Improved reproductive response of sheep in intrauterine insemination program with the use of royal jelly

The objective of the present study was to evaluate estrus and conception rates obtained with the use of progesterone (P4) cream in intravaginal sponges in conjunction with equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG) or eCG plus royal jelly (RJ) given at the time of sponge withdrawal. A total of 365 fat tailed ewes were assigned randomly to two treatment groups: insertion of intravaginal sponge containing 30 mg (LNP; n = 188) or 60 mg (HNP; n = 177) progesterone for 12 days. For each treatment, 300 or 600 IU of eCG were compared with 100 or 300 IU of eCG plus 500 mg of RJ to assess the effect on reproductive parameters of ewes inseminated laparoscopically in the anoestrus season. Ewes in each group were inseminated with fresh diluted semen (10 × 107 sperm per insemination dose). Inseminations were carried out 11 to 18 h after the first detection of estrus. Pregnancy diagnosis was done at approximately 55 days after insemination. For the 30 and 60 mg natural progesterone treated groups, estrous (22.3 versus 30.5%) and conception rates (50.0% for both treatments) did not differ significantly. Ewes that received 300 IU eCG plus 500 mg RJ had higher (P>0.05) conception rates (66.7 versus 47.6 and 40.0%) than those treated with only eCG (300 or 600 IU) at sponge removal. There was a significant (P≤0.05) delay in onset of estrus in ewes treated with 100 IU eCG plus 500 mg RJ when compared with the other treatment groups.Keywords: Royal jelly, equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG), natural progesterone, artificial insemination, ew

Sex ratio of lambs born from assisted reproductive technologies

The objective of the present study was to investigate sex ratio of offspring resulting from superstimulated donors from two different breeds and artificially inseminated ewes from three different breeds. Romanov (n = 5) and Charollais (n = 6) (2 - 7 years of age) donors were superovulated using FSH-p with 400 mg NIH-FSH-P1 (total of 20 mg). Six days embryos were recovered surgically and grade 1 embryos (IETS classification) were  frozen in ethylene glycol. Embryos (n = 154) were transferred into recipient ewes in pairs. A total 267 fat tailed ewes were synchronized (60 mg MAP and 600 I.U. PMSG) and inseminated with fresh diluted semen (10 x 107). Percentage for female sex ratio (64%) of offspring born from frozen thawed embryos differed significantly (P < 0.05) than expected ratio of 50:50. Lambing rates for recipient carried Romanov embryos (73.8%) was significantly higher (P < 0.05) than those carried Charollais embryos (57.1%). Pregnancy rates of artificially inseminated ewes were differed (P < 0.05) at time of insemination. Sex ratios of offspring were found similar among ewes with different breeds, inseminated in different times and with different vaginal mucus electric resistance. In summary, there is an advantage in the sex ratio obtained when using superstimulated ewes