The site of fertilization in the domestic fowl

✍ Scribed by Olsen, M. W. ;Neher, B. H.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1948
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 595 KB
• Volume: 109
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-104X
• DOI: 10.1002/jez.1401090303

✦ Synopsis

The question of where fertilization of a bird's ovum takes place has been a matter of considerable speculatioii among research workers. Some investigators have advanced the theory that fertilization occurs in the ovary, the spermatozoa supposedly entering the ovuiii through the follicular walls. The majority of workers, however, are of the opinion that fertilization occurs after onlation, while the oruni is passing through the infundibulum. This is usually interpreted as meaning that the spermatozoa a r c retained in the inf andibulum and that successive ova a r e fertilized there after the>-a r e ovulated and enter the oviduct.

William Harvey (1651) was among the first to advocate intra-ovarian fertilization. He believed that a single mating would fertilize all the eggs on the ovary. This view, a t least in part, was shared by Buffoii ( 1 7 i 1 ) : Burdacli (1838) and Coste (1859).

The question of intra-ovariaii fertilization was again raised by Iranov ( '22) and Veimieulcn ( '29, see pages 21-24). Ivanov advanced the theory that all the eggs in a clutch (exact number of eggs not qiven) a r e fertilized about the same time in the ovary. To support this contention, lie presented data showing that liens continued to lay fertile eggs ereii after their body cavities and oviducts had 1:ecn irrigated with a weak lysol solution lethal to spermatozoa. A similar experiment was performed by Walton and TYetliani ('33) who reri-335