Nutritional effects on oocyte and embryo development in mammals: implications for reproductive efficiency and environmental sustainability

摘要

The environment in which a breeding female lives prior to conception and during the early stages ofher pregnancy has striking effects on oocytes developing in the ovarian follicle and on early embryosin the reproductive tract. Of the various environmental factors known to affect oocyte and embryodevelopment, altered nutrition during this critical period has been particularly well studied.Alterations in the quantity of food consumed or the composition of the diet imposed solelyduring the pre-mating period affect oocyte maturity, blastocyst yield, prenatal survival and thenumber of offspring born alive. Importantly, nutrition at this time also affects the quality of embryosand resultant offspring, with increasing evidence from a variety of species showing that peri-conception nutrition can alter behaviour, cardiovascular function and reproductive functionthroughout post-natal life. In livestock species, it is important to devise nutritional strategies thatimprove reproductive efficiency and the quality of offspring but that do not add to the environ-mental footprint of the production system and which recognize likely changes in feedstuffavailability arising from predicted changes in climate.