title: Pregnancy rates and births after unilateral or bilateral transfer of bovine embryos produced in vitro.
abstract: Late morulae and blastocysts produced in vitro were nonsurgically transferred to heifers by unilateral (n = 184) or bilateral (n = 94) transfer. Of the recipients, 58% had serum progesterone values greater than 1.4 ng ml-1 on day 21 and rectal palpation on day 35 showed that 50% (138 of 278) were pregnant. The embryonic mortality rate between days 21 and 35 was estimated to be about 14% and between days 36 and 90 to be about 12%. Of the animals, 8% aborted between days 91 and 250 of pregnancy. No difference was observed in pregnancy rates between unilateral transfer of one (47%) or two embryos (49%) and bilateral transfer (53%), or in the twinning rate between bilateral transfer (42%) and unilateral transfer of two embryos (33%). The pregnancy rate was 54% with embryos evaluated as morphologically excellent or good, 51% with fair embryos and 26% with poor ones. A higher pregnancy rate (60%) was obtained after embryo transfer when the synchrony between recipient and embryo was -1 day.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Animal Breeding, Ludwig-Maximilian University, München, Germany.
authors.forename: H D
authors.initials: HD
authors.lastname: Reichenbach
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liebrich
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Berg
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Brem
mesh_terms: D000034:Abortion, Veterinary / Q000453:epidemiology; D000818:Animals; D001724:Birth Weight; D002417:Cattle / Q000502:physiology*; D002585:Cesarean Section / Q000662:veterinary; D004420:Dystocia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary; D004624:Embryo Transfer / Q000662:veterinary*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome / Q000662:veterinary*; D011258:Pregnancy Tests / Q000662:veterinary; D011270:Pregnancy, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D011374:Progesterone / Q000097:blood; D012744:Sex Ratio; D014427:Twins
chemical_list: D011374:Progesterone