Cryobanking of embryos to preserve ex situ rabbit genetic resources: practical aspects

• Published in: Genetics selection evolution (Paris) Vol. 30; pp. S259 - S269
• Main Authors: Joly, T, De Rochambeau, H, Renard, J-P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: French
• Published: 15.12.1998
• Subjects: Oryctolagus cuniculus
• ISSN: 0999-193X
• DOI: 10.1051/gse:19980715

Embryo cryobanks are a valuable tool for maintaining the genetic variability in domestic animal populations. Such a bank was built for the rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), a multiple purpose species, which is bred for its meat, wool and fur as well as biomedical research. Several populations were selected to sample the whole genetic diversity. This paper aims firstly at evaluating the number of young rabbits born from one batch of frozen embryos. Forty newborn rabbits were obtained from 100 embryos. This result varies from one to two between populations. However, the number of bucks and does necessary to produce one batch of embryos varies from one to three between populations. Later, we will have to address the problem of the size of the population that will produce the embryos and whether to store one gene or to preserve the genetic variability of one population.