FREE AMINO ACIDS IN THE SEMEN OF THE FOWL AND THE TURKEY

Abstract
A total of 18 amino acids were determined quantitatively in the seminal plasma and spermatozoa of fowl semen. Glutamic acid was the major component in both fractions. In the spermatozoan fraction, only 6 amino acids were detected, namely glutamic acid, lysine, arginine, serine, aspartic acid and threonine. Except for serine and lysine, the amino acid concentrations in the spermatozoan fractions were much smaller than in the seminal plasma. In general, the amino acid content of turkey seminal plasma is similar to chicken seminal plasma with a few quantitative differences.