3
4
1-22 2-5 2-19 3-5 3-19 4-2 4-16 4-30 5-14 5-28 6-11 6-25
81.6 86.8 90.3 85.9 69.4 62.6 56.8 50.7 36.6 19.4 39.2 47.4
83.6 93.2 91.7 88.1 87.8 91.5 85.9 83.2 69.3 67.6 64.0 62.0
71.4 85.8 84.9 95.5 89.8 85.6 71.5 71.0 80.6 79.6 60.5 39.0
93.1 95.2 92.2 97.4 88.7 95.8 87.6 85.4 85.0 84.0 86.1 83.0
57.4 71.5 71.3 63.3 70.4 63.3 62.4 60.8 58.2 66.7 50.0 54.1
74.0 84.1 82.9 75.0 68.6 68.2 70.4 69.4 62.9 67.5 66.3 71.2
76.4 70.7 77.1 73.4 70.9 75.5 74.3 79.6 64.4 65.4 62.3 65.8
67.8 79.5 80.2 70.4 73.7 76.5 64.0 70.6 62.0 63.6 66.0 60.0
Average
60.6
80.7
76.3
89.5
62.4
71.7
71.3
68.8
2,144
2,090
Tot. No. Eggs Set
* Eggs saved 1-14 days before setting.
1,875
1,700
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at University of Georgia on May 27, 2015
Pen 1. Toms from outdoor lotXhens in uninsulated house. (0 d"
181
182
RESEARCH NOTES
SOME EFFECTS OF DIETHYLSTILBESTROL ON TURKEY HENS* W. J. STADELMAN, R. KRUISWYK AND W. B. DOCKSTADER
Department of Poultry Husbandry, State College of Washington, Pullman, Washington (Received for publication October 27, 1951)
Schlamb and Bryant (1950) reported a - marked improvement to dressed grade of Beltsville Small White turkey breeder hens treated with diethylstilbestrol four weeks prior to marketing in May. They reported that the estrogen implant had no effect on egg production, fertility, or hatchability. It was reported by Phillips (1951) that estrogen treatment at four* Scientific Paper No. 1072, Washington Agricultural Experiment Stations, Pullman. Project No. 804.
week intervals throughout the breeding season resulted in a statistically significant lowering of egg production of Beltsville Small White hens. To determine some of the effects on Broad Breasted Bronze hens, the following experiment was conducted. Four pens of 15 W.S.C. strain Broad Breasted Bronze turkey hens each were used. The experiment was conducted during June and July 1951—at the end of the normal breeding season. During
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at University of Georgia on May 27, 2015
placed in a heated breeding pen. Table 1 ing performance of the toms. A possibility also shows the first fertility depressing which can not be ruled out is that temeffects of hot summer weather (compare perature is only one factor among several pens 2 and 4). The 1950 observation that which provide the birds with the neceslivability of the embryos was affected by sary environmental comfort for maximum the pre-season temperature management breeding efficiency. of the torn has been, on the whole, corSUMMARY roborated in 1951. The fertilizing capacity of the Broad A comparison of percentage fertile eggs hatched in pens 1 and 2 shows that when Breasted Bronze males was improved the toms had been heat preconditioned, by preconditioning them, prior to mating, the embryos they sired were more viable. , in a room kept at 65° F. This early effect In 1951 the lowest temperature recorded persisted during the subsequent breeding while the toms were still in the outside period, particularly when the mating pen pen was 9°F., while in the uninsulated itself was maintained at that temperabreeding pen, the lowest recorded tem- ture. The hatchability of fertile eggs laid perature was 27°F. On the other hand by hens in an uninsulated pen and mated during the 1949-1950 test the lowest re- to heat preconditioned toms was also corded temperature in the outside torn higher than that of similarly treated hens mated to "non-conditioned" toms. pens was — 28°F. On the basis of the above data, a REFERENCES tentative conclusion has been reached that temperatures higher than those Burrows, W. T., and I. L. Kosin, 1950. Unpublished. Wakely, W. J., and I. L. Kosin, 1951. A study of the which prevail in the Pullman area during morphology of turkey spermatozoa with special the pre-breeding and, possibly, the mating reference to the seasonal prevalence of abnormal periods are necessary for optimum breedtypes. Am. J. Vet. Res. 12: 240-245.
RESEARCH NOTES
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors wish to thank Merck and Co., Inc., Charles Pfizer & Co., Inc., General Aniline and Film Co., and the S. B. Penick Co., for supplying many of the materials used in this study. REFERENCES Baron, A. L., 1949. Handbook of Antibiotics. Reinhold Publishing Corp., New York. McGinnis, J., J. R. Stern, R. L. Wilcox, and J. S. Carver. 1951. The effect of different antibiotics on the growth of turkey poults. Poultry Sci. 30: 492-496. Stokstad, E. L. R., and T. H. Jukes. 1950. Growth promoting effect of aureomycin on turkey poults. Poultry Sci. 29:611-612.
INFLUENCE OF TEMPERATURE ON THE REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE OF THE BROAD BREASTED BRONZE TOMS 1 ' 2 I. L. KOSIN, M. S. MITCHELL AND W. T. BURROWS
The State College of Washington, Pullman (Received for publication September 24, 1951)
The observed seasonal variations in turkey spermatozoa, in an investigation conducted in 1948 and 1949 (Wakely and Kosin, 1951) have led to further studies at this Station on the role of temperature in the reproductive complex of male and female turkeys. The preliminary investigation conducted in 1949-50 (Burrows and Kosin, 1950) at this Station showed that the preconditioning of the Broad Breasted Bronze toms, by keeping them at 65°F. prior to and during the breeding season, improved their fertilizing capacity. Furthermore, the hatchability of 1
Scientific Paper No. 1063, Washington Agricultural Experiment Stations, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, The State College of Washington, Pullman. * The study reported here was supported, in part, by funds provided under The Research and Marketing Act of 1946, and conducted at the Washington Agricultural Experiment Station as a sub-project of the Western Regional Poultry Breeding Project.
fertile eggs laid by the Broad Breasted Bronze hens, inseminated with the semen from these preconditioned toms, was also improved when compared with the hatchability of eggs laid by hens artificially mated to control (not preconditioned) toms. The second study was started in the fall of 1950, when one group of Broad Breasted Bronze toms received their premating heat conditioning for five weeks in an insulated pen, where the temperature was maintained at 65°F. The control toms were left in an outdoor pen. Artificial light was provided to both pens at the rate of 13 hours per day. The hens to which these toms were to be mated were divided, at random, just prior to mating, into two major groups according to the temperature environment in which they were to be kept during the breeding season. Forty-eight hens, split into two
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at University of Georgia on May 27, 2015
fed in this experiment are active in vitro against a very extensive range of microflora (Baron, 1949). It is, therefore, surprising that in no case was there a stimulus to rapid, early growth, although it is possible that the levels chosen were not optimal for growth stimulation. Assuming that the mechanism of the growth-promoting action of penicillin, aureomycin, terramycin, and streptomycin is by modification of the intestinal microflora, it would seem that these substances have an effect which is not equalled by those antibiotics which do not stimulate growth as greatly.
RESEARCH NOTES
lots of equal size, were placed in separate halves of an insulated breeding house where the temperature was maintained at 65 + 5°F. The other lot, made up of fifty-one hens, was placed in separated halves of an uninsulated breeding house in which no attempt was made to regulate the temperature. All four lots received 13 hours of artificial light daily. The pens were mated naturally in the following combinations:
Three toms were assigned to each pen. Table 1 shows the results of twelve hatches based on the eggs laid by hens in the above four pens from January 8 to June 24, 1951, inclusive. Because fertility
in Pen 1 had been dropping precipitously during May, it was found necessary to replace the toms in this pen with a trio from the outdoor torn lot. Following this change, a rise in fertility was observed. (See results of June 11 and June 25 settings.) Fertility was determined by breaking open all eggs which appeared "clear" on the 7th day of incubation, and examining the germ disc. Results as summarized in Table 1 indicate that heat preconditioning of toms was beneficial to them from the standpoint of their long-term breeding performance in a mating pen. Differences in the fertility levels between pens 1 and 2, and between pens 3 and 4, in which temperature treatment of toms before mating differed, while the subsequent treatment was alike, demonstrate the effect of such preconditioning. Moreover, as the fertility level in pen 3 shows, toms lacking the preseason heat conditioning apparently benefited from the higher temperature once
TABLE 1.—Influence of temperature conditioning of turkey toms and hens on fertility and hatchability of eggs* Percent fertile Percent fertile eggs hat;ched
Pen number Date
1
2
3
Pen number
4
P I O I P U 0 U ( < f d , X 9 9 ) (c?c? , X9 9 ) ( c ? c ? X 9 9 ) ( c f c ? X 9 9 )
1
2
3
4
1-22 2-5 2-19 3-5 3-19 4-2 4-16 4-30 5-14 5-28 6-11 6-25
81.6 86.8 90.3 85.9 69.4 62.6 56.8 50.7 36.6 19.4 39.2 47.4
83.6 93.2 91.7 88.1 87.8 91.5 85.9 83.2 69.3 67.6 64.0 62.0
71.4 85.8 84.9 95.5 89.8 85.6 71.5 71.0 80.6 79.6 60.5 39.0
93.1 95.2 92.2 97.4 88.7 95.8 87.6 85.4 85.0 84.0 86.1 83.0
57.4 71.5 71.3 63.3 70.4 63.3 62.4 60.8 58.2 66.7 50.0 54.1
74.0 84.1 82.9 75.0 68.6 68.2 70.4 69.4 62.9 67.5 66.3 71.2
76.4 70.7 77.1 73.4 70.9 75.5 74.3 79.6 64.4 65.4 62.3 65.8
67.8 79.5 80.2 70.4 73.7 76.5 64.0 70.6 62.0 63.6 66.0 60.0
Average
60.6
80.7
76.3
89.5
62.4
71.7
71.3
68.8
2,144
2,090
Tot. No. Eggs Set
* Eggs saved 1-14 days before setting.
1,875
1,700
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at University of Georgia on May 27, 2015
Pen 1. Toms from outdoor lotXhens in uninsulated house. (0 d"
181
182
RESEARCH NOTES
SOME EFFECTS OF DIETHYLSTILBESTROL ON TURKEY HENS* W. J. STADELMAN, R. KRUISWYK AND W. B. DOCKSTADER
Department of Poultry Husbandry, State College of Washington, Pullman, Washington (Received for publication October 27, 1951)
Schlamb and Bryant (1950) reported a - marked improvement to dressed grade of Beltsville Small White turkey breeder hens treated with diethylstilbestrol four weeks prior to marketing in May. They reported that the estrogen implant had no effect on egg production, fertility, or hatchability. It was reported by Phillips (1951) that estrogen treatment at four* Scientific Paper No. 1072, Washington Agricultural Experiment Stations, Pullman. Project No. 804.
week intervals throughout the breeding season resulted in a statistically significant lowering of egg production of Beltsville Small White hens. To determine some of the effects on Broad Breasted Bronze hens, the following experiment was conducted. Four pens of 15 W.S.C. strain Broad Breasted Bronze turkey hens each were used. The experiment was conducted during June and July 1951—at the end of the normal breeding season. During
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at University of Georgia on May 27, 2015
placed in a heated breeding pen. Table 1 ing performance of the toms. A possibility also shows the first fertility depressing which can not be ruled out is that temeffects of hot summer weather (compare perature is only one factor among several pens 2 and 4). The 1950 observation that which provide the birds with the neceslivability of the embryos was affected by sary environmental comfort for maximum the pre-season temperature management breeding efficiency. of the torn has been, on the whole, corSUMMARY roborated in 1951. The fertilizing capacity of the Broad A comparison of percentage fertile eggs hatched in pens 1 and 2 shows that when Breasted Bronze males was improved the toms had been heat preconditioned, by preconditioning them, prior to mating, the embryos they sired were more viable. , in a room kept at 65° F. This early effect In 1951 the lowest temperature recorded persisted during the subsequent breeding while the toms were still in the outside period, particularly when the mating pen pen was 9°F., while in the uninsulated itself was maintained at that temperabreeding pen, the lowest recorded tem- ture. The hatchability of fertile eggs laid perature was 27°F. On the other hand by hens in an uninsulated pen and mated during the 1949-1950 test the lowest re- to heat preconditioned toms was also corded temperature in the outside torn higher than that of similarly treated hens mated to "non-conditioned" toms. pens was — 28°F. On the basis of the above data, a REFERENCES tentative conclusion has been reached that temperatures higher than those Burrows, W. T., and I. L. Kosin, 1950. Unpublished. Wakely, W. J., and I. L. Kosin, 1951. A study of the which prevail in the Pullman area during morphology of turkey spermatozoa with special the pre-breeding and, possibly, the mating reference to the seasonal prevalence of abnormal periods are necessary for optimum breedtypes. Am. J. Vet. Res. 12: 240-245.