[Measurement of ovulation rate in rabbits by celioscopy]

With the aim of determining the efficiency of a simple and non destructive method for measuring the ovulation rate, 20 doe rabbits were subjected to coelioscopy and slaughtered on day 14 of gestation. Among the 40 ovaries examined, 45% of corpora lutea counts were accurate and 35% approximate (+/- 1), i.e. a total of 80% acceptable counts. This percentage represented 96% when the number of corpora lutea per ovary did not exceed 8. As compared with a few control does, coelioscopy did not seem to have a significant unfavourable effect on embryonic survival rate on day 14 of gestation, but this result has to be checked. It may be concluded that this method can be used in further experiments.