Effect of inbreeding on yield and quality of embryos recovered from superovulated Holstein cows

Authors: JIRI BEZDICEK, LUDEK STADNIK, ALEXANDER MAKAREVICH, ELENA KUBOVICOVA, FRANTISEK LOUDA, ZDENKA HEGEDUSOVA, RADEK HOLASEK, JAN BERAN, MICHAELA NEJDLOVA

Abstract: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of inbreeding on the yield and quality of bovine embryos. The data were obtained from 125 Holstein cows superovulated on 3 farms in the Czech Republic. In total, 125 flushings of embryos were analyzed, from which 761 embryos were obtained. Of all donors, 36 cows were inbred (199 embryos) and 89 cows were noninbred (562 embryos). The inbred cows were divided into 2 groups according to their inbreeding coefficient (FX) level. The low FX group (FX 1.26%-1.56%) had 23 cows and 147 embryos, and the high FX group (FX 3.1%-25%) was represented by 13 cows and 52 embryos. The average value of the FX coefficient in inbred cows was 6.552%. The data were subsequently analyzed using PROC GLM of SAS as descriptive statistics and t-tests (SAS/STAT® 9. 1., 2009). All evaluated traits in inbred cows had worse results than noninbred cows. Although there were poorer results for inbred versus noninbred cows, the differences were not great at lower FX values and were not statistically significant. Important and significant differences (P ≤ 0.05) were found in the proportion of transferable embryos and unfertilized oocytes at higher rates of FX.

Keywords: Holstein, inbreeding, embryos

Full Text: PDF