Characteristics of fresh semen of captive-bred capercaillie Tetrao urogallus L

In Poland Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus L.) is one of the most seriously endangered grouse species. The ability of semen collection and its utilization for Capercaillie female insemination would allow overcoming some fertility problems observed in captive-bred populations and thus reduce the rate of loss of genetic diversity. The present experiment was carried out on 13 individuals: eight males were kept with females and five alone. From each male, semen was collected four times, every second day, and overall semen appearance (color, viscosity), ejaculate volume, spermatozoa concentration, motility and morphology were examined. Ejaculates suitable for artificial insemination (AI) were obtained from 11 individuals. The volume of ejaculates varied from one drop (noted as 0.010 ml) to 0.180 ml, whereas spermatozoa concentration varied from 100 × 10(6) ml(-1) to 1950 × 10(6) ml(-1). The total amount of live spermatozoa for males kept with females varied from 82.0 to 98.3% (92.9% on average) and among them, from 38.7 to 82.0% were morphologically normal (67.6% on average), whereas for solitary males these values were the following: from 93.7 to 98.7 of total live (96.3% on average) and from 45.0 to 85.3% live normal cells (65.7% on average). No significant group effect was observed for above traits. Semen from males kept with females contained significantly (P<0.01) fewer cells with bulb head (12.2% vs. 21.6%), but higher numbers of bent neck spermatozoa (3.0 vs. 2.1%) and with other deformities (10.0 vs. 6.8%); however, for last two forms existing differences were not significant. Results obtained indicate the possibility of collecting valuable ejaculates from captive-bred Capercaillie, both kept with or without females, which makes possible the application of AI in order to increase the progeny number and gene exchange of this species across time and geographical distance.