Semen characterization of Dang Surat Thai native chicken

Abstract

Native Dang Surat chicken play an important role in poultry breeding of southern Thailand but their production performance falls short of commercial counterparts. Nevertheless, native birds have superior disease resistance while meat texture and taste of eggs are popular among Thais. Husbandry of native breeds are confined to smallholders who can only fulfil local niche outlets. To satisfy the wide-spread demand throughout Thailand and further afield, local-breed sires are crossed with high productivity hens. To maintain a constant supply of F1 hybrids, a colony of Dang Surat cocks are maintained by the Department of Livestock who select by phenotypes, not semen quality that determines male productivity. Accordingly, semen volume, pH, color and consistency, sperm motility, concentration, viability were measured. Morphology was also assessed by using eosin-nigrosin staining. Semen was slightly alkaline (pH, 8.0±0.1), mean volume=265±23 μL, had high sperm concentrations, 2740±76 x106/ml, of which 98.9±0.1% were viable. Abnormal sperm heads, tails and mid pieces, cytoplasmic droplets and detached heads comprised 1.5±0.3, 3.7±0.4, 0.3±0.1 and 0.8±0.1%, respectively. The findings showed normal seminal fluids and sperm parameters similar to commercial poultry semen in general. Our data will help develop efficient cockerel selection, natural flock breeding plan, and assisted reproduction by cryopreservation and artificial insemination to better meet market demands.