Oocyte quality in adapted Bos taurus taurus cows

Abstract

The objective of the current study was to determine the performance of creole cows of the Chino Santandereano breed in the ultrasound-guided follicular aspiration technique (OPU) and the quality of oocytes recovered. A total of 15 multiparous cows were selected from a herd located in the department of Santander with tropical climate. The cows were submitted to 5 sessions of follicular aspiration with an interval of 45 days. In each aspiration session, 7.9 ± 0.7 oocytes were recovered per cow, with a recovery rate of 64.9% ± 0.5 and a rate of viable and non-viable oocytes of 64.3% ± 0.6 and 35.7% ± 0.7, respectively. A difference (P < 0.05) in oocyte quality was presented for grades I, II and III (7.7 ± 0.4, 19.8 ± 0.5 and 36.8 ± 0.5, respectively). The results suggest that Chino Santandereano cows submitted to the OPU technique have a higher percentage of grade III oocytes recovered.

Keywords:

• Bovines
• creole breeds
• follicular aspiration
• oocytes

Acknowledgments

The authors thank La Silva cattle raising, located in the department of Santander (Colombia), for the loan of the animals under study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was financed by the University of Santander (Colombia), through project No. FI05-19, and by the La Silva cattle ranch for its in-kind contributions.