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

对水牛乳制品的需求不断增长，但由于加拿大产奶能力强的雌性水牛数量有限，以及这些动物需要很长时间才能达到性成熟，水牛乳制品的需求无法得到满足。人工授精、胚胎移植、体外胚胎生产和性别分选精液等辅助生殖技术已成为牛育种和选择的重要工具。然而，这些技术并没有完全适应水牛。人们越来越有兴趣利用标记辅助的基因组选择来繁殖在出生时被确认为遗传优势的年轻动物。由于水牛的性成熟年龄延迟(约24个月)，青春期前繁殖将对水牛物种产生显著影响。因此，本研究的目标是制定从2-6月龄青春期前水牛中回收卵母细胞的最佳方案和条件，以及在体外胚胎生产和移植到同步化成年受体后妊娠率的基础上，优化可移植胚胎的产量。该项目的成果将使水牛行业以及胚胎生产和移植公司受益，因为该项目生产的技术能够通过在相当年轻的年龄繁殖最好的基因来加速遗传获得。

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.