In this study the effect of vitamin C administration on pregnancy rates during summer heat stress in dairy cows was examined. A total of 80 Holstein-Friesian cows were divided into control and treatment groups (n = 40 each). Control group animals were given 10 mL isotonic normal saline, and treatment group, Vitamin C (4 mg/kg) on artificial insemination day (day 0) and 4th, 8th and 12th day post insemination. Pregnancy diagnosis was performed on 30th day post insemination by ultrasonography. Blood samples were randomly taken from 11 animals from each group. Serum P4, GSH, MDA and plasma 8-OHdG levels were determined by using ELISA method. Results showed that 8-OHdG levels were lower in treatment group on day 4, 8 and 12 (p < 0.05) compared with the control group. Similarly, pregnancy rate was higher in treatment group (32.5%) than control (22.5%), respectively. However, MDA, P4 and GSH levels were similar in both groups at 4th, 8th and 12th day. A gradual increase in P4, and MDA levels, and a strong positive correlation between 0, 4th (r = 0.54), 4, 8th (r = 0.59) and 8, 12th (r = 0.51) day was found. Similarly, GSH levels also showed positive correlation at days 0, 4th (r = 0.47) and 4, 8th (r = 0.56). However, a strong negative correlation (r = -0.56) between MDA day 0, and GSH day 8 was found. In conclusion, vitamin C application during insemination period in postpartum cows increases pregnancy rate, and reduces oxidative stress metabolite 8-OHdG levels.

Ensuring timely ovulation concerning the service is valuable. A satisfactory conception rate can be achieved by making sure that ovulation occurs within 7-18 hours after artificial insemination (AI). Delayed ovulation is one of the disturbances commonly encountered in repeat breeding animals. Although demanding research, many studies have not been conducted. Therefore, we aimed to examine the relation between ovulation confirmation and conception rate in dairy cattle. The research findings showed that the signs of true estrus were bred 12 hours after the onset of estrus by AI in cattle. Also, the performance of AI on ovulation was confirmed by the presence of fluctuant Graafian follicles through rectal palpation. From the results, we confirmed that cow encountered delayed ovulation were bred again. The Conception rate in cows with confirmed ovulation was 51.9%, while for those without confirmed ovulation were 33.3%. In conclusion, the results indicate that ovulation confirmation will likely increase conception rate.

This study is to compare the effect of estrus synchronization and embryo transfer between Korean and Mongolian cattle. Embryos were collected from 9 donors housed in Asan city in South Chungcheong Province, South Korea. Embryos were collected 9 donors from Khushaat sum, Selenge province and Bayanchandmani sum, Tov province in Mongolia. Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH), Controlled Internal Drug Release (CIDR) and Prostaglandin (PG) were used for superovulation. Subsequently, Artificial Insemination (AI) was done for donor cow and embryo was collected after 7 and 8 days. Collected embryos were compared between Mongolian and Korean cattle. Finally, good quality and fresh embryos were transferred to 50 and 22 recipients of cows in Korea and Mongolia respectively. The findings show that Korean native cattle each donor cow produced on an average 16.9 embryos and, 10.9 embryos were found transferable. But in case of Mongolia the average production of embryos per donor cow was 8.6 embryos and, 6.2 embryos were found transferable. Embryo collection after 7 and 8 days was not difference in embryo production in Korea. But, in Mongolia embryo production after 8 days was found more efficient than the 7 days. Korean native recipient's cows (74.6%) and Mongolian recipient's cows (71.0%) respectively were found transferable ovarian stage. The result suggested that efficiency of embryo production from the superovulation method treated of Korean cow were higher than the Mongolian cow. The pregnancy rate of Korea native cattle was 72%, which was about 10% higher than that of Mongolia cattle.

본 논문은 자연환경의 변화가 젖소의 인공수정 수태율에 미치는 영향을 분석하였다. 먼저 종속변수로는 32개 농가의 인공수정자료를 이용하여 60개월(2008년 1월~2012년 12월)의 월별수태율을 구해 패널 자료로 구성하여 이용하였다. 젖소의 인공수정 수태율에 미치는 주요한 설명변수로 자연환경 변수로는 기온, 강수량, 그리고 풍속을 이용하였고, 월별 효과를 제어하기 위해 월별더미변수도 사용하였다. 분석 결과를 보면, 자연환경 설명변수 중 기온 변수가 가장 유의성이 큰 것으로 나타났다. 평균 기온이 1℃ 상승하면 수태율은 약 –0.6% 하락하는 것으로 추정되었다. 더미변수를 활용한 추정에서는 1월, 4월, 6월, 7월, 8월의 더미변수가 유의성이 큰 것으로 나타났다. 추정치를 보면 평균 수태율은 1월의 경우 약 44%, 4월의 경우 약 33%, 6월은 약 32%, 7월은 약 31%, 8월은 약 27%인 것으로 나타났다. 수태율은 기온이 높아지는 여름이 될수록 낮아지며 겨울의 경우 수태율이 높은 것으로 분석되었다.

The decreased fertility is frequently thought to be problem of cattle production. However, studies figure out that number of these problems is related to bull factors especially in artificial insemination setting. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the fertility status of bull by their estimated relative conception rate of cows that were inseminated by frozen semen from Korean proven bulls. Here we use the non-return rate (NRR) to access the bull fertility whereas, the NRR was define as the proportion of bulls that semen were used to inseminate cows and the number of cows that did not return for another service within 60 days. The data from 54,388 artificial inseminations (AI) were analyzed from 88 KPN semen. The NRRs of highest and lowest fertile bull were 83.81 and 51.33%, respectively. And mean NRR was 68.27%. In comparison to previously reported study, our data shows 17.38% higher NRR and the absolute value of difference in 50%>NRR and 50%<NRR group was 22.17 and 10.51, respectively (p< 0.001). In conclusion, the decreased fertility might consider as key aspect in achieving considerable conception of cows in existing integrated farming system at Korea.

This study was carried out to develop the useful inducing method of estrus for Korean native cows. Under the condition of estrus induction by administering for the cows in which corpus luteum (CL) in ovaries was detected by ultrasonography, ovarian responses and the changes of progesterone () concentration against compared with conception rate were observed in cows and heifers. In inducing estrus administering . to the cows which has corpus luteum in ovaries, ovarian reponses, the changes of progesterone concentration, and conception rate were identified and compared. The results attained from the studies were as follows. Significant decreases of CL in size over time after administration were detected in both cow and heifer groups (p<0.001), but not different between groups in the CL regression rate (p>0.05). In addition, the percentage changes relative to the plasma concentration on day 1 after treatment were decreased to below 1ng/ml. The growth rate of follicle was observed as 31% on day 1 and 42% on day 2 in cows, and 34% on day 1 and 97% on day 2 in heifers, resulting that growth of heifers are faster than that of cows (p<0.05). The conception rate after treatment were 60.5% and 64.2% in cows and heifers, respectively. It also indicated that the conception rate after estrus observation with injection was as high as 66.6% while that with timed-artificial insemination (TAI) regardless of the estrus observation was 56%, which means the pregnancy rate of artificial insemination after estrus observation was higher than that of TAI (p<0.05). In the result of all above, there were significant decreases in CL size and the plasma concentration by days but rapid growth in follicles, which has no differences in cows and heifers. The conception rate was commonly high after estrus observation and more than 50% under TAI.

This study was undertaken to determine whether the presence of fertility-associated antigen (FAA) in semen would influence semen characteristics and conception rate of artificial insemination in Hanwoo. The response to FAA of 36 heads of proven bull, 7 heads of young bull, and 27 heads of performance-tested bull was that one proven bull was FAA-negative and the others were FAA-positive, therefore FAA-negative bull was 1.4%. FAA-negative bull was lower in first and second semen concentrations than those of FAA-positive bull in 5,301 semen of 21 heads of proven bull, then FAA-negative bull was fewer as 11.5% in total sperm counts. The estrus of 22 heads was 70d-nonreturned in 36 cows first inseminated with frozen semen of FAA-negative bull, but that of 249 heads in 378 cows first inseminated with frozen semen of FAA-positive bull. Each conception rate was 61.1% and 65.9%, respectively. The difference of conception rates was 4.8%. These results indicate that the response of FAA to semen were influenced semen characteristics and conception rate of artificial insemination, but further investigations are needed to confirm the results.

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between conception rate and other parameters (body condition score; BCS, progesterone concentrations and follicle size) before estrus induction with CIDR(intravaginal progesterone-releasing controlled internal drug release). The conception rate in cows with < 2.75, 2.75 to 3.25, and 3.25 <, BCS regardless of AI (artificial insemination) time was 46.6%, 63.3%, and 46.6% at CIDR insertion, respectively. The conception rate regardless of BCS was 54.9% in cows inseminated based on detected estrus, and 48.7% in cows inseminated at 72 to 80 hours (timed artificial insemination, TAI) after removal of CIDR. The conception rate regardless of AI time was 40.0% in cows with low progesterone concentrations (less than 1.0 ng/ml), and 56.6% in cows with high progesterone concentrations (more than 1.0 ng/ml) at CIDR injection. The conception rate regardless of progesterone concentrations was 53.8% in cows inseminated based on detected estrus, and 38.0% in cows of TAI after removal of CIDR. The conception rate regardless of AI time was 43.3% in cows with small follicle (less than 5 mm), 53.3% in cows between 5 mm to 10 mm of follicle, and 63.3% in cows with large folliclc (more than 10 mm) at CIDR injection, respectively. The conception rate regardless of follicle size was 58.4% in cows inseminated based on detected estrus, and 45.9% in cows of TAI after removal of CIDR. These results indicated that if the cows with BCS 2.75 to 3.25, active corpus luteum, and/or large dominant follicle (more than 10 mm) are used for estrus induction, the conception rate will be greater.

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between conception rate and other parameters (body condition score; BCS, progesterone concentrations and follicle size) before estrus induction with . The conception rate in cows with (2.75, 2.75 to 3.25 and 3.25), BCS regardless of AI (artificial insemination) time was 47.5, 67.5% and 48.5% at injection, respectively. The conception rate regardless of BCS was 59.0% in cows inseminated based on detected estrus, and 46.2% in cows inseminated at 72 to 80 hours (timed artificial insemination, TAI) after injection. The conception rate regardless of AI time was 43.0% in cows with low progesterone concentrations (less than 1.0 ng/ml), and 67.5% in cows with high progesterone concentrations (more than 1.0 ng/ml) at injection. The conception rate regardless of progesterone concentrations was 59.9% in cows inseminated based on detected estrus, and 48.1% in cows of TAI after injection. The conception rate regardless of AI time was 36.0% in cows with small dominant follicles (less than 5 mm), 56.0% in cows between 5 mm to 10 mm of follicle size, and 65.5% in cows with large dominant follicles (more than 10 mm) at injection, respectively. The conception rate regardless of follicle size was 57.3% in cows inseminated based on detected estrus, and 47.6% in cows of TAI after injection. These results indicated that if the cows with BCS 2.75 to 3.25, active corpus luteum, and/or large dominant follicle (more than 10 mm) are used for estrus induction, the conception rate will be greater.

The conception rate of cow is a major factor in farm management. The environment of farm and management of cow are the best influencing factors on conception rate, and the fertility of bull is the second influencing factor. In Hanwoo bull, however, the informations limited to performance and carcass traits have been offered to Hanwoo farmer. Therefore, this study analysed the estimated relative conception rates (ERCR) for estimation of fertility of bulls, using the 8,892 mating data with 116 heads of prove bull to produce progeny. Mean of least square means of conception rate after first insemination was 50.95% in bull herds. On the standard of this mean, ERCRs after first insemination of each bull were analysed. Values ranged from -26.1% to +21.0%, the difference was 47.1%. Among 116 heads of bull analysed, KPN582 showed the highest ERCR as 21.0%, KPN550 (18.3%), KPN656 (16.7%), KPN632 (15.8%), KPN690 (14.9%) were gone behind, but KPN621 was the lowest as -26.1%, KPN680 (-21.3%), KPN674 (-16.2%), KPN569 (-15.9%), KPN699 (-14.9%) were succeeded. If ERCRs of Hanwoo bull will be offered to Hanwoo farmer, it will be worthwhile.

The relationships of scrotal circumference (SC) to semen characteristics and the conception rate (70 days-nonreturn rate) of artificial insemination in farm were studied with 137 heads of bull in Hanwoo. The average and range of SC were cm and 26.0~52.5 cm, respectively. Hanwoo bulls were classified with SC, divided into 34 cm below group, 34~39 cm group, and 39 cm over group. The 5,487 semen records of 43 heads of bull from July. 1. 2007 to June. 30. 2008. were used to determine the relationships between SC and semen characteristics. The semen concentration and total sperm number of each group were 11.18, 16.68, and , and 69.83, 101.64 and /ejaculate. The bulls with 34 cm or more SC were higher than the bulls with 34 cm below in semen concentration and total sperm number (p<0.01). But between SC and semen volume have no significant relationship (p>0.05). The 9,862 mating records of 44 farm with 137 heads of bull were used to determine the relationships between SC and conception rate. The conception rate of 1st artificial insemination were 73.31, 74.16, and 77.33 % in each group. Also SC was positively correlated with pregnancy rate (r=0.12, p=0.17). These results indicate that SC correlates positively with semen characteristics, and maybe with pregnancy rate in Hanwoo.

본 연구는 한우에 PGF₂α와 GnRH+PGF₂α+GnRH(Ov-synch)를 처리하여 발정 및 배란을 동기화 시켰으며, 2차 GnRH 투여후 배란시간, 2차 GnRH 투여후 시간 경과에 따른 수태율과 발정ㆍ배란 동기화법에 의한 수태율을 조사하고자 실시하였다. 시험축은 총 4개 농가에서 경산우 150두를 무작위로 선발하여 시험에 공시하였으며, 발정ㆍ배란동기화 방법에 따라 발정을 유기한 후 1회 인공수정을 실시하고 수태율에 미치는 영향을 조사하였다. 호르몬처리 방법으로는 GnRH+PCF₂α+GnRH(Ov-synch)와 PGF₂α를 이용한 발정동기화 방법을 사용하였다. 2차 GnRH 투여 후 배란시간을 알아보기 GnRH 투여 후 24시간 후부터 32시간까지 2시간 간격으로 초음파 Sonovet-600(Medison. Korea)를 이용하여 난소를 촬영하였다. 1. 호르몬 투여후 발정동기 화율은 PGF₂α 투여구에서 40.0%와 GnRH+PGF₂α+GnRH(Ov-synch)처리구에서 91.3%로 나타났다. 2. 2차 GnRH 주사후 24시간에 배란이 시작되어 32시간에 배란이 종료되었으며, 배란율은 28시간째에 46.6%가 배란되어 가장 높게 나타났다. 3. 2차 GnRH주사후 6∼24시간에 수정한 군이 6시간 이전과 30시간 이후에 수정시킨 군에 비해 높은 수태율을 나타냈다. 4. 호르몬 처리별 수태율은 PGF₂α, CIDR 및 GnRH+PGF₂α+GnRH(Ov-synch)에서 각각 50.0, 36.0와 76.9%로 GnRH+PGF₂α+CnRH(Ov-synch)군에서 가장 높은 수태율을 나타냈다.

This study was undertaken with three objectives : to determine the optimal time of blood collection for plasma urea nitrogen(PUN) analysis, to examine the frequency distribution of PUN levels in recipient herd and to relate concentration of PUN to conception rate in Hanwoo recipients. The relationship between PUN level and time postfeeding was examined for 5 individual cows. Mean concentration of PUN rose for 4hrs postfeeding and decreased to PUN level before feeding at 10hrs postfeeding. And then, the blood for PUN analysis was collected at the time before feeding in next experiments. The ratio of cows with PUN concentration of < 12, 12∼18 and 18mg/dl were 50.6, 39.9 and 9.5% in 163 recipients, individually. The pregnancy rate of cows with PUN concentration 12∼16 mg/dl (63.3%) was higher than that of cows with PUN concnetration < 12 mg/dl (46.7%) or > 16mg/dl (42.9%). There results suggest that the PUN test may be beneficial for management of recipient herd in effects to maintain or improve reproductive efficiency.

These experiments were carried out to determine the effect of pregnancy in bisected embryo. The embryos of ICR mouse were microsurgically bisected at morula and blastocyst stage using microsurgical blade attached a micromanipulator. These bisected embryos without zona pellucida were cultured up to blastocyst stage and cell count and diameter of stained blastomere, and transferred pseudopregnant mice. And the development of these bisected embryos was compared with the results of production of young of the corresponding intact embryos or cell stage. When the bisected mouse embryos were cultured in vitro for 20 to 24 hours in morula stage(77.2%) or 3 to 6 hours in blastocyst stage(84.1%), them were developed to the expanded blastocyst stage. There were no significant(P<0.05) differences in the development rate of bisected embryos between in morula and blastocyst stages. The embryo size of blastocyst developed in vitro from bisected embryo was small(P<0.05)than intact embryo. However, the number of blastomeres with bisected embryo (24.7+1.3and 21.5+1.2 respectively) were significantly(P<0.05) reduced, compared with that of intacted embryos(36.3+1.1 and 41.4+1.2 respectively). When compared with the result of pregnancy rate(63.6%) after surgical transfer of bisected morulae, a similar result(65.4%) was obtained with bisected blastocyst stage(P< 0.05). However, production of youngs (38.8%) after transfer of bisected morula, a similar result (38.1%) was obtained with bisected blastocyst stage (P<0.05).