African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 4 (1), pp. 9-13, January 2005   

ISSN 1684–5315 © 2004 Academic Journals        

Full Length Research Paper

Genetic and nongenetic effects on the number of ovarian follicles and oocyte yield and quality in the bovine local (Oulmes Zaer), exotic breeds and their crosses in Morocco

A. Fassi Fihri¹, H. Lakhdissi², L. Derqaoui², Kh. Hajji¹, M. Naciri¹  A. Goumari³

¹Laboratory of Zoology and General Biology, Department of Biology, College of Science, University Mohamed V. Rabat, Morocco.

²Department of animal reproduction, Obstetrics and artificial insemination. Hassan II Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine Institute, Rabat, Morocco.

³Department of Statistics, Hassan II Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine Institute, Rabat, Morocco.

*Correspondence author.  E-mail: fassi_fihri2000@yahoo.fr; Fax: (00-212) (0)37777934; Téléphone: (00-212) (0)37775461

 Accepted November 15, 2004.

The effects of genetic and non genetic factors on the number of ovarian follicles and oocyte yield and quality in the bovine local breed (Oulmes Zaer), exotic breeds and their crosses in Morocco was investigated. In this study, females in very bad body conditions (BCS < 2) were not slaughtered and the average. The body condition scores (BCS) was 2.94 ± 0.89. Although some individual values were out of the normal ranges, mean values  of  total  proteins,  albumin,  urea,  β-OH and GOT remain normal and were 77.83 ± 8.74 g/l,  32.4 ± 4.41g/l, 4.43 ± 2.13 mmol/l ,  0.83±  0.48 mmol/l et  45.55 ± 11.95 UI/l, respectively. The mean number of ovarian follicles per cow (2-8 mm) was high (22.98 ± 8.41) whereas the oocyte yield (and 2.60 ± 1.53) was very low. The effects of genetic group, age and BCS on the number of follicles, oocyte yield and the quality were significant.

Key words: Cows, follicular population, oocyte yield and quality.