Influence of 6 different intestinal bacteria on Beltsville Small White turkey semen

The turkey industry relies totally on artificial insemination to continue and improve production. If something compromises the insemination process, such as contaminated semen, it becomes a detrimental loss to the industry. Bacteria have been found in broiler breeder males to reduce sperm motility. The Sperm Quality Index (SQI) is a quick method to determine avian sperm motility using the sperm quality analyzer (SQA). Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine if bacteria have an effect on turkey sperm motility using the SQA. For the experiment, one mL of pooled neat semen was collected from Beltsville Small White Turkey toms. Six intestinal bacteria, Bifidobacterium animalis, Campylobacter jejuni, Clostridium bifermentans, Escherichia coli, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and Salmonella enterica were grown overnight. For each bacterium, 4 treatments were made that consisted of exposing pooled semen to either saline, sterile broth, an overnight culture of each individual bacterium, or a centrifuged pellet of each bacterium re-suspended in saline. The experiment was repeated 3 times. Once the semen was exposed to the respective treatment, a portion was pulled into a capillary tube and placed into the SQA to obtain the SQI. Each treatment was evaluated at zero, 10, and 20 min creating a completely randomized design with a split plot over time. A pH reading also was taken at each time point. The results indicated that all broths containing bacteria immediately reduced turkey sperm motility. Sperm became practically immotile in overnight cultures of Clostridium, Bifidobacterium, or Lactobacillus However, there was a time by treatment interaction in the SQI for Campylobacter, Clostridium, E. coli, Salmonella, and Lactobacillus The pH of semen decreased upon exposure to Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus No difference in pH was found when semen was exposed to E. coli, Campylobacter, Salmonella, or Clostridium treatments. In conclusion, the results reveal when turkey semen is exposed to different bacteria, sperm motility is immediately reduced, which could be possible from bacterial attachment or bacterial by-products providing an undesirable environment for sperm.