Effects of Potassium and Magnesium Chlorides on the Metabolic Activity and Fertility of Turkey Spermatozoa

Abstract CRAGLE and Salisbury (1959) working with bovine semen reported that high potassium levels inhibited oxygen uptake, fructose utilization and lactic acid accumulation. White (1953b) reported that low concentration of potassium was necessary for optimum metabolism of mammalian spermatozoa. Wilcox and Wilson (1961) reported that, “addition of small amounts of magnesium chloride, potassium chloride and sodium chloride to a sodium phosphate diluent used in storing chicken semen resulted in no change or small reductions of fertility.” Recent studies (Bajpai and Brown, 1963b) indicated that monosodium glutamate diluents may have possibilities for diluting turkey semen. Both Lake’s solution and G-1 diluent (Bajpai and Brown, 1963b) contain monosodium glutamate as a basic ingredient. In Lake’s solution magnesium chloride was added, while in the G-1 diluent potassium chloride was added. Thus it was considered desirable to study the effect of both potassium and magnesium chloride as constituents of isosmotic glutamate on the metabolic activity…