Effect of eCG dose and ovulation induction treatments on embryo recovery and in vitro development post-vitrification in two selected lines of rabbit does

The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of different doses of eCG administered subcutaneously (0, 50 and 200 IU) and the hormonal induction of ovulation (GnRH or hCG) on embryo recovery and in vitro development of embryos post-vitrification in two selected lines of rabbit does. The two selected lines were line V (selected for the litter size at weaning) and line R (selected for growth rate). Administration of 200 IU of eCG significantly increased ovulation rate (19.2 ± 1.2 versus 15.5 ± 1.1 and 12.2 ± 1.3, and the number of haemorrhagic follicles (13.8 ± 1.6 versus 3.8 ± 1.4 and 3.8 ± 1.7), but significantly decreased recovery rate (28.8 ± 6.3 versus 47.7 ± 5.7 and 48.7 ± 6.7, 200 IU versus 50 IU and 0 IU eCG, respectively), the number of normal embryos recovered per doe with at least one embryo (5.8 ± 0.9 versus 8.2 ± 0.9, 200 IU versus 50 IU eCG doses) and the in vitro development of embryos post-vitrification (51.9% versus 66.1%, 200 IU versus 50 IU eCG doses, respectively). Inducing ovulation with hCG significantly increased ovulation rate when compared with GnRH (17.3 ± 0.8 versus 13.8 ± 1.4), but no significant differences in embryo recovery and embryo development post-vitrification were observed between the two treatments. No significant differences were observed between the two selected lines in ovulation and recovery rates, the number of haemorrhagic follicles and the number of recovered embryos per doe. However, the post-vitrification in vitro rate of development was 59.7% for line R and 51.9% for line V (p < 0.05). It was concluded that the use of 50 IU of eCG subcutaneous with hCG or GnRH prior to embryo cryopreservation programmes in rabbits achieves the best results for embryo recovery, with the best development of recovered embryos post-vitrification.