72- Efficiency of embryo transfer in sheep under different nutritional status of donor and recipient ewes

FERNANDEZ, J.; ISABEL MARIA LACAU; BRUNO- GALARRAGA, M.M.; GIBBONS, A.; CUETO, M.I.; DE LA SOTA, R.L.

Buenos Aires

Congreso; Reunión Conjunta de Sociedades de Biociencias; 2017

SAIC, SAFIS, SABIOL, SABIOF, SAFE, SAI, SAA, SAIB, SAFIS, SAH

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of the nutritional status of embryo donors and recipients on embryo survival after direct transfer of embryos in sheep. The experimental study was carried out at the Reproduction Laboratory Facilities of INTA Bariloche. Thirty-six donors and 75 recipient Merino ewes received either 1.5 (S: supplemented) or 0.5 (R: restricted) times daily maintenance requirements (Sdonors n = 19, S recipients n = 36; Rdonors n = 17, R recipients n = 39), from the beginning of the estrus synchronization treatment until day 30 post estrus. On day 7 post-estrus, one grade 1 or 2 embryo from donor females S and R was transferred into a recipient female, defining the following groups: SS (n = 11), SR (n = 11), RS (n = 25) and RR (n = 28). The concentration of progesterone and metabolic hormones in donor and recipient ewes was determined according to nutritional status. The pregnancy rate did not show significant differences between groups at day 17 of gestation (73, 45, 72 and 64% for SS, SR, RS and RR, respectively) (P > 0.1). However, embryo losses between days 17 and 35 were higher in the SR group (18%) than in the three other groups (9, 8 and 7% for SS, RS and RR, respectively) (P