SEMINAL CHARACTERISTICS AND ARTIFICIAL-INSEMINATION OF CHINESE PHEASANTS, TRAGOPAN-TEMMINCKII, LOPHOPHORUS-IMPEYANUS, AND LOPHOPHORUS-LHUYSII

Long-term conservation plans for endangered species of birds include t he study of basic reproductive functions and the development of artifi cial reproductive techniques. This 6 year study of Chinese pheasants r esulted in the description of seminal characteristics and the producti on of chicks from artificial insemination in each of three species. Se men was collected three times a week from February through June from t wo Temminck's tragopans (Tragopan temminckii), four Himalayan monals ( Lophophorus impeyanus), and one Chinese monal (Lophophorus Ihuysii). E jaculates were analyzed for volume, concentration, and motility; some were extended and used for artificial insemination (AI). A semen quali ty index (SQI) was calculated from all measured semen parameters to ge nerate a single number to facilitate the comparison of males, years, a nd species. For all three species, insemination of fresh semen began t he day a hen laid an egg and continued two or three times a week until the end of the study. Over all years, tragopan 2 produced semen with a higher SQI than tragopan 1. Variation within individual Himalayan mo nals was also recorded with SQIs ranging from a low of 10.8 for male 4 to a high of 25.8 for male 1. When all males were compared by species , the Chinese monal, collected only in 1 year, exhibited a higher SQI than the tragopans or the Himalayan monals. During one 54 day period, a single tragopan hen was inseminated twice, 28 days apart to assess t he longevity of inseminated sperm in the female reproductive tract. Fe rtile eggs were laid for 21 days following the first insemination and for 26 days following the second insemination. AI of tragopans and Him alayan monals resulted in 100% hatchability; for Chinese monals, the f igure was 57%. It is believed that this study represents the first rep ort of successful artificial insemination in Himalayan and Chinese mon als. (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.