The objective of this study was to investigate the dynamics of mitochondrial activity in in vitro-grown (IVG) bovine oocytes during pre-maturational culture (pre-IVM) and its relationship to their developmental competence upon being subjected to different pre-IVM durations. After 12-day IVG culture, oocytes were cultured for 0, 10 or 20h with 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine (IBMX) as pre-IVM. Mitochondrial activity in IVG oocytes after 10h pre-IVM was the highest among all the pre-IVM durations (P<0.05). In addition, cleavage (79.4%) and blastocyst rates (38.9%) of embryos derived from IVG oocytes with 10h pre-IVM were higher than those with 20h pre-IVM (63.0 and 25.8%, respectively; P<0.05) and similar to those of in vivo-grown oocytes (82.7 and 36.7%, respectively). To confirm the developmental ability of IVG oocytes with 10h pre-IVM beyond the blastocyst stage in vivo, embryo transfer was attempted. Transferred embryos developed to the elongated embryonic stage (63.6%, 7/11) in the recipient uterus at Day 16 of oestrus, and a male calf was delivered (50%, 1/2). In conclusion, it was indicated that the mitochondrial activity of bovine IVG oocytes peaked at 10h pre-IVM and was closely correlated with the nuclear maturation and developmental competences of IVG oocytes.