FACTORS AFFECTING FERTILITY AND HATCHABILITY IN LOCAL CHICKENS

Abstract

Poultry industry has become one of the major meat industries in Singapore. Two types of breading methods are presently practised locally, namely; artificial-insemination and natural-mating methods. Artificial-insemination method is less practised due to relatively short fertile period, lase consistent fertility performance and a shortage of skilled workers etc. It is therefore the purpose of this experiment, to investigate the basic problems concerning artificial-insemination in the fowl, such as semen storage, semen quality, effect of aging on semen quality and fertility. Investigation was carried out in the local farms involving ten different breads of artificial-inseminated and natural-mated broilers and layers to study the factors which would influence fertility, hatchability and death in shell. Vitamin E, a ‘fertility factor’ plays an important role in spermatogenesis, testicular growth and other aspects of poultry reproduction. Thus, the effect of vitamin E on sperm production would also be investigated. It is hoped that through the understanding of the above factors, reproductive effieiency of the local chicken, in terms of fertility and hatyhability, could be further improved.