Induction of Twins in Different Breeds of Cattle

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted examining bilateral transfer of Hereford X Angus crossbred embryos to Angus, Hereford and Hereford x Angus crossbred recipients. In Exp. 1, both virgin heifers and parous cows were used as recipients, in Exp. 2, only virgin heifers were used. No differences in production of twins due to breed of recipient was observed. In Exp. 1, heifers had as high a twinning rate and proportion of pregnancies carried to term as cows. About 9% of the heifers in Exp. 2 experienced late gestation abortion (based on recipients pregnant at 42 d), a problem which was not observed among heifers in Exp. 1. No association between body weight at transfer and abortion was observed. Twin pregnancy was associated with a higher incidence of retained placentas (Exp. 1, P less than .05; Exp. 2, P less than .10), lower birth weight/calf (P less than .01 in both experiments) and shorter gestation period (P less than .01 in both experiments). Calf mortality at birth was similar among twins and singles and, in Exp. 2, a lower (P less than .02) incidence of dystocia was observed among heifers giving birth to twins than among those with single calves. The results of these experiments indicate that both beef heifers and beef cows of three common breed types are capable of maintaining twin pregnancies and successfully producing twins.

The effect of twinning on milk yield, dystocia, calf birth weight and open days in Holstein dairy cows of Iran

“…(1991) stated dystocia rate as 11.8% and 30% for dairy cows at first and second lactations respectively. In addition, inconsistent with the results of this study, Mee (1991) and Anderson et al. (1982) stated that the higher incidence of dystocia was observed for single births than twin ones.…”

“…The results of the current study indicated the higher incidence of dystocia in heifers than multiparous cows and contrary to these results, Berry et al (1991) stated dystocia rate as 11.8% and 30% for dairy cows at first and second lactations respectively. In addition, inconsistent with the results of this study, Mee (1991) and Anderson et al (1982) stated that the higher incidence of dystocia was observed for single births than twin ones. Guerra-Martinez et al (1990) reported the dystocia rate being 37.3% and 21.6% for singleand twin-calved heifers and the differences between single-and twin-calved heifers were significant (p < 0.05).…”

Twin pregnancy diagnosis and early embryonic loss after bilateral egg transfer in beef cattle.

“…107, the twin pregnancy rate and average number of fetuses were 54.2% and 1.54, respectively. The total pregnancy rate and the twin pregnancy rate in bilateral egg transferred cows were reported 54-76% and 56-76% in surgical methods (Rowson et al, 1971;Sreenan et al, 1975;Sreenan and Beehan, 1976;Anderson et al, 1978;Anderson et al, 1979;Newcomb et al, 1980;Anderson et al, 1982) and 57-60% and 50-52% in nonsurgical methods (Renard et al, 1977;Heyman and Renard, 1978), respectively. The results of total pregnancy rate and twin pregnancy rate in this study were similar to those reported by Renard et al (1977), Heyman and Renard (1978), and these values were considerably higher than those obtained in the unilateral twin egg transfers in Japanese Black cows (Suzuki et al, 1986).…”

“…(Accepted for publication August 2, 1988) For inducing twin, Greve and Del Campo (1986) (Rowson et al, 1971;Sreenan et al, 1975;Renard et al, 1977;Heyman and Renard, 1978;Newcomb et al, 1980;Anderson et al, 1982). A little information is available in the literature on embryonic mortality in bilateral pregnancies (Sreenan et al, 1975;Sreenan and Diskin, 1987 …”

Sexing and detection of gene construct in microinjected bovine blastocysts using the polymerase chain reaction

“…In cattle, embryo sexing would allow multiple transfers of embryos of like sex in cases where embryo viability is expected to be low, thus eliminating the incidence of freemartins resulting from heterosexual twin births (Horton et al, 1980;Anderson et al, 1982).…”