Cattle Embryo Growth Development and Viabilty.

Abstract

A major problem for the cattle breeding industry is the high rate of early embryo loss which compromises reproductive efficiency and genetic improvement, resulting in serious financial loss to farmers. An important part of the Teagasc research programme in this area is the investigation of basic parameters of cattle embryo growth, development and viability during the critical period when most of the embryo loss occurs. We have now characterised this period of embryo development and to our knowledge, this is the first report describing the morphology, growth rate, protein content and metabolic activity of cattle embryos during this period. The main results are summarised here and detailed results have been published in the papers listed at the end of this report. Embryo growth rate and protein content increased exponentially between days 8 and 13 after fertilisation. Furthermore, there was a high rate of protein synthetic activity, energy and amino acid metabolism and signal transduction activity, all reaching a peak between days 8 and 13 after fertilisation. Because of the high rate of metabolic activity evident during this time it is likely that the embryos are very susceptible to environmental changes that have the potential to interfere with normal developmental mechanisms. The results arising from this project suggest that the critical period of early embryo loss in cattle may now be narrowed to a time window of day 8 to 13 rather than day 8 to 16 as presumed up to now. The main results are summarised.