1 INTRODUCTION Early conceptus growth and development are very susceptible to changes in the maternal environment. Undernutrition during gestation has been shown to affect foetal development; at the time of gonad formation, it is likely to have an effect on the subsequent development of the reproductive organs (Rhind et al., 2001). Primordial germ cells (PGCs) migrate from the endoderm of the yolk sac to the genital ridge around days 18–31 of bovine gestation (Mossa & Evans, 2023).
