Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2023, Vol. 54 ›› Issue (3): 868-876.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2023.03.002

• REVIEW • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Mechanism and Solution of Heat Stress Induced Embryo Quality Decline in Dairy Cows

FENG Xiaoyi1,2, YANG Baigao1, HAO Haisheng1, DU Weihua1, ZHU Huabin1, CUI Kai2*, ZHAO Xueming1*   

  1. 1. Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China;
    2. College of Animal Science and Technology, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao 266000, China
  • Received:2022-08-30 Online:2023-03-23 Published:2023-03-21

Abstract: Dairy products are an important source of high quality protein supplement in people’s lives, with high nutritional value and many health benefits. The increasing consumer demand for dairy products has brought opportunities and challenges to dairy production, and improving the productivity of dairy cows has become a hot research topic. However, modern dairy production faces many dilemmas, such as heat stress in dairy cows due to high summer temperatures, resulting in reduced fertility. Heat stress in dairy cows has adverse effects on embryo quality, including embryonic cell cycle progression and cell survival, resulting in lower embryo quality and reduced productivity. In addition, abnormal epigenetic modifications are another mechanism by which heat stress in cows affects embryo quality, mainly including abnormal histone modifications and abnormal DNA methylation. Numerous studies have shown that restoration of cellular mitochondrial function and the use of melatonin can effectively mitigate the adverse effects of heat stress on embryos. Therefore, this paper outlines the mechanisms by which heat stress leads to abnormal epigenetic modifications in embryos and thus decreases embryo quality, and two solutions to mitigate heat stress by mitochondrial transplantation and melatonin treatment to improve embryo quality, thus contributing to improve the productivity of dairy cows, with the aim of providing a reference for reducing the losses caused by heat stress in animal husbandry.

Key words: heat stress, dairy cows, embryo quality, mechanism, solution

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