Beneficial effects of a high fibre diet on oocyte maturity and embryo survival in gilts

Abstract

The present study examined the effects of feeding gilts a high fibre diet from the third post-pubertal oestrus until either day 19 of the same cycle or insemination at the following oestrus on oocyte maturity, embryo survival and associated changes in reproductive hormone concentrations. Gilts fed with the high fibre diet had lower circulating oestradiol concentrations on days 17, 18 and 19 of the cycle and increased LH pulse frequency on day 18. More oocytes recovered on day 19 from gilts receiving the high fibre diet were at metaphase II after 46-h culture in medium containing 10% of their own follicular fluid, despite fewer large (O7 mm) follicles in these gilts when compared with control animals. There was no effect of diet on ovulation rate, corpora lutea size or progesterone concentrations on days 10-12 after insemination, but embryo survival on days 27-29 after insemination was higher in gilts that received the high fibre diet. This study demonstrates that a high fibre diet that increases embryo survival also improves oocyte maturity and provides information on endocrine correlates that may shed light on underlying mechanisms.

Effects of a lignin-rich fibre diet on productive, reproductive and endocrine parameters in nulliparous rabbit does

“…The inhibitory effect of E 2 on the LH pulse is also shown in other species, including rats (Blake, 1974), sheep (Diekman and Malven, 1973), and monkeys (Yamaji et al, 1972). Thus, a decreased concentration of circulating steroids may be one of the hormonal mechanisms responsible for improved oocyte quality (Ferguson et al, 2007). In spontaneously-ovulating species, the preovulatory E 2 surge reflects the optimal condition of preovulatory follicles and oestrous behaviour; however, the plasma E 2 concentration does not exactly predict the sexual receptivity in rabbit does (Rebollar et al, 1992).…”

“…Altered nutritional regimens prior to mating can influence ovarian function, including follicle and oocyte characteristics (Quesnel et al, 1998;Yang et al, 2000;Ferguson et al, 2007). Measurements of E 2 levels have been commonly used to assess antral follicular growth and their steroidogenic capacity (Wallach and Noriega, 1970;Lefèvre and Caillol, 1978;Rebollar et al, 1992;Kermabon et al, 1994).…”

“…In cattle, restricting the energy intake enhances the cleavage rate (Adamiak et al, 2006) and subsequent in vitro development of the oocytes (McEvoy et al, 1997) of heifers offered high-fibre diets versus those fed with high starch diets. Also, feeding a high-fibre diet during the oestrous cycle before mating has been found to alter preovulatory endocrinology (Ferguson et al, 2007), and improve oocyte maturity and increase embryo survival in gilts (Ferguson et al, 2006).…”

Nutritional effects on oocyte and embryo development in mammals: implications for reproductive efficiency and environmental sustainability

“…Examples include increased pre-mating feed intake in pigs (Zak et al 1997;Ferguson et al 2003) and feeding a highfibre diet to gilts during the oestrous cycle preceding mating (Ferguson et al 2007). In sheep, ewes that were fed 60 per cent of control rations for eight weeks prior to oocyte collection had poorer quality oocytes and lower rates of blastocyst formation (Borowczyk et al 2006).…”

Comparison of the behaviour of piglets raised in an artificial rearing system or reared by the sow

“…Literature review 4 increase in litter size was also observed in sows which had previously litters of 12 or less piglets and were then fed with supplementary dextrose and lactose during the last week of gestation and lactation (Van den Brand et al, 2009). A positive impact on oocyte maturity and embryo survival was also noted when gilts were fed with high fibre diets (Ferguson et al, 2006(Ferguson et al, , 2007.…”