Abstract:
The embryo transfer technique expands every year in Brazil, being considered a strategy to increase the reproductive rates and genetic gain of the herds. The objective of this study was to evaluate the data provided by a commercial laboratory for the production of bovine embryos in vitro using sexed semen. The effect of the season of the year on the quantity and viability of the aspirated oocytes and the embryos produced from January to December 2017 was evaluated. The performance of the Veterinarian who performed follicular aspiration was also verified. A total of 1,296 follicular aspiration procedures were performed, 15,858 oocytes (mean of 12.2 oocytes per aspiration) were aspirated, resulting in the production of 3,779 embryos (23.8% of oocytes aspirated). The results were submitted to statistical analysis, considering the level of significance of 5%. In relation to the time of year, only the cleavage rate presented variation, being significantly lower in the spring (P = 0.0150). However, in relation to the efficiency of the Veterinarian who performed the follicular aspiration procedure, a significant influence was observed in the amount of viable oocytes in the field (P = 0.001) and in the laboratory (P = 0.0002), in the cleavage rate ( P = 0.0008), the number of embryos sent to the field (P = 0.0130), and the total rate of embryos produced (P = 0.0376). In general, the efficiency of the Veterinarian is not considered one of the factors that directly influence the results of PIVE, however, this reality must be reassessed and studied, deserving greater importance on the part of the researchers.
