Upgrading the fixed-time artificial insemination (FTAI) protocol in Romanian buffaloes

Poor udder health can have a negative impact on milk production and reproductive performance, which reduces the net present value (NPV) of dairy farms. The aim of this study is therefore to investigate the relationship between clinical mastitis and NPV and the financial impact of impaired reproductive function. For this purpose, 473 dairy cows were included in our study, 146 cows with clinical mastitis (CM group) and 327 clinically healthy cows (CH group) from a high-yielding dairy farm in Romania, milking approximately 780 dairy cows with an average milk production of 46 kg milk/day. We found that, in contrast to CH cows, CM cows had a significantly lower conception rate at first service (58.2% vs. 41.7%, p < 0.05), third service (45.3% vs. 30.2%, p < 0.05), and total services (49.2% vs. 36.4%, p < 0.05). However, this positive effect was not observed for the average days open, which were significantly lower in CM cows than in CH cows (112 ± 4.3 days vs. 142 ± 3.1 days, p < 0.05). The fact that the non-pregnant CH cows had higher somatic cell counts (>400,000 SCC/mL) in their milk around artificial insemination (AI) and 1 month earlier than the pregnant cows (<250,000 SCC/ml) supports the idea that poor uterine health affects the reproductive activity of high-yielding cows. However, by using the UW-DairyRepro$ decision support tool, we found that despite the impairment of reproductive function in dairy cows, the largest negative impacts on NPV are still the cost of milk loss (US$14,439.4/farm/year) and treatment costs (US$4,380/farm/year). We considered the costs associated with poor reproductive function in the CM group (US$3,577/farm/year) as an additional cost of mastitis. Finally, it appears that the impact of mastitis on reproduction is associated with a lower chance of conception than it is with a daily risk of services.

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mastitis impact on high-yielding dairy farm’s reproduction and net present value

Borş,

Floriștean

2024

“…However, reproduction techniques applied in this sector are facing several challenges such as: silent heat ( 2 , 3 ) and unsatisfactory oestrus detection ( 4 – 6 ), anestrus ( 2 ), ( 7 ) seasonal infertility ( 8 , 9 ), longer calving intervals ( 10 , 11 ), delayed puberty ( 12 , 13 ) and specific low number of primordial follicles ( 14 ) along with the high rate of atresia and apoptosis ( 13 , 15 ). While these limiting characteristics specific to the female component can be diminished by applying different synchronization protocols ( 16 – 18 ), the use of high-quality semen has to be also addressed for the optimisation of fixed time insemination. Recently, important countries for the buffalo industry have raised concerns regarding the decreased availability of sires with high genetic quality and poor capability of some individuals to qualify for semen collection ( 19 ), highlighting the importance of semen selection and preservation in this sector.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New insights into semen separation techniques in buffaloes

Andrei,

Posastiuc,

Constantin

et al. 2024

Male infertility is frequently caused by idiopathic or unexplained reasons, resulting in an increase in demand for assisted reproductive technologies. In buffaloes, more than in other animals due to reproductive hardiness, successful fertilization needs spermatozoa to effectively transit the female reproductive system to reach the oocyte. This mechanism naturally picks high-quality sperm cells for conception, but when artificial reproductive technologies such as in vitro fertilization, intracytoplasmic sperm injection, or intrauterine insemination are utilized, alternative techniques of sperm selection are necessary. Currently, technology allows for sperm sorting based on motility, maturity, the lack of apoptotic components, proper morphology, and even sex. This study provides current knowledge on all known techniques of sperm cell sorting in buffaloes, evaluates their efficiency, and discusses the benefits and drawbacks of each approach.

“…An irreplaceable milk producer in tropical countries, Buffalo suffers from several reproductive limitations, e.g., silent estrous expression, low conception rate, seasonal fluctuations in fertility, long calving intervals and a low number of primordial follicles (1)(2)(3). Adept implementation and use of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) have been suggested as measures to overcome these physiological limitations and for the fast propagation of superior germplasm (4)(5)(6)(7).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transient suppression of Wnt signaling in poor-quality buffalo oocytes improves their developmental competence

Ahuja,

Batra,

Kumar

et al. 2024

IntroductionOne of the most evolutionary conserved communication systems, the Wnt signaling pathway is a major gene regulatory pathway that affects the developmental competence of oocytes and regulates most embryonic developmental processes. The present study was undertaken to modulate the canonical Wnt (Wingless/integration) signaling pathway in the poor-quality (colorless cytoplasm after Brilliant Cresyl Blue staining, BCB-) buffalo cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) to improve their in vitro maturation (IVM) and embryo production (IVEP) rates.MethodsThe expression of key Wnt pathway genes was initially assessed in the good (blue cytoplasm after Brilliant Cresyl Blue staining, BCB+) and poor quality (BCB-) buffalo COCs to establish a differential activity of the Wnt pathway. The BCB- COCs were supplemented with the Wnt pathway inhibitor, Dickkopf-related protein 1 (DKK1) and later subjected to IVM and IVEP along with the BCB+ and BCB- controls. The cumulus expansion index (CEI), rate of nuclear maturation (mean percentage of oocytes in the MII stage) and embryo production, and the expression of developmentally important genes were evaluated to assess the effect of Wnt pathway inhibition on the development competence of these poor-quality oocytes.ResultsThe Wnt pathway genes exhibited a significantly higher expression (p < 0.05) in the poor-quality BCB- oocytes compared to the good-quality BCB+ oocytes during the early maturation stages. The supplementation of BCB- COCs with 100 ng/mL DKK1 effectively inhibited the expression of the key mediators of the Wnt pathway (β-catenin and dishevelled homolog 1, DVL1). DKK1 supplemented BCB- COCs exhibited significantly improved cytoplasmic and nuclear maturation indices, development rates and significantly elevated expression (p < 0.05) of genes implicated in germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD) and embryonic genome activation (EGA) vis-à-vis BCB- control COCs.ConclusionThese data indicate that inhibition of the Wnt pathway during the initial course of oocyte maturation can improve the development competence of poor-quality buffalo oocytes.