HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Emik, L. O. Articles by Sidwell, Geo. M. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Emik, L. O. Articles by Sidwell, Geo. M.

Tailless Sperm from Rams

United States Department of Agriculture^,2

Abstract

The differential features of tailless sperm from a pair of rams with good semen qualities and a pair with poor semen qualities were examined. Counts were made from dilutions in the hemocytometer, using chlorazene and phosphate buffer as the two diluents, and from opal blue stained smears. Differences between means of transformed percentages and analysis of covariance were utilized.

Smearing created no more tailless sperm than diluting if good quality semen was used but if poor quality semen was used about 6 percent additional tailless sperm were produced by smearing when 50 percent were found in the dilution. The percentage of tailless sperm, as measured in the hemocytometer, was practically the same whether chlorazene or phosphate buffer was used as the diluent. Differences between workers, dilution prepartations and rams within semen quality groups were not significant by covariance analysis. Differences were highly significant between the pairs of good and poor rams.

In opal blue stained smears of good quality semen, heads of morphologically normal sperm took no stain or both eosin and opal blue, while the tailless sperm were about equally divided between this type and those staining only with eosin. In smears of poor semen, most of the tailless sperm and a small percent of morphologically normal sperm took only eosin. The percentage of tailless sperm which took no stain or stained with both stains was not different between the two qualities of semen.

Stained smears of semen from the epididymis, ampulla and final ejaculates of autopsied rams were examined. No changes in percent tailless sperm were revealed for three good rams, whereas for three rams with comparably poor semen percentages in the epididymis were similar to the good semen but a definite increase of tailless sperm was shown in the ampulla with the most marked increase occurring between the ampulla and ejaculates. Tailless sperm staining only with eosin, as a percent of all tailless sperm, increased in a corresponding progression from epididymis to ejaculate.

¹ Geo. M. Sidwell now at Southwestern Range and Sheep Breeding Laboratory, Fort Wingate, New Mexico.

² Western Sheep Breeding Laboratory, Dubois, Idaho.