Wall K A, Jones J E
Poult Sci. 1976 Jan;55(1):425-30. doi: 10.3382/ps.0550425.
Two trials were conducted in which three daylength and light intensity treatments were applied to 144 growing turkey toms from 8 to 28 weeks of age. Treatments were (1) six hours of artificial light, (2) natural light and daylength, and (3) simulated natural daylength. At 28 weeks of age all toms were placed on 14 hours of daily light. Individual tom semen quality was evaluated every two weeks for six months, and on alternate weeks, eight hens were inseminated with semen pooled by treatment replicate to obtain fertility (May to December). Seasonal decline in semen production, sperm concentration, semen volume, and fertility was observed for toms on natural daylength after three months of production. Toms on six hours of light and those on simulated natural light maintained high levels of production and quality for the entire six month period. Semen production expressed as the average number of toms producing semen, sperm concentration, and fertily were significantly lower (P less than .01), and semen volume was significantly lower (P less than .05) for toms on natural light after six months. It was concluded that natural light was less desirable than controlled light for "off season" growing of toms.
进行了两项试验，对144只8至28周龄的生长中的火鸡公禽施加了三种日长和光照强度处理。处理方式为：（1）6小时人工光照；（2）自然光和日长；（3）模拟自然日长。在28周龄时，所有公禽都接受每日14小时光照。在六个月的时间里，每两周评估一次个体公禽的精液质量，并且每隔一周，用按处理重复汇集的精液对八只母鸡进行授精以获得受精率（5月至12月）。在产蛋三个月后，观察到处于自然日长条件下的公禽精液产量、精子浓度、精液量和受精率出现季节性下降。处于6小时光照条件下的公禽以及处于模拟自然光照条件下的公禽在整个六个月期间都保持了较高的产量和质量。六个月后，处于自然光照条件下的公禽精液产量（以产生精液的公禽平均数量表示）、精子浓度和受精率显著较低（P小于0.01），精液量也显著较低（P小于0.05）。得出的结论是，对于火鸡公禽的“非繁殖季节”生长，自然光不如可控光照理想。
