The Usefulness of Captive Kept Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallusL.) as the Semen Donors for Artificial Insemination and Gene Pool PreservationIn vitro

Abstract

Captive breeding of birds threatened by extinction in zoological gardens or other closed aviary centres is one of the methods allowing their protection and gene pool preservation ex situ in vivo. Such birds are usually kept in captivity lifelong and serve as parents of several new generations that can be further released into natural environment, or males are used as semen donors for artificial insemination and gene banking. Therefore, the fecundity of such flocks (number of laid egg and spermatozoa quantity and quality) is very important. The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of captive kept capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus L.) as semen donors in three subsequent reproductive seasons, based on the assessment of manually collected semen quality. Male response to dorso-abdominal massage, ejaculate volume, sperm concentration, motility and morphology were evaluated individually at three succeeding years. Depending on individual male properties and year of collection, the number of positive reactions to semen collection attempts (i.e. ending with ejaculation) varied from 44.4% to 100.0%; single ejaculate volume ranged from 10 to 300 μl, spermatozoa concentration from 10 × 10(6) per ml to 3520 × 10(6) per ml and percentage of live morphologically normal spermatozoa from 19.3 to 80.3%. The highest average value (66.7) of semen quality factor (SQF) was noted for a 2-year-old male (varying from 1.9 to 258.1), while the lowest for ten- (4.8; varying from 0.1 to 17.0) and 7-year-old (6.6; varying between 0.6 and 13.6). Assuming that for AI purposes, the ejaculate quality has to be at minimum 10 SQF, obtained results indicate that majority of capercaillie kept in captivity, both young (2-3 years old) and older (up to 10 years old), can be valuable semen producers in succeeding seasons.

Comparative Examination of Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus L.) Behaviour Responses and Semen Quality to Two Methods of Semen Collection

“…As we stressed in our last article related to captive kept capercaillie reproductive potency [ 39 ], the SQF indicates the number of live normal sperm in one ejaculate. Assuming that for successful AI purposes the ejaculate quality has to be at minimum 10 SQF [ 40 ], the majority of males produced sufficiently good ejaculates to be used for AI or gene pool preservation, despite stimulation method. The average SQF varied from 4.6 (the worse male #79 and massage method) to 72.2 (male #51 and dummy method; Table 2 ).…”

Reintroduction of the European Capercaillie from the Capercaillie Breeding Centre in Wisła Forest District: Genetic Assessments of Captive and Reintroduced Populations

“…Both genetic lines (Belarusian and Western Carpathian) were reproduced separately. To improve the breeding success in the CBC-WFD, assisted reproduction techniques were implemented, allowing the number of offspring to be increased [ 21 – 24 ].…”

Effect of selenium and vitamin E addition to the extender on liquid stored capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) semen quality

“…We documented that in case of capercaillie, for successful AI purposes, the ejaculate quality has to be at minimum 10 SQF. Males whose ejaculates are scored at 10 SQF and more can be recognized as sufficiently good semen donors (Kowalczyk & Łukaszewicz, ; Kowalczyk et al., ; Łukaszewicz & Kowalczyk, ). In the presented experiment, one male (no 72) of four examined had a low SQF (8.6 on average), mainly due to low number of live normal sperm (33.3%).…”

“…By the Decree of Polish Ministry of the Environment (“The protection of animal species,” October 12, 2011), the capercaillie ex situ in vivo breeding centres and reintroduction programmes were established (Merta, Kobielski, Krzywiński, & Rzońca, ; Rzońca, Łukaszewicz, & Kowalczyk, ; Strzała, Kowalczyk, & Łukaszewicz, ). An increasing the reproductive efficiency of captive kept capercaillie by the use of biotechnological methods contributes significantly to the achievement of this goal (Ciereszko, Dietrich, Liszewska, Krzywiński, & Kobus, ; Kowalczyk & Łukaszewicz, ; Kowalczyk, Łukaszewicz, & Rzońca, ; Łukaszewicz & Kowalczyk, ; Łukaszewicz, Kowalczyk, & Rzońca, ). The possibility of short‐term semen storage will expand the applicability of assisted reproduction technology in capercaillie breeding centres.…”