Testicular sperm reserves in cockerels bearing Z-autosome translocations.

A technique of testicular homogenization and hemocytometric enumeration of elongated spermatids was applied to cockerels bearing Z-autosome translocations to estimate the effects of the translocations on sperm production. Testis weights, numbers of spermatids per gram of testis, and total number of spermatids were not significantly different between translocation-bearing cockerels and those of normal karyotype. In contrast to the adverse effects of X-autosome translocations on mammalian spermatogenesis, these data indicate that Z-autosome translocations do not quantitatively affect sperm production in cockerels.