Sexing of in vitro produced bovine embryos: A review of methods with emphasis on PCR

Abstract

The development of new animal
reproduction biotechniques has been provided the
obtaining of genetic improvement in cattle herds around
the world. Recently, the ascension of the in vitro
production (IVP) of bovine embryos provided important
development in the technology of bovine embryos.
Although being a consolidated technique, some studies
show disproportion between the sexes of calves born
by means of IVP, being the percentage of males higher
than the theoretically expected rate of 50% for each sex.
This inconvenient opened the perspective for the
development of methods for sex determination for the
embryos before the transference, once the production of
females is desirable in economic terms. This revision will
approach the advantages and disadvantages of the
invasive and non-invasive methods developed for the sex
determination in bovine embryos, with emphasis for PCR
assay that is the technique that displays the best results.