Methods of Measuring the Fertilizing Ability of Sperm

This thesis was concerned with finding methods of measuring the fertilizing ability of sperm that were more sensitive and precise than the methods commonly used, such as conception rate, non-return rate or litter size. When fertilizing ability is measured by one of these methods females are generally inseminated with sperm of a concentration that results in 90% or more fertilized eggs. Several experiments were conducted to determine if differences could be more easily detected when some other percentage of eggs was fertilized. The percentage of eggs fertilized was altered by changing either the concentration of sperm or the time of egg recovery. Female mice of ICR strain were induced to ovulate and inseminated with sperm from DBA/2N, CF1 or C57BL/6N males at 1 hour after ovulation. Eggs were recovered at various intervals after insemination. Eggs with a sperm in the perivitelline space or vitellus or with 2-cells were considered penetrated by a sperm. The results of these experiments indicated that fertilizing ability was best measured when approximately 50% of the eggs were fertilized. Fifty percent fertilized eggs could be obtained by manipulating either the concentration of sperm or the time of egg recovery.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Animal Sciences

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2014

Author dc:creator

• Robl, James Michael

• Agriculture, Animal Culture and Nutrition

Identifier

(UMI)AAI8410035

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/70014