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

对布法罗乳制品的需求不断增长，但由于加拿大具有良好产奶能力的雌性数量有限，而且这些动物达到性成熟需要很长时间，因此无法满足需求。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计划的重要工具。然而，这些技术还没有完全适应水牛。利用标记辅助的基因组选择，繁殖在出生时被鉴定为遗传上上级的年轻动物的兴趣越来越大。青春期前生殖对布法罗物种具有显著影响，因为它们的性成熟年龄较晚（约24个月）。因此，本研究项目的目标是开发方案和条件，以优化从2-6个月龄的青春期前水牛中回收的卵母细胞的数量和质量，以及体外胚胎生产后可转移胚胎的最佳产量和转移到同步成年受体后的妊娠率。该项目的成果将使布法罗产业以及胚胎生产和转移公司受益，因为它产生了能够通过在明显更年轻的年龄繁殖最佳遗传基因来加速遗传增益的技术。

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.