The Effects of Unsaturated Fatty Acid Supplementation to Ration on Superovulation Performance and Embryo Quality of Donor Cows

Serdal Çoban,Zeynep Erdoğan

doi:10.15832/ankutbd.618716

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the effects of omega-3 (α-linolenic acid) fatty acid supplementation to donor cow rations on superovulation performance, embryo number and quality, and blood-progesterone levels. The study was carried out with two groups, each consisting of 10 black-and-white breed dairy cows. Control group was fed with the basic ration prepared, and the experimental group was fed with the ration added with omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) source at a level of 3.82% of the basic ration dry matter (DM) for 60 days training period. Thus, each of experimental group’s cow consumed 900 g-day feed additives consisting 149.4 g omega-3 daily. The superovulation protocol was started at the 40th day of feeding period. According to the findings of the study, the difference between the groups in terms of the response to superovulation was found to be insignificant (P>0.05). Similarly, there was no significant difference in blood progesterone levels between the groups (P>0.05). However, the difference between the control group and the experimental group in terms of transferable and non-transferable embryo rates was found to be significantly important (P<0.05). The total number of transferred embryos was determined as 37 in the experimental group and 79 in the control group. The total number of non-transferable embryos was recorded as 78 in the trial group and 43 in the control group. At the end of the study, it was concluded that supplementation to donor cow rations with omega-3 fatty acid sources might have a negative effects on transferrable embryo number and quality.

Highlights

Embryo transfer applications are one of the main techniques for making progress in animal breeding
The present study aimed to investigate the possible effects of omega-3 fatty acid addition source to the ration of donor cows on follicle development, superovulation performance and quality and number of embryos obtained from the application
Embryos classified as 1st, 2nd and 3rd quality were assessed as transferable embryos, while degenerate embryos and unfertilized oocytes (UFO) and degenerate oocytes were accepted as non-transferable embryos

Summary

Introduction

Embryo transfer applications are one of the main techniques for making progress in animal breeding. It has been accepted that the positive effects of the addition of fat to the ration on fertility are not due to the improvement in the energy status of the cows, but due to the use of high amounts of specific fatty acids (Mattos et al 2000; Santos et al 2008; Leroy et al 2013). In this case, the most emphasized issue has been long-chain unsaturated fatty acids which are omega-3, omega-6 and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) (Şirin & Kuran 2004; Elis et al 2016)

Methods

Results

Conclusion