SUCCESSFUL EMBRYO-TRANSFER FOLLOWING ARTIFICIAL-INSEMINATION OF SUPEROVULATED FALLOW DEER (DAMA-DAMA)

Thirty-four European fallow deer (Dama dama dama) were randomly allocated into embryo donor (n = 12) or embryo recipient (n = 22) groups. All does were treated with controlled internal drug release (CIDR) devices for 14 days. Animals in the embryo donor group were further treated with 200 I.U. pregnant mare serum gonadotrophin (PMSG) and 0.5 units ovine follide-stimulating hormone (FSH). PMSG was administered 72 h before withdrawal of CIDR devices and FSH was given in eight 0.063 unit injections at 12-hourly intervals starting at the time of PMSG administration. All embryo donor animals were inseminated, by laparoscopy in both uterine hems, 36 h after withdrawal of CIDR devices with 25 x 10(6) fresh spermatozoa collected from Mesopotamian fallow deer (Dama dama mesopotamica). Embryos were recovered by laparotomy on Day 3 (n = 6) or Day 6 (n = 6) after withdrawal of CIDR devices and the ovarian response was determined. In total, 22 embryos were transferred into the oviduct (2-4-cell stage, n = 14) or uterine horn (morula stage, n = 8) on Day 3 or Day 6 after withdrawal of CIDR devices respectively. The overall means (+/-s.e.m.) of total follicular response and corpora lutea were 24.2+/-3.5 and 14.1+/-3.6 respectively. The mean number of large unruptured follicles was higher on Day 6 than on Day 3 (13.5+/-2.9 v. 6.7+/-1.3, P < 0.05). The overall embryo recovery rate was 45.8%. There was no difference in pregnancy rate following transfer of embryos on either Day 3 or Day 6 (7/14 v. 5/8 respectively). The overall conception rate was 54.5%.