Effects of Pre‐Treatment with GnRH on the Efficiency of Superstimulatory Protocol in Water Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis)

The multiple ovulation embryo transfer technique (MOET) in buffalo has yielded poor superovulation response due to presence of large/dominant follicle(s) at the start of superstimulatory treatment. The aim of present study was to evaluate the effects of pretreatment with gonadotropin on number of total as well as viable and transferrable embryos recovered during MOET programme in Murrah buffaloes. Buffaloes (n=27) enrolled into two treatment (groups A and B, n=9 in each group) and one control (group C, n=9) groups were administered with 600 mg of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) in 10 decreasing doses at 12 hourly interval for five days. Additionally, buffaloes were administered with a single dose of GnRH in group A (10 μg) and group B (06 μg) as a pre-treatment on 2.5 day prior to the start of FSH. Two doses of prostaglandin (500 μg) were administered with the 7th and 8th dose of FSH in all the buffaloes. Embryos were collected non-surgically on day 5.5 post-insemination. Num-ber of total, transferrable and the non-transferrable embryos recovered were recorded in the 3 groups. Total as well as the viable transferrable number of embryos recovered were significantly higher (P<0.05) in the buffaloes of group B compared to the control (3.0 vs. 1.33 and 2.33 vs. 1.0, respec-tively). In all the three groups, about 75% of embryos recovered were of transferrable grade. The re-sults of study indicated that administration of GnRH as a pre-treatment in superstimulatory treatment improved the MOET efficiency in buffalo.