~ 1332 ~ Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies 2018; 6(6): 1332-1335 E-ISSN: 2320-7078 P-ISSN: 2349-6800 JEZS 2018; 6(6): 1332-1335 © 2018 JEZS Received: 09-09-2018 Accepted: 12-10-2018 Shafqut Majeed Khan Division of Biotechnology, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, SKUAST Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir, India Suhaib ul Haq Division of Veterinary Microbiology, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, GBPUAT, Uttarakhand, India Abha Mariam Division of Veterinary Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, SKUAST Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir, India Aadil Majeed Division of Animal Nutrition, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izzatnagar, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India Aiman Ashraf Division of Veterinary Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, SKUAST Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir, India Shakil Bhat Division of Biotechnology, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, SKUAST Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir, India Riaz Ahmad Shah Division of Biotechnology, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, SKUAST Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir, India Correspondence Shafqut Majeed Khan Division of Biotechnology, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, SKUAST Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir, India Optimisation of oocyte maturation media for improving efficiency of in vitro embryo production Shafqut Majeed Khan, Suhaib ul Haq, Abha Mariam, Aadil Majeed, Aiman Ashraf, Shakil Bhat and Riaz Ahmad Shah Abstract In vitro maturation is essential technology under assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) which enables oocytes to achieve maturation and acquire competence for subsequent embryonic division leading to blastocyst formation). This technique is valuable not only because they allow production of large numbers of oocytes, but also because they provide valuable in vitro model to study the gene expression at different maturational stages of oocyte. In a typical in vitro embryo production technique, either by cloning or by in vitro fertilization (IVF). IVM of oocytes constitute the most challenging step because an orchestrated gene expression events during this time determines the efficiency of fertilization and subsequent embryonic division process leading to blastocyst formation and even successful implantation. Optimisation of IVM media composition is important to increase the efficiency of in vitro embryo production. Foetal Bovine Serum (FBS) was supplemented to IVM media at 10% and 15% levels along with addition of 5 μ gmL¯ 1 pFSH, 1 μ gmL¯ 1 17β-estradiol. The maturation percentage was found to be significantly higher when 15% FBS was used both with the addition of β-Estradiol and FSH and without the hormones (55.37± 2.61 v 79.31± 1.75 and 77.88± 1.91, respectively). Cleavage percentage was also found to be significantly higher with 15% FBS (68.88± 2.50) than with 10% FBS (55.35± 4.31) (P<0.05). Morula percentages were also found to vary in a similar fashion between three groups of IVM media, 33.97± 1.61 v 41.74± 4.31 v 39.14± 2.31, respectively, but the differences were not significant statistically at significance level of P<0.05. Similar was the case with blastocyst percentages, 4.00± 2.31 v 14.80± 3.92 v 9.08± 3.60, respectively Keywords: Optimisation, oocyte maturation, embryo production 1. Introduction In modern livestock farming, assisted reproductive technologies are being used for out of season oestrus induction, enhancement of reproductive performance and genetic improvement. IVEP is one of the most powerful tools in controlling and manipulating mammalian reproduction (Cognie et al., 2003, Martinez et al., 2006) [1] . In vitro embryo production is rendered important in sheep as it has shown the potential of producing sheep embryos, even during the non-breeding season (Pugh et al., 1991) [8] . The improved IVEP technologies of in vitro maturation (IVM) and in vitro culture (IVC) have further led to another generation of reproductive techniques, such as intra cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), the production of transgenic animals and improved efficiency of animal cloning procedures. Oocyte maturation involves cytoplasmic and nuclear events, including changes in plasma membrane, nuclear and cytoplasmic maturation. IVM is essential technology under assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) which enables oocytes to achieve maturation and acquire competence for subsequent embryonic division leading to blastocyst formation (Lonargan et al. 2003; Somfai et al. 2011) [5, 12] . This technique is valuable not only because they allow production of large numbers of oocytes, but also because they provide valuable in vitro model to study the gene expression at different maturational stages of oocyte. In a typical in vitro embryo production technique, either by cloning or by IVF, IVM of oocytes constitute the most challenging step because an orchestrated gene expression events during this time determines the efficiency of fertilization and subsequent embryonic division process leading to blastocyst formation and even successful implantation (Somfai et al. 2011) [12] . The capacity of mature oocytes to support the very earliest stages of life, fertilization, preimplantation and implantation is termed as oocyte developmental competence.