Bioscientifica Proceedings

Summary. During her lifetime, the ovarian environment of female domestic farm animals is subject to biochemical changes brought about by multiple factors, including husbandry practices, production demands and disease, which may ultimately impair oocyte quality and subsequent embryo development. The lactating dairy cow appears to be particularly challenged in this respect and many investigations have been carried out to characterize the underlying physiology an...

Summary. In cattle we have noted that the antral follicle count (AFC, follicles ≥3 mm in diameter) varies greatly among animals (from 5 to 50), is repeatable within animals, and is highly correlated with the total number of healthy follicles in ovaries. Also, animals with low AFC have higher serum concentrations of FSH and LH, but lower concentrations of Anti-Mullerian Hormone, progesterone and androgens than animals with high AFC. We have investigated t...