Birth of calves after in vitro fertilisation using laparoscopy and rabbit oviduct incubation of zygotes.

The infertility of many cows could be treated by in vitro fertilisation. In the present study laparoscopy was utilised to recover the in vivo matured oocytes from the ovary of a standing donor. After the capacitation of fresh semen with high ionic strength medium and in vitro fertilisation, a rabbit oviduct was employed as an incubator for four to five days, in order to obtain sufficiently aged embryos to be transferred to the uterus of a recipient. Using surgical or non-surgical transfer six calves were obtained.