Panorama da produção de embriões bovinos no Brasil de 1995 a 2015

Abstract

Brazil is the world's largest producer of beef and the fourth in milk production, being the largest exporter of meat in the world. The production of both milk and meat has a great potential for expansion and has increased in recent years, and may be directly related to the increase in the use of assisted reproduction technologies, such as fixed time artificial insemination (FTAI) and the development of embryo technologies. The objective of this study was to describe the evolution of Brazilian embryo industry in the past 20 years and its importance for cattle production, taking into account indexes of absolute and relative production, as well as, for zebu breeds, the geographic distribution of embryo activity. Data on Brazilian embryo production were recovered from cattle breeders’ associations. Other data of livestock activity were provided by public and private institutions and organizations: IBGE, SBTE, IETS, ASBIA and MAPA. The data obtained was then organized according to embryo transfer method (fresh or frozen), genetic grouping (Bos taurus Bos indicus), productive sector (dairy or beef) and technology used (in vivo or in vitro). The results were used for the generation of historical series, maps, and for calculation of proportions and estimative of use, and presented as descriptive statistics. There was a predominance of in vivo embryo production in most breeds and production sectors between 1995 and 2005. In the following period, however, there was a rapid replacement of this technology by in vitro embryo production, which grew exponentially between 2005 and 2014. Thereafter, embryo activity retracted due to conjuncture factors. In the dairy sector, in vitro embryo production replaced the in vivo approach since 2004, and achieve a significant proportion of embryo Market after 2009. Beef breeds were associated to the larger proportion of total embryo production in Brazil in the period 1995 to 2015, however stabilized and later declined between 2006 and 2014. The dynamics of dairy and beef sectors changed the characteristics of Brazilian embryo industry, from mostly related to beef, zebu breeds, to dairy, Bos taurus and crossbred. Despite of the significant increase in the adoption of embryo technologies, the relative intensity of use, taking into account total cattle herd, is still very limited. In the period 2004 to 2008, in vivo embryo production in zebu breeds occurred mainly in Southeast and Central-West regions. On the other hand, the peak in in vitro embryo production occurred between 2007 and 2013, in Southeast region, followed by Central-West. The results show that the concentration of embryo industry in the Southeast region was not affected by the shift from in vivo to in vitro embryo production after 2005.