A new reciprocal translocation in a subfertile bull

Three bulls of the Montbeliarde breed that exhibited fertility rates lower than 30% following more than 400 artificial inseminations were examined. Se men quality (sperm motility and morphology) from these bulls was normal. Fe rtilizing ability estimated from in vitro embryo production results was stu died for two of them. In vitro production rate was very low for one bull (A ) and normal for other (B). Cytogenetic analyses were carried out on the tr ee bulls using chromosome banding techniques. These analyses revealed a rec iprocal translocation (12;17)(q22;q14) in bull B. Based on family analyses, the hypothesis of a de novo origin of this rearrangement is proposed.