[Reproductive capacity and offspring of chickens submitted to a transfer of primordial germ cells during embryonic life].

Turkey primordial germ cells transfered by intravascular injection to previously sterilized chick embryos can undergo complete maturation inside the host's gonads and can give rise to gametes which are more or less suitable for fertilization.The resulting spermatozoa fertilized hen eggs at a higher frequency than normal turkey spermatozoa, but without allowing a longer or a more normal development. However, it was impossible to fertilize turkey eggs with them.The resulting eggs sometimes had an abnormal-looking yolk and were laid during the first 7 months only. Brought in contact with chicken spermatozoa, they were fertilized (or perhaps merely activated), but they never gave rise to embryos. Fertilized by turkey spermatozoa, they developed into embryos, sometimes abnormal, which in the best case reached the 15th day of incubation (stage 38 HH). Somepraepennae of the latter embryo showed a red-brown pigment which cannot be determined by the genotype of the zygote (a white turkey's) and which resembled the phenotype of the foster mother (a red-brown hen).After intraspecific transfer of primordial germ cells, maturation of Rhode Island Red oöcytes inside a Wyandotte White ovary (in two hens) and vice versa (in one hen) was achieved. Laying was also possible but often at a lower frequency than normal.When a Wyandotte White hen bearing Rhode Island Red oöcytes was mated with a normal Rhode Island cock, the down of their offspring looked brighter than Rhode Island Red chicken's in one case, but it was subsequently replaced by red-brown feathers according to the genotype.When a Rhode Island Red hen bearing Wyandotte White oöcytes was mated with a normal Wyandotte White cock, the down of their offspring was never in agreement with the genotype. It always showed a black pigment over more or less large areas and, in one case, a red-brown pigment, both of which were present in the foster mother. The origin and the mechanism of such a transfer of pigments are not understood. It might represent merely a temporary effect acting upon the down of the first generation. As far as the comb is concerned, it was always in agreement with the original genotype.