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Abstract

After the collection of in vivo produced livestock embryos, they are normally evaluated under high magnification (minimum of 80X) with the aid of an inverted or stereo microscope. The Grade 1 embryos will give the best conception results when transferred to synchronize recipient female animals, while the Grade 3 embryos will give the worst results. The aim of the present study was to culture all three quality grades of in vivo produced pre-compacted morula-stage embryos of sheep, goats and cows in two different culture media and then compare the development of the embryos by evaluating the number of embryos reaching the hatched blastocyst stage. The results have shown that there were no significant differences between the development of the Grade 1 and the Grade 2 embryos from any of the three species when either cultured in TCM-199 or heat inactivated early pregnancy-stage (<60 d) bovine amniotic fluid (BAF) as culture media. Significantly more in vivo produced Grade 3 pre-compacted morula-stage sheep, goat and cow embryos, however, developed to the hatched blastocyst stage when cultured in BAF with 10% FBS and antibiotics, compared to culture in TCM-199 with 10% FBS and antibiotics (p<0.05).

Biography

Daniel M. Barry has completed his veterinary degree at the age of 23 years from the University of Pretoria, South Africa, and his master and doctoral degrees (cum laude) from the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. He is presently a professor and head of the department of Animal Science at the University of Venda, South Africa. He was elected as Agricultural Scientist in South Africa in 2003 after being the team leader in the embryo and stem cell development project at the International Space Station in outer space the previous year.