Developments in the use of embryo technologies in dairy cows

Publication date: 23/12/2019
Extent: 40 pages

Contributions by: Trudee Fair and Pat Lonergan, University of College Dublin, Ireland

Chapter synopsis: Reproductive technologies offer the opportunity to produce far greater numbers of offspring from genetically valuable dams, than they would normally have in their lifetime. Technologies such as ovum-pickup when applied to harvest oocytes from prepubertal animals provide the means to dramatically reduce the genetic interval, whereas the large number of embryos recovered from multiple ovulation embryo transfer gives greater scope for selection for genetic improvement. When animal breeding programmes couple these technologies with genomic selection based on genome wide assisted selection, the accuracy of selection can be increased further. The current range of interventions that can be applied to breeding programmes provides great scope to increase the efficiency, sustainability and welfare of the dairy industry. This chapter provides an update on current developments in reproductive technologies that are available for routine use and those that are still in the research stage but have the potential to provide solutions for the dairy industry in the future.

DOI: 10.19103/AS.2019.0058.25