Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to examine ovulation rates and embryo numbers and quality in goats of feral origin following treatment with either Folltropin (Vetrepharm Inc., Ontario, Canada) or Ovagen (Immnno-Chemical Products Ltd., Auckland).
The mean ± s.e.m. numbers of corpora Intea (CL) and embryos recovered after Ovagen treatment (N = 17 animals) were 16.2 ± 2.1 and 12.6 ± 1.9 respectively whereas after Folltropin treatment (N = 18 animals), the respective numbers were 16.3 ± 1.8 and 10.2 ± 1.6. The mean ± s.e.m. numbers of good (i.e. transferable) embryos were 11.1 ± 1.8 in the Ovagen group and 7.9 ± 1.4 in the Folltropin group. All the above values for each of the treatment groups were not significantly different from one another. There was a significant linear relationship between the number of CL and number of embryos (p<0.01; R = 0.925) after Ovagen treatment whereas there was no significant relationship after Folltropin treatment (p>0.05; R = 0.461). The proportions of animals producing more than five recoverable embryos after Ovagen (i.e. 76%) or Folltropin treatment (i.e. 72%) were similar although 22% of the Folltropin treated animals produced abnormal or prematurely regressing CL whereas no such CL were found after Ovagen treatment.