Capercaillie ‐ chicken hybrids

Abstract

Summary Crosses were made by means of artificial insemination using semen from capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) on chicken (Gallus domesticus). Semen samples were collected from 22 birds and within a few minutes inseminated into a group of 25 meat ‐type virgin pullets. Each pullet was inseminated about once a week, always with semen from a new male. A total of 1418 eggs were incubated, of which only 8 eggs showed embryonic development. Out of these, three eggs hatched at the 24th day of incubation. The eight cases of embryonic development, all originated from five inseminatios from a total of 136. Four of these inseminations and seven of the eight embryos, all originated from only one of the 22 capercaillie males used for inseminations. Male no. 7 is the sire of the three vigorous hybrids. The results of this trial support the hypothesis that an incompatibility exists between the oviduct of domestic fowl and foreign sperm. Similarly the confinement of successful fertilization to only five groups of full sibs and the fact that seven out of eight embryos were sired by one male suggests a genetic component.

Evolution of postzygotic reproductive isolation in galliform birds: analysis of first and second hybrid generations and backcrosses

“…We collected information from the literature on experimentally controlled crosses that were performed in captivity among different galliform species (Haig Thomas & Huxley, 1927;Shaklee & Knox, 1954;Lorenz, Asmundson & Wilson, 1956;Asmundson & Lorenz, 1957;Sandnes, 1957;Olsen, 1960;Wilcox & Clark, 1961;Lepori, 1964;Taibel, 1964Taibel, , 1974Maru & Ishijima, 1968;Morejohn, 1968;Higuchi, 1971;Johnsgard, 1973;Cink, 1975;Skjervold & Mjelstad, 1992;Deregnaucourt, Guyomarc'h & Aebischer, 2002;Khosravinia, Narasimha Murthy & Kumar, 2005). These records include the number of laid eggs, fertilized eggs and hatched eggs in interspecific crosses, in crosses between first-generation (F 1) hybrids (which generate a second hybrid generation or F2) and in backcrosses between hybrids and their parental species.…”

“…The presence or lack of fertilization of the eggs has been assessed in the sources of our data, mostly by checking the presence of the embryo 1 or 2 weeks after egg laying (Shaklee & Knox, 1954;Asmundson & Lorenz, 1957;Olsen, 1960;Cink, 1975;Skjervold & Mjelstad, 1992;Deregnaucourt et al, 2002) and thus eggs that are considered to be infertile can, in some cases, actually be the result of early inviability of the hybrids. Because hybrid sterility has been barely studied in birds in this context [Price & Bouvier (2002) is an exception], we consider that it is anyway worth analysing the results of these crosses with this non-ideal way of assessing egg fertilization.…”