The present study investigated the effects of epidermal growth factors (EGF) and/or β-Mercaptoethanol (βME) supplementations to oocyte maturation, fertilization, and culture media on the buffalo in vitro embryo production. The ovaries were collected and transferred within 2 h to the laboratory. The cumulus oocytes complexes were aspirated from 3 to 8 mm diameter follicles. Firstly, EGF; 0, 10, 20, or 50 ng/mL or βME; 0, 25, 50, 100, or 200 μM were supplemented to the in vitro maturation (TCM-199), fertilization (IVF-TALP), or culture (IVC: SOF) media. Our results revealed that supplementing EGF (20 ng/mL) to the TCM-199, IVF-TALP, or SOF media could efficiently improve the growth rates and development of buffalos' embryos, while EGF (50 ng/mL) could stimulate the embryo production only after treatment of the IVF-TALP /or SOF media, but not the IVM medium. However, βME was less efficient than EGF; it stimulated the growth rates of buffalo embryos when supplemented with the maturation and fertilization (IVF-TALP) media in a 50 μM concentration. Secondly, combined EGF (20 ng/mL) and βME (50 μM) were supplemented to the maturation media as effective concentration. The combined treatment of EGF (20 ng/mL) and βME (50 μM) showed no significant enhancing effect on the buffalo embryos compared to each alone. For future perspectives, further study is required to examine the effects of combined EGF and βME on the maturation and fertilization of buffalo oocytes at different categories of age and seasonal localities.

Dystocia is a critical obstetrical problem in farm animals and is classified into maternal or fetal dystocia. The maternal causes of dystocia include different causes such as uterine torsion (UT), failure of cervical dilation (FCD), and uterine inertia (UI). Maternal dystocia induces massive oxidative stress due to increased production of free radicals with high levels of malondialdehyde (MDA). Little information is available on oxidants and antioxidant biomarkers and blood lactate (bLac) in parturient buffaloes with maternal dystocia. The current research aimed to clarify different causes of maternal dystocia in buffaloes and the association between the oxidative stress of parturient buffaloes and different types of maternal dystocia. Thirty-five parturient buffaloes were included in this study. Parturient buffaloes included normal parturition (NP; n=7), UT (n=23), FCD (n=4), and UI (n=1). Ten-ml blood samples were collected via jugular vein puncture into two tubes; plain vacutainer tubes for separation of serum to measure bLac and heparin coated vacutainer tube for separation of plasma for determination of MDA, glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and total antioxidant capacity (TAC). The results revealed that the major cause of maternal dystocia in the included buffaloes was UT. The UT was commonly post-cervical, clockwise, and > 180°. UT negatively affected both dam survival and calf viability. In addition, evaluation of oxidants and antioxidants biomarkers indicated that maternal dystocia causes more oxidative stress added to physiological stress of calving. This study found that, 4-days post-treatment period was not sufficient to resume antioxidant defense mechanism in UT buffaloes as no significant changes had been detected throughout the sampling period after treatment of UT. Moreover, evaluation of both GPx and bLac indicated their possible detection as indicators for prognosis of UT cases, where the concentration of GPx was significantly lower and the concentration of bLac was significantly higher in dead/culled buffaloes with UT.

Water buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) are mainly distributed in tropical and subtropical countries that include the Indian sub-continent and some Mediterranean countries such as Egypt. The transition period is the most stressful period for buffaloes, and it is considered as a turning point in the productive cycle from one lactation to the next and includes different metabolic, physiological, and nutritional changes. Metabolic disorders are common causes of lower productivity in buffaloes. Of these metabolic disorders, ketosis and hypocalcemia are most prevalent. This study aimed to study the ketosis-and hypocalcemia-related biochemical changes during the transition period and their impacts on the postpartum reproductive fertility in Buffaloes. Out of 120 total number of examined buffaloes, 40 buffaloes were used in this study; control group (n=10), hypocalcemia-affected (n=15), and ketosis-affected group (n=15). All buffaloes were subjected to thorough clinical and gynecological examination. Both urine and blood samples were collected from all groups. The amounts of ketone bodies were detected in urine. Biochemical parameters were evaluated including concentrations of glucose, triglycerides, cholesterol, non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA), calcium, phosphorus, sodium, potassium, albumin, total protein, urea and progesterone hormone (P4) in blood the following time-points (2-weeks prepartum, 1-week prepartum, partum, 1-week postpartum, and 2-weeks postpartum). Both hypocalcemia-and ketosis affected buffaloes had lower glucose, phosphorus, sodium and albumin and higher NEFA than control group. Hypocalcemia-affected buffaloes showed lower calcium and higher total protein than control group, while, ketosis-affected buffaloes showed lower cholesterol and total protein than control group. Moreover, metabolic disorders negatively affected the reproductive performance. Both ketosis and hypocalcemia significantly prolonged the duration to first estrus, increased both the number of days-open and the number of services per conception.