Association between maternal growth in the pre-conception and early gestational period of nulliparous dairy heifers with anti-Müllerian hormone in their female offspring

Abstract

Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) is secreted by granulosa cells of healthy, growing follicles and is positively correlated with the ovarian reserve. Maternal and environmental factors, such as nutrition, disease, parity and endocrine disruptors, are thought to have a profound impact on ovarian reserve development during early foetal life. For genetic progress, it can be advantageous to breed dairy replacements from heifers to expedite the generation interval; however, there is some evidence that nulliparous animals produce female offspring with smaller ovarian reserves compared with multiparous animals. The objective of this prospective, observational study was to determine whether maternal growth in the pre-conception and early gestational period of nulliparous dairy heifers is associated with pre-weaning AMH concentrations in their female offspring. Our hypothesis was that excessive growth in this period would negatively impact AMH concentrations. Seasonal, pasture-based dairy heifer calves (n = 156) born from nulliparous dams, from six Irish farms, were blood sampled at an average of 60 days of age in spring 2022 and tested for AMH. Mixed-effects linear regression models were constructed with Box-Cox transformed AMH concentration as the dependent variable. The independent variables tested included maternal average daily gain (ADG) from pre-breeding examination (PBE) to pregnancy diagnosis (PD) between 30 and 60 days in calf (DIC), ADG from PBE to PD over 60 DIC and ADG between the two PDs. Calf breed and age at sampling were forced into the models, and the farm was treated as a random effect in all models. We found that as ADG increased from the pre-breeding period to their first PD visit, the AMH concentration in their offspring reduced. However, ADG explained only a small amount of the variation in AMH concentrations (marginal R² = 0.041). In conclusion, the results of our study suggest that excessive growth prior to conception and in early gestation of nulliparous heifers could impact the ovarian reserve of their female offspring, and may imply that farmers should avoid excessive growth in the immediate pre-breeding and early gestational periods.

Keywords: ADG; AMH; fertility; heifer.