EFFECT OF RETRIEVAL TECHNIQUES ON THE QUALITY OF ABATTOIR OVARIAN FOLLICULAR OOCYTES IN ASSAM HILL GOATS

Abstract

The oocytes recovered (n=2539) from the abattoir collected goat ovaries (n=712) by aspiration, slicing and puncture techniques were washed 4-5 times in a washing medium (36 ml TCM-199, 4 ml Foetal Bovine Serum and 200 μl Gentamicin) and were graded as A, B and C on the basis of their cumulus cell layers surrounding the zona pellucida. The mean recovery rate of oocytes per ovary using slicing technique was higher (4.21±0.08, p<0.05) compared to aspiration (3.43±0.06) and puncture (3.24±0.08) techniques. The recovery of good quality oocytes (Grade A+B) was higher (p<0.05) in puncture (73.9±0.9%) than in aspiration (66.3±0.7%) and slicing (64.8±0.9%) technique. It can be concluded that puncture technique was most effective for the retrieval of good quality goat oocytes, whereas, the slicing technique yielded highest oocyte recovery rate.