Breeding
OPU-ICSI: THE STATE OF THE ART
The matter is highly sensitive but very topical. Especially since the SWB stud-book announced last spring that as of March 1, 2025 it will no longer allow registration of offspring produced through OPU/ICSI techniques (egg retrieval, ovum pick-up and intracytoplasmic sperm injection) because these procedures have been banned in Sweden.
The SWB stud-book will, however, continue to register those born as a result of ‘simple’ embryo transfer, and has made this decision in accordance with animal protection laws that, according to Swedish legislators, are breached by the use of these reproductive techniques considered ‘invasive and not without risk’ for broodmares. They also have many significant implications. Ethical and genetic in the first place, but also – and equally legitimate – commercial and scientific.
How the situation will develop in this regard is still unclear. Much will depend, in fact, on whether other countries will follow Sweden in adopting this firm and detailed position, with the consequence that it could all lead to even greater restrictions on the use of certain reproductive techniques in sport horse breeding, unless they are needed from a clinical standpoint.
It is a fact that, in confirmation of the sensitivity and importance of the issue, the World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses has launched a survey involving the 86 member stud-books and the results were presented at the General Assembly in Cascais last October.
Well, the survey results (although it should be noted that less than half of the stud-books responded, but basically the most important ones) clearly highlighted concerns about the impact of OPU-ICSI on the breeding economy, so much so that a considerable number of stud-books firmly support limiting the use of these techniques, reaffirming, at the same time, that in the ‘horse industry’ too animal welfare must take precedence over purely commercial interests.
Well, the survey results (although it should be noted that less than half of the stud-books responded, but
These generalised concerns also originate from a de facto regulatory gap to deal with which a number of stud-books, expressing a growing awareness of the problem, have stated that they are recording, or will start to record, data on foals to be registered when they are produced through OPU-ICSI, so as to introduce traceability and ensure that buyers will have access to this information.
But there is more. There are questions that have not yet been fully clarified, the WBFSH report points out, and they include the long-term impact on the horses’ health or potential differences in the health of foals born after ICSI and others.
However, in common feeling something is changing. Doubtless leveraging ethical aspects and the protection of broodmares, stud farms are beginning to advertise stating expressly that they use embryo transfer but not OPU/ICSI, while Hippomundo has recently launched its ‘Traditional Bred’ project, which aims to make the method by which foals are conceived transparent. ‘Traditional Bred’ is currently a very restrictive private initiative which the breeding world is finding appealing. In fact, only foals born from their own genetic mothers fertilised by natural mating or artificial insemination will be granted the ‘Traditional Bred’ label, while all foals born from recipient mares will be excluded, i.e. not only by OPU/ICSI but also embryo transfer.
The fact remains that the development of these techniques and the high success rates achieved with OPU/ICSI have made this technique very popular at a cost that is relatively accessible and potentially profitable for breeders who decide to use it on mares with outstanding genetics, to the point that it significantly outnumbers traditional embryo transfer.
But while it is rightly unthinkable to even consider restricting research and science, the idea of a shared regulation on the methods adopted appears to be the best way forward in order to protect animals and also the interests of the entire breeding industry, the stud-books and all those involved in these activities.
Because it is one thing to resort to OPU/ICSI to deal with the problems of mares with reproductive pathologies, unable to carry a pregnancy to full term, or to occasionally ‘spare’ older mares or – as has also happened in Italy – to recover their genetic heritage in the event of euthanasia or even post mortem, but it is quite another to exploit them, with all the problems and risks that this entails, to maximise the production of embryos for business purposes. In the latter case, this approach is confirmed by the many broodmares that have dozens and dozens of registered offspring and as many frozen embryos ready to be put on the market.
But on the commercial side too things appear to be changing. On the one hand, the economic damage resulting from the reduced value of the exclusivity of broodmares with valuable genetic lines is beginning to be excessive, while on the other hand, with a few exceptions, the abundant supply (it might be better to say inflation) of embryos and foals from these lines available on the market is bringing down the average prices they fetch, for example at auctions.
Not to mention the sporting results of horses born with this methodology. Apart from the unquestionable value of their genetics and origin, that they will be able to do more and better than others in their careers is in fact not a given and needs to be verified. Indeed, it is a well known fact that in sporting terms, for both the most common foals and those with a super pedigree, factors unrelated to breeding come into play indiscriminately, so that once these young horses are started off in training and competitions, the advantage objectively given by their origin is in fact reduced.
