HARVESTED EMBRYOS ASSESSMENT FOLLOWING POLIOVULATION USING FSH IN COWS WITH A VIEW TO THE BIODIVERSITY OF THE SPECIES

The paper aimed to present the possibility of obtaining a larger number of calves from valuable cows, increasing their contribution to genetic progress, completing the amelioration programs by artificial insemination, using poliovulation and embryo transfer. We used in this study 15 donor cows from the Montbeliarde breed belonging to three different farms from southern Romania. The current paper presents poliovulation results with a view to the number and quality of embryos harvested following the FSH poliovulation in decreasing doses. In the 16-th day of the protocol, the embryos were harvested and morphologically assessed before transferring or freezing them. After harvesting the embryos through the lavage of the uterine horns, they were transferred in special plates and they were identified employing a Nikon magnifier loupe. They were also evaluated employing an inverted Nikon Eclipse TS 100 microscope. Following the morphological assessment of the 116 harvested formations, they were classified as follows: 2 compact morulas (1.72%), 94 early blastocysts (81.03%), 13 blastocysts (11.21%) and 7 unfertilized ovules (6.03%). By employing this protocol, there were no instances of cystisation of ovarian follicles. This fact proves that the FSH administered in decreasing doses leads to a very uniform ovulation and, implicitly, to a smaller number of late ovulated follicles as compared to other poliovulation protocols.