Sex Determination of Bovine Embryos Based on Embryonic Cleavage Rates

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Abstract
Bovine embryos (n = 64) collected at day-6 from 10 superovulated and inseminated donors were evaluated upon recovery and again after incubation for approx. 12 hrs. According to cleavage rate they could be divided into a fast, an intermediate and a slow developing group, respectively. This grouping was correlated to embryonic sex determined by karyotyping (n = 29). From the fast developing group we found 7 males and 2 females (male ratio 78 %), from the intermediate group 3 males and 8 females (male ratio 27 %) and from the slow group 1 male and 8 females (male ratio 11 %). From this preliminary study it is concluded that the rate of embryonic development may be used as a sex discriminator.