Ovum Pick‐up in Cycling and Lactating Postpartum Swamp Buffaloes (Bubalis bubalis)

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of Ovum Pick Up (OPU) in cycling (n = 5) and lactating, postpartum, swamp buffaloes (n = 6) with and without gonadotropin stimulation. The OPU was performed every two weeks in all groups of animals, for a total of six sessions. Thirty collections were performed in five cycling buffaloes and 36 collections in six lactating postpartum buffaloes. Buffaloes that received hormonal stimulation were given a total of 400 mg, follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), administered twice daily over 3 days in decreasing doses, together with 100 microg of GnRH, 24 h after the last FSH injection. Following a resting period of 1 month, the two groups of buffaloes, were subjected to the same OPU regimen, but without any hormonal treatment for an additional six OPU sessions. The number of aspirated follicles recorded from the hormonal stimulated, cycling animals and lactating, postpartum buffaloes was not significantly different, 7.2 +/- 3.7 and 9.0 +/- 3.2, respectively (p > 0.05). Recovered oocytes collected from the two groups of hormonally stimulated animals were also not statistically different: 3.7 +/- 2.7 in the cycling and 5.9 +/- 3.5 in the lactating postpartum group (p > 0.05). In the two groups of buffaloes not receiving hormonal stimulation, the number of aspirated follicles was not significantly different: 2.1 +/- 1.4 and 1.4 +/- 0.7 in cycling and lactating postpartum buffaloes respectively (p > 0.05). Recovered oocytes in the non-treated groups were also similar: 1.4 +/- 1.3 vs 0.7 +/- 0.8 in cycling and lactating buffaloes (p > 0.05). Among stimulated buffaloes, most aspirated follicles were small in size (< or =5 mm), whereas they were mostly medium and large sizes in the non-treated buffaloes. The oocyte recovery rate in both the groups, cycling and lactating postpartum, were 51.6% and 69.5% in stimulated groups and 55.0% and 53.1% in non-stimulated groups (p > 0.05). The majority of recovered oocytes were single- and multi-layered, and the number was greater in the cycling than in the lactating, postpartum buffaloes. The number and quality of recovered oocytes was similar in all groups of buffaloes whether they were received or did not receive hormonal stimulation. Moreover no difference was found in multi- and single-layered oocytes between cycling and lactating, postpartum buffaloes. In conclusion, OPU can be performed successfully in swamp buffalo in different reproductive status and FSH administration was shown to increase the number of aspirated oocytes in both cycling and lactating, postpartum buffaloes.

Maturation Competence of Swamp Buffalo Oocytes Obtained by Ovum Pick‐Up and from Slaughterhouse Ovaries

“…A discrepancy in genetic background and climate conditions influencing ovarian activity could cause such difference in oocyte production. The yield was similar to that described by Promdireg et al. (2005) (0.7–1.4) obtained in biweekly sessions.…”

“…A discrepancy in genetic background and climate conditions influencing ovarian activity could cause such difference in oocyte production. The yield was similar to that described by Promdireg et al (2005) (0.7-1.4) obtained in biweekly sessions. Seasonal differences (mainly winter season vs mainly rainy season) might underlie this variation as season has been described to influence oocyte recovery rate, being highest in the breeding season (Manjunatha et al 2008).…”

“…To improve in vitro embryo production of the swamp buffalo, adequate time schedules and oocyte collection procedures via the OPU technique need to be evaluated. In swamp buffaloes, no difference in the number and quality of recovered oocytes by biweekly OPU was observed when control and hormonally stimulated buffaloes were compared (Promdireg et al. 2005).…”

Reproduction in the Water Buffalo

“…The benefits derived from this new reproductive technology have become deep rooted thanks to the parallel exploitation and refinements of the developed technique for retrieving oocytes from live animals (Pieterse et al 1991). Ovum pick up (OPU) is known to be a very flexible technique which can be adapted to various physiological conditions, from prepuberal (Presicce et al , 2002Techakumphu et al 2004) to adult (Kruip et al 1994Neglia et al 2003b;Huang et al 2005;Promdireg et al 2005;Gupta et al 2006) cattle and river as well as swamp buffaloes, with and without hormonal stimulation and under different schedules of oocyte collection. In the buffaloes, protocols for in vitro embryo production since the early 90s have been largely derived from cattle, and improved over the years.…”

Taxa de recuperação in vivo e competência in vitro de oócitos bubalinos, zebuínos e taurinos aspirados em diferentes fases da onda de crescimento folicular.

“…ROVIELO; ZICARELLI, 1996;PROMDIREG et al, 2005;GUPTA et al, 2006;MANJUNATHA et al, 2008;MANJUNATHA et al, 2009 Para remover o efeito individual sobre os resultados do estudo, cada fêmea passou por todos os tratamentos, em 3 réplicas realizadas com intervalos de aspiração de 14 dias (incluindo o período de ressincronização da emergência folicular), em delineamento alternado "cross-over", como demonstrado na figura 1.…”