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AN EXAMINATION OF THE NEED FOR SPERM CAPACITATION IN THE TURKEY, MELEAGRIS GALLOPAVO

Since the recognition by Austin (1951) and Chang (1951) that rabbit spermatozoa require a period of time within the female tract before they are capable of fertilizing ova, evidence has accumulated suggesting an essential period of capacitation for spermatozoa in many other mammals: rat (Austin, 1951; Noyes, 1953; Austin & Braden, 1954), ferret (Chang & Yanagimachi, 1963), hamster (Chang & Sheaffer, 1957; Barros, 1968a, b), cat (Hamner, Jennings & Sojka, 1970) and sheep (Mattner, 1963). The question therefore arises as to whether capacitation is a general phenomenon in all vertebrates. In the fowl, Gallus domesticus, the period of time required by spermatozoa in the female tract is of a short duration since cock spermatozoa can fertilize eggs within a few minutes of insemination (Bobr, Ogasawara & Lorenz, 1964). Furthermore, spermatozoa