The repeatability of superovulatory response and embryo recovery in sheep

F. Bari, M. Khalid, B. T. Wolf, William Haresign, A. Murray, B. Merrell

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

34 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Over an 8-year period, a total of 328 Scottish Blackface donor ewes were involved in a MOET program. They were synchronized with fluorogestone acetate sponges and superovulated with ovine FSH. After the onset of estrus, ewes were hand-mated and laparoscopic artificial insemination was performed with fresh semen 44–46 h after sponge removal. Embryos were recovered semi-laparoscopically on either Day 5 or Day 6 after insemination. Of the 328 donor ewes used, 222 ewes were supervoulated only once, while the remaining ewes were superovulated either twice (73 ewes), 3 times (26 ewes) or 4 times (7 ewes) at yearly intervals to generate a maximum of 474 records for subsequent analysis. There was no significant change in either mean ovulation rate or the mean number of embryos recovered per donor ewe at successive treatments. However, significant (P <0.05 at least) effects of both year and donor ewe age existed for superovulatory response and number of embryos recovered, though only the effect of year was significant (P <0 001) for percentage (r = 0.55, s e. 0.055) and number of embryos recovered (r = 0.38, SE 0.074), but not for percentage embryo recovered (r = 0.04, SE 0.102).
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)147-155
Number of pages9
JournalTheriogenology
Volume56
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2001

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