Comparison of reproductive performance of Chukar partridges (Alectoris chukar) following natural mating and artificial insemination

This experiment was conducted to compare the effect of natural mating (NM) and artificial insemination (AI) on reproductive performance in Chukar partridges. A total number of 96 female partridges were randomly assigned to two equal groups (four replicates of 12 birds each) to produce hatching eggs by either NM or AI. In addition to female partridges, one hundred forty-four male partridges were randomly selected where 48 and 96 numbers of those assigned to NM and AI treatment groups, respectively. The female partridges in both treatment groups were kept individually in cages for two weeks. Afterwards, one male partridge was randomly allotted to each female (a total of 48 male partridges) in the NM group. However, the female partridges in the AI group were inseminated by semen collected from 96 male partridges. During 10 days, 184 and 188 hatching eggs were collected for the NM and AI groups, respectively. The hatching eggs were then incubated. No significant differences were found between the NM and AI treatment groups in fertility rate (91.3 and 88.8%, respectively), hatchability of set eggs (58.1 and 53.2%, respectively) and hatchability of fertile eggs (63.7 and 59.9%, respectively). A high embryonic mortality rate was observed during the first 48 h of incubation (i.e. early mortality) in both NM (32.1%) and AI (31.7%) treatment groups; however, there were no significant differences between the treatment groups in embryonic mortality. In general, the efficiency of AI technique in Chukar partridges is comparable to that of natural mating.