Bulls fed a high-gain diet decrease blastocyst formation after in vitro fertilization.

In brief: Paternal high-gain diet reduces blastocyst development following in vitro fertilization and embryo culture but does not affect gene expression or cellular allocation of resultant blastocysts. Abstract: Bulls used in cattle production are often overfed to induce rapid growth, early puberty, and increase sale price. While the negative consequences of undernutrition on bull sperm quality are known, it is unclear how a high-gain diet influences embryo development. We hypothesized that semen collected from bulls fed a high-gain diet would have a reduced capacity to produce blastocysts following in vitro fertilization. Eight mature bulls were stratified by body weight and fed the same diet for 67 days at either a maintenance level (0.5% body weight per day; n = 4) or a high-gain rate (1.25% body weight per day; n = 4). Semen was collected by electroejaculation at the end of the feeding regimen and subjected to sperm analysis, frozen, and used for in vitro fertilization. The high-gain diet increased body weight, average daily gain, and subcutaneous fat thickness compared to the maintenance diet. Sperm of high-gain bulls tended to have increased early necrosis and had increased post-thaw acrosome damage compared with maintenance bulls, but diet did not affect sperm motility or morphology. Semen of high-gain bulls reduced the percentage of cleaved oocytes that developed to blastocyst stage embryos. Paternal diet had no effect on the number of total or CDX2-positive cells of blastocysts, or blastocysts gene expression for markers associated with developmental capacity. Feeding bulls a high-gain diet did not affect sperm morphology or motility, but increased adiposity and reduced the ability of sperm to generate blastocyst-stage embryos.

Habituation Protocols Improve Behavioral and Physiological Responses of Beef Cattle Exposed to Students in an Animal Handling Class.

Our objective was to determine the impact of different habituation protocols on beef cattle behavior, physiology, and temperament in response to human handling. Beef heifers were exposed to three habituation strategies: (1) tactile stimulation (brushing) in the working chute for seven consecutive days (STI; n = 18); (2) passage through the working chute for seven consecutive days (CHU; n = 19) and; (3) no habituation (CON; n = 19). Individual heifer respiratory rate (RR; n/min), internal vaginal temperature (VAGT; °C), and blood cortisol were measured. Further, behavior parameters were observed to generate a behavior score, and heifer interaction with students and their behavioral responses were recorded. Habituation with STI and CHU resulted in improved numerical behavioral scores compared to CON, and greater (p ≤ 0.05) handling latencies. Vaginal temperature was decreased in STI compared to CHU and CONT (p ≤ 0.05). Cortisol concentration did not differ among treatments, but decreased (p ≤ 0.05) from the start of the experiment to 14 days after treatment initiation. Both habituation protocols showed benefits, but heifers that received the positive tactile stimulation in the chute had the greatest behavior improvements. Furthermore, these heifers responded more calmly during student-animal interactions in class, which is beneficial for the students' and animals' safety.

Interleukin-6 supplementation improves post-transfer embryonic and fetal development of in vitro-produced bovine embryos.

The use of in vitro produced embryos in dairy and beef cattle has increased in recent years, but compromised post-transfer pregnancy success prevents producers from capturing all the benefits this technology can provide. This study explored whether supplementing interleukin-6 (IL6) during in vitro embryo development influences post-transfer development of the embryo-proper, fetus and placenta during early gestation in cattle. Slaughterhouse-derived cumulus oocyte complexes underwent IVM (day -1) and IVF (day 0). On day 5 post-fertilization, embryos were treated with either 0 (CONT) or 100 ng/mL recombinant bovine IL6. No difference in blastocyst formation was detected on day 7.5 post-fertilization, but an increase (P < 0.05) in inner cell mass cell numbers and tendency for increased (P = 0.08) trophectoderm cell numbers were detected in IL6-treated blastocysts. A subset of the blastocysts was loaded individually into transfer straws, and embryo transfer (ET) was completed using estrous cycle stage-matched, nonlactating commercial beef and dairy cows. A subset of cows from each group underwent timed artificial insemination (TAI). Pregnancy rates were similar among all three treatment groups at day 28 and 70. No differences in crown-rump length (CRL), crown nose length (CNL), abdominal diameter (AD), or placental fluid volume (PFV) were detected between TAI and ET-IL6 groups. Reductions (P < 0.05) in CRL and AD were detected at day 56 and a tendency for a reduction (P = 0.08) in PFV was detected on day 35 when comparing the ET-CONT group with the TAI group. Reductions (P < 0.05) in CRL and PFV on day 28 and CNL and AD on day 56 as well as a tendency for a reduction (P = 0.08) in PFV on day 35 were detected when contrasting ET-CONT with ET-IL6. Circulating plasma pregnancy-associated glycoprotein concentrations were similar among all treatment groups. In summary, IL6 treatment to IVP embryos before ET produced pregnancies that more closely resembled TAI-generated pregnancies than pregnancies generated using conventionally cultured embryos. These findings failed to find any adverse effects of IL6 supplementation on early development of the embryo-proper and fetus or on placental activity. Rather, these observations suggest that IL6 treatment may normalize the developmental trajectory of the embryo-proper and fetus for in vitro produced embryos.

Symposium review: Predicting pregnancy loss in dairy cattle.

Several tools exist to diagnose pregnancy in dairy cattle. However, substantial pregnancy loss occurs within the first 60 d of gestation in cattle, and these losses have a profound adverse economic impact on the dairy and beef cattle industries. Detecting these impending pregnancy losses could offer producers an opportunity to reduce costs associated with this source of reproductive inefficiency. Several of the pregnancy diagnostic tools currently available and new technologies are being examined for their ability to predict pregnancies at risk for failing in early pregnancy. This review provides a synopsis of work undertaken recently to predict pregnancy losses in cattle. Currently, opportunities to predict pregnancy loss include (1) using transrectal ultrasonography to detect loss of the fetal heartbeat, floating debris within the placental fluids, and reductions in fetal size; (2) observing reductions in circulating progesterone concentrations; (3) detecting reductions in concentrations of circulating placental products; namely, pregnancy-associated glycoproteins and microRNAs; and (4) detecting reductions in the early pregnancy-dependent increase in interferon-stimulatory gene expression in peripheral blood leukocytes. An achievable goal may be to identify markers of embryo mortality so that researchers and clinicians can focus their efforts on developing intervention strategies for cows identified to be at risk for pregnancy failure.