Estrus, Ovulation Rate and Body Composition of Selected Strains of Mice on Ad Libitum and Restricted Feed Intake

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Abstract
Three lines of mice differing in body weight and ovulation rate were compared under three levels of feed intake to study the importance of genotype-environment interactions for reproduction raits and body composition. The lines were: C, an unselected control; O, previously selected for increased ovulation rate; and G, previously selected for rapid growth from 3 to 6 weeks. The High treatment was ad libitum feeding, while Medium and Low treatments were designed to produce mating weights of 90% and 80%, respectively, of their respective High treatment groups. Treatments commenced when mice were 6 weeks of age and continued until mating at 10 weeks. Line effects were significant for ovulation rate, proportion mated, pregnancy rate and percent body fat, and line × treatment interactions were significant for days to mating and percent body fat. Both line and line × treatment interaction effects were due primarily to differential performance of line G mice. Feed restriction reduced ovulation rate, increased time to mating and increased the incidence of cumulus breakdown at autopsy in mice of lines C and O. The effects of feed restriction on these traits were considerably less or absent for line G. Copyright © 1974. American Society of Animal Science . Copyright 1974 by American Society of Animal Science.

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