Practical aspects for implementing in vitro embryo production and cloning programs in sheep and goats

ABSTRACT

In vitro embryo production has the potential to produce more offspring from genetically valuable animals than standard MO ET as it is capable of avoiding most of the causes of failure in MOET (poor response to superovulation, poor fertilization and premature luteolysis). It also allows repeating collection in the donor animals more often and more times in their reproductive life. However, consistent results are not easy to obtain when conducting large scale programs, mainly due to variability associated with the in vitro fertilization results. Cloning by somatic cell nuclear transfer has been used by a few groups to successfully produce genetic copies of individuals of high genetic merit, but remains to be a very inefficient reproduction technology even in the hand s of those that have been successful in producing multiple live clones. This review provides a collection of tips and points to consider when planning in vitro embryo production and cloning programs in sheep and goats.ien