Pohler, Ky Assistant Professor

Dr. Pohler's research interest focus on understanding the physiological and molecular mechanisms that control reproductive efficiency in cattle. More specifically his lab is interested in the mechanisms that lead to embryonic and fetal mortality in cattle and development of management strategies to overcome these losses. Embryonic mortality can be classified into early (< d 28 of gestation) or late (> d 28 of gestation) depending on the exact timing at which it occurs during gestation. Reports of high fertilization rates after a single insemination (~90%), followed by pregnancy rates of 60 to 70% on d 28 in cows indicate that early embryonic mortality may be 20 to 30% in beef cows. Documented causes of early embryonic mortality range from genetic abnormalities to uterine-embryo asynchrony to failure of maternal recognition of pregnancy and this has been an area of intense investigation. Late embryonic mortality (> d 28 of gestation) has been reported in both beef/dairy cattle and may vary from 3.2 to 42.7%. Currently, there is very little known about the causes of late embryonic mortality. However, the economic consequences of each unit of late embryonic mortality are greater than that of early mortality. Along with the increased economic consequences, late embryonic mortality is becoming more evident in both the beef and dairy industries based on the shift to early pregnancy diagnosis (~d28-35 of gestation).