Challenges to increase the AI and ET markets in Brazil

Abstract

Artificial insemination (AI) and embryo transfer (ET) are the most widely used biotechnologies in the world with the goal of increasing genetic gain and improving reproductive efficiency of beef and dairy herds. The protocols for ovulation synchronization for timed AI (TAI) or ET (TET) are tools that allow artificial insemination or transfer of a high number of embryos in a pre-established moment and without the necessity of estrous detection. Currently, 86% of inseminations in Brazil are performed using TAI (13.6 million TAI out of a total of 15.4 million doses of semen marketed in 2018). With the use of TAI, it was possible to verify that the percentage of artificially inseminated females in Brazil went from 5.8% in 2002 to 13.1% in 2018. The ET market also presented considerable growth in the last 20 years. There was an increase of approximately 8 fold in the number of produced embryos, escalating from 50,000 in 1999 to 375,000 in 2017. In this period, there was a significant increase on the in vitro embryo production, which represented 92.1% of embryos produced in Brazil in 2017. Also, in this period, there was an increase on the embryo production of dairy breeds and reduction on the embryo production of zebu breeds in comparison to data from the early 2000's. TET increases significantly the number of recipients suitable to receive an embryo. After synchronization, 75 to 85% of recipients present a suitable CL for ET without estrous detection. Currently, many synchronization and resynchronization protocols for TAI/TET have been studied to attend different managements, breeds and animal categories, with predictable and satisfactory results. With the intensification of the use of these biotechnologies, it is possible to obtain elevated reproductive efficiency with increase on the genetic gain, which determines greater productivity and economic return for dairy and beef farms. However, the challenge to keep the market growing in the next decade could depend on some factors, such as: increase of the extension services for producers and of the extension training for specialists, improvement of the technological advances to develop more efficient and cost-effective products and practical protocols, increase the integration between universities, research institutes, veterinarians and industries and also, asses market demand for production of animal protein with higher quality, efficiency and environmental and economic sustainability.

Keywords: Artificial insemination; economic return; embryo transfer; reproductive efficiency; synchronization.

Figure 1. Evolution of timed artificial insemination (TAI) or artificial insemination with estrous detection in cattle in Brazil (adapted from Baruselli, 2019a).

Figure 2. Evolution of the number and percentage of females inseminated in Brazil based on the number of beef and dairy breeding cows and heifers (ANUALPEC, 2018) and the number of marketed doses of semen (ASBIA, 2019). An average of 1.6 inseminations per breeding female was considered.

Figure 3. Evolution of the number and percentage of beef females inseminated in Brazil based on the number of beef breeding cows and heifers (ANUALPEC, 2018) and the number of commercialized semen doses (ASBIA, 2019). An average of 1.4 inseminations were considered per breeding female.

Figure 4. Evolution of the number and percentage of dairy females inseminated in Brazil, based on the number of dairy breeding females (ANUALPEC, 2018) and the number of commercialized doses (ASBIA, 2019). An average of 2.4 inseminations were considered per breeding female.

Figure 5. Figure 5. Pregnancy rate of the first and second services and cumulative pregnancy rate (first + second service) in Nelore (Bos indicus) lactating cows submited to four reproductive managements: 2TAI (n = 160), TAI followed by TET (TAI/TET; n = 160), TET followed by TAI (TET/TAI; n = 158) and two TET (n = 156). Adapted from Martins et al., (2014).