Production, freezing and transfer of embryos from a bluetongue-infected goat herd without bluetongue transmission.
In order to import non-seasonal Creole goats from the Carribean to Europe for an experimental purpose, thirty Creole goats were treated with 10 mg of FSH; embryos were collected at slaughter, washed and deep frozen. After rapid thawing, they were reimplanted surgically into European dairy goats. Twenty-four females ovulated but only 17 of the ovulating females had functional corpora lutea (CL) at collection. Ovulation rate (CL goat ) and recovery rate (embryo CL ) were 13.8 and 78% for females with functional CL. Of 191 embryonic structures collected, 79% were considered suitable for deep freezing: 23% were young blastocysts, 47% were expanded blastocysts, and 30% were zona-pellucida (zp)-free and zp-damaged embryos. Seventy-eight embryos were thawed and 63 were reimplanted. Sixty-eight percent of the recipient females delivered 19 kids. The percentage of kids born relative to good-quality re-implanted embryos was higher for zp-free embryos (64%) than for young and expanded blastocyts (36%). Forty-seven percent of the donor females had strong positive serological reactions for bluetongue virus antibodies against serotypes 6 and 14. However, no recipient goats or newborn kids were positive. Virus isolation attempts on the collection media and last embryo washes were negative.
Chemineau
P
P
Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (I.N.R.A.), Physiologie de la Reproduction - 37380 Nouzilly, France.
Procureur
R
R
Cognié
Y
Y
Lefèvre
P C
PC
Locatelli
A
A
Chupin
D
D