Effect of time of day of artificial insemination and oviposition-insemination interval of the fertility of broiler breeder hens.

Two experiments using two populations of 160 broiler-type females in each were conducted to study the effect of time of day of artificial insemination and the effect of oviposition-insemination interval on fertility. Each population was subdivided into eight groups of 20 hens and inseminated with .05 ml of semen once a week at one of the following times: 2400, 0300, 0600, 0900, 1200, 1500, 1800, or 2100 hr for 5 weeks in Experiment 1 and for 6 weeks in Experiment 2. In Experiment 1, the highest level of fertility was obtained from hens inseminated at 2100 hr, while in Experiment 2, significantly higher levels of fertility were obtained from hens inseminated at 2100, 2400, and 0300 hr. In both experiments, fertility of females inseminated in mid-morning and mid-afternoon did not differ significantly and lower levels of fertility were obtained when hens oviposited within 3 hr after insemination. Lower fertility occurred when morning and mid-day inseminations were followed by oviposition within 3 hr after insemination.