Studies on the dilution of turkey semen

1. A series of experiments were conducted to determine the effect of diluent, holding temperature and dilution rate on the viability of turkey semen. 2. No significant difference was observed in the fertility of the undiluted controls and semen diluted with Lake's solution to a final rate of 1:4 and maintained at 25 degrees C or 5 degrees C for 30 min. Under these conditions as few as 25 million sperm per weekly insemination were needed for optimum fertility. 3. Turkey semen exhibited the typical "dilution effect", increased respiration with a corresponding decline in fertilising capacity, when diluted at rates of 1 : 8 and 1 : 12.