THE DURATION OF OVULATION IN PIGS, STUDIED BY TRANSRECTAL ULTRASONOGRAPHY, IS NOT RELATED TO EARLY EMBRYONIC DIVERSITY

The duration of ovulation in pigs was studied by transrectal ultrasonography. The number of preovulatory follicles was counted on both ovaries at 30-minute intervals from 36 hours after the onset of estrus (Group A: naturally ovulating sows that were group-housed and were inseminated and caged during scanning) or 40 hours after treatment with human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) (Group B: tethered sows that had been induced to ovulate but were not inseminated). The duration of ovulation was (mean +/- SD) 1.8 +/- 0.6 hours (range 0.75 to 3.25) in Group A (n = 13) and 4.6 +/- 1.7 hours (range 2.0 to 7.0) in Group B (n = 8). The difference was significant (P < 0.01). In Group A and B sows, respectively, the course of ovulation, expressed as the relation between the relative follicle count (percentage of the maximum follicle count; Y) and the time (percentage of the duration of ovulation; X) was: Y = 104.3*e-0.023*X (R2 = 0.95) and Y = 98.9*e-0.018*X (R2 = 0.92). The onset of ovulation occurred at approximately two-thirds of the duration of the estrus (Group A: 67 +/- 6%; Group B: 60 +/- 10%). Group A sows were artificially inseminated and were slaughtered at 98 +/- 8 hours (range 77 to 1 10) after ovulation. The difference between the maximum follicle count and the corpora lutea count was zero or only 1 in 81% (21/26) of the ovaries. Embryonic diversity (within-litter SD of the number of nuclei or of the number of cell cycles) was not related to the duration of ovulation, neither at the level of ovary nor of sow (P > 0.05). In conclusion, transrectal ultrasonography was found to be an appropriate nonsurgical method of studying the duration of ovulation in pigs. The duration of ovulation varied both between sows and between groups of sows, and was not related to early embryonic diversity.