Development of Methods for the Consistent Production of Transferable Embryos from Oocytes Collected from Mediterranean Buffalo Donors at Prepubertal Ages

由于加拿大产奶量高的雌性水牛数量有限，而且这些动物需要很长时间才能达到性成熟，因此对水牛乳制品的需求不断增长。人工授精、胚胎移植、体外胚胎生产和精液性别分类等辅助生殖技术已成为牛育种和选择计划的重要工具。然而，这些技术并没有完全适用于水牛。人们越来越有兴趣利用标记辅助基因组选择来繁殖在出生时被鉴定为遗传优越的幼仔动物。由于水牛的性成熟年龄较晚（约24个月），其青春期前繁殖对水牛有显著影响。因此，本研究的目标是制定优化2-6月龄青春期前水牛卵母细胞数量和质量的方案和条件，以及优化体外胚胎生产后的可移植胚胎产量和移植到同步成年受体后的妊娠率。该项目的成果将使水牛产业以及胚胎生产和转移公司受益，因为该技术能够通过使最佳基因在更年轻的年龄繁殖来加速遗传增益。

There is a growing demand for buffalo dairy products that cannot be met because of the limited number of females of good milk productivity available in Canada and the very long time it takes for these animals to achieve sexual maturity. Assisted reproductive technologies such as artificial insemination, embryo transfer, in vitro embryo production and sex-sorted semen have become important tools in bovine breeding and selection programs. However, these technologies have not been entirely adapted to buffalos. There is growing interest in reproducing young animals that are identified as genetically superior around the time of birth, using marker-assisted genomic selection. Prepubertal reproduction would have outstanding impact in the buffalo species given their delayed age of sexual maturity (~24 months). Therefore, the goal of this research project is to develop protocols and conditions for optimized number and quality of oocytes recovered from prepubertal water buffalos of 2-6 months of age, as well as optimized yield of transferable embryos following in vitro embryo production and pregnancy rates after transfer into synchronized adult recipients. The results from this project will benefit the water buffalo industry, as well as embryo production and transfer companies, by producing technology capable of accelerating genetic gain through enabling the propagation of the best genetics at significantly younger ages.