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

Thirty-four European fallow deer (Dama dama dama) were randomly alloca ted into embryo donor (n = 12) or embryo recipient (n = 22) groups. Al l does were treated with controlled internal drug release (CIDR) devic es 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 be fore withdrawal of CIDR devices and FSH was given in eight 0.063 unit injections at 12-hourly intervals starting at the time of PMSG adminis tration. 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 dam a mesopotamica). Embryos were recovered by laparotomy on Day 3 (n = 6) or Day 6 (n = 6) after withdrawal of CIDR devices and the ovarian res ponse was determined. In total, 22 embryos were transferred into the o viduct (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 o verall means (+/-s.e.m.) of total follicular response and corpora lute a were 24.2+/-3.5 and 14.1+/-3.6 respectively. The mean number of larg e 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%. Th ere 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 conce ption rate was 54.5%.