Repeated ovum pick-up in Italian Mediterranean buffalo cows

The potential of the ovum pick-up technique, used over a long period, was evaluated in 6 Italian Mediterranean buffalo cows that had more than 500 d open. The cows were submitted to ovum pick-up twice weekly for 2 mo. An additional 2-mo cycle of ovum pick-up was performed in 3 of the buffalo. The ovum pick-up sampling did not affect the resumption of reproductive activity of these animals. In fact, all the buffalo conceived, on average, 47.5 +/- 27.5 d after the last ovum pick-up. An average of 5.48 follicles was punctured, and 2.71 oocytes were collected per session. However, only 53.5% of these oocytes were suitable for in vitro embryo production. The number of punctured follicles differed between individual cows. There were no differences in the number of collected oocytes or in the recovery rates. The number of punctured follicles, the number of collected oocytes and the recovery rate were similar in the first and second months; the quality of the oocytes was, however, better in the second than in the first month (P < 0.05). The increasing interval between 2 consecutive ovum pick-up sampling (intersession interval) caused an increase of the percentage of large follicles. Moreover, the increase of the intersession interval from 4 to 5 d decreased the quality of the collected oocytes (P < 0.05). The efficiency of in vitro production of embryos to expanded blastocysts was 16.7%.