Methods for bovine embryos sexing
Tsvetelina Todorova
Abstract: Determining the sex of embryos before transfer has great potential for the livestock industry, especially in dairy farming, where female calves are preferred, and also helps with the success of embryo transfer. The genetic sex of an individual is determined at fertilization and depends on whether an X chromosome-carrying egg is fertilized by a Y chromosome-carrying sperm or an X chromosome-carrying sperm. The perfect method to control the sex ratio is by separating the X- and Y chromosomes-carrying sperm. Many methods have been developed for sex determination of embryos, but practical methods for sex diagnosis must have a reliable result, be simple and time-saving, harmless to the embryos, effective and accurate. The effect of sex determination of pre-implanted embryos is important for the reproduction and fetal diagnosis of animals. Preimplantation embryo sex determination plays a role in improving the efficiency of embryo transfer.
Keywords: animal breeding; bovine; embryo sexing; PCR
Citation: Todorova, Ts. (2025). Methods for bovine embryos sexing. Bulgarian Journal of Animal Husbandry, 62(3), 30-37 (Bg).
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| Date published: 2025-06-25
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