ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the potential of in vitro fertilization in relation to embryo transfer and to procedures yet on the horizon for animal breeding programs. Embryo transfer is a valuable tool needed to ensure that oocytes fertilized in vitro are placed into recipient females. In contrast, in vitro fertilization provides a method where individual harvested oocytes are fertilized by semen from specific individual males. Superior males, at older ages, could provide semen samples to be processed specifically for subsequent in vitro fertilization. The fertilized eggs function only as incubators, so oocytes could be harvested from ovaries obtained at a slaughterhouse, and any semen sample could be used for in vitro fertilization of the oocyte, which would serve as the incubator. For the male, in vitro fertilization offers a potential for predicting fertility and extending the reproductive life by packaging semen in smaller units of sperm per insemination.
