STABILIZATION OF NUMBERS OF IN VIVO COLLECTED EMBRYOS IN CATTLE BUT SIGNIFICANT INCREASES OF IN VITRO BOVINE PRODUCED EMBRYOS IN SOME PARTS OF THE WORLD. By Professor Michel THIBIER – Chairperson

The committee met once again in early 2004 at the IETS venue at Portland (Ore. USA). The results from the survey of the previous year were discussed. In that discussion an emphasis was put on the effort that was to be made for those countries, including Russia, India and others, where there is difficulty finding a national collector able to report. Posting of this yearly report on the IETS web site in such a manner that it is accessible to all including non-members was strongly suggested to the Board. Regarding the results from the bovine ET activity, the number of in vivo collected embryos has declined a little this year and amounts to a total of close to 480,000. However, there was a considerable lack of response from two countries in Oceania, which underestimated those results. By contrast, in vitro produced embryos in cattle increased considerably in two parts of the world: Asia and South America. The total number of IVF embryos transferred worldwide was 106,220, reaching for the first time more than 100,000. The efficiency of retrieving data from small ruminants has been somewhat irregular this year, however many thousands of sheep and goat embryos are being transferred both domestically and internationally. The Cervids are also subject to some ET activity as are buffaloes, as reported by Vietnam, and even rabbits. The number of equine embryos transferred, which were almost exclusively fresh, has also slightly increased to more than 11,000 in 2003. Finally, the swine industry has been involved in ET as well, although essentially on an experimental basis. In any case more than 20,000 embryos have been transferred in this species, some being either cloned or even transgenic, particularly in Asia.