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Infrared thermography relationship between the temperature of the vulvar skin, ovarian activity, and pregnancy rates in Braford cows

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Abstract

The objective of this study was to compare the presence of ovarian activity and pregnancy rates to temperature variation at the vulvar skin measured by infrared thermography (IRT). In addition, we also aimed to evaluate the IRT as a non-invasive method to evaluate animal breeding from fixed timed artificial insemination (FTAI). The study comprises 150 non-lactating beef Braford cows (5/8 Hereford × 3/8 Nellore) aged between 3 and 10 years. Data were collected along the FTAI protocol period during animal management. Animals were subjected to reproductive ultrasound evaluation and thermal images were performed by an infrared camera. Mean skin vulvar temperature (°C) and ovarian structures data were compared using Tukey’s t test used as follow-up test to ANOVA. We observed a statistical difference in the mean vulvar skin temperature between animals that had the presence of ovarian follicles (34.2 ± 1.8) compared to no activity (35.4 ± 1.0; P < 0.05). However, vulvar skin temperature were similar between pregnant (34.5 ± 1.5) compared to non-pregnant (34.3 ± 1.9) animals (P > 0.05). In conclusion, the IRT technique was efficient to detect changes on vulvar skin temperature observed during FTAI protocol in Braford cows. Therefore, the use of IRT as an indirectly diagnostic tool to detect ovarian activity seems promising and further studies are required to validate their potential in beef cattle production.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by CNPq (Universal Grant; No.456724/2014-1) and CAPES (Project CAPES/PNPD). The authors thank Leme Pecuária for providing the animals and technical assistance for this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Animal Production Department, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Northern Paraná – UNOPAR, PR 218, Km 01 Jardim Universitário, Arapongas, PR, 86702-670, Brazil

    Vinicius Luiz Radigonda, Gabriel Ribas Pereira, Patrícia da Cruz Favaro, Flávio Antônio Barca Júnior, Marcelo Henrique Favaro Borges, Victor Hugo Gonçalves Galdioli & Celso Koetz Júnior

  2. Animal Science Department, Faculty of Agronomy, Núcleo de Estudos em Sistemas de Produção de Bovinos de Corte e Cadeia Produtiva – NESPRO, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul – UFRGS, Ave. Bento Gonçalves 7712, Porto Alegre, RS, 91540-000, Brazil

    Gabriel Ribas Pereira

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  1. Vinicius Luiz Radigonda
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  2. Gabriel Ribas Pereira
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  3. Patrícia da Cruz Favaro
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Correspondence to Celso Koetz Júnior.

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Radigonda, V.L., Pereira, G.R., da Cruz Favaro, P. et al. Infrared thermography relationship between the temperature of the vulvar skin, ovarian activity, and pregnancy rates in Braford cows. Trop Anim Health Prod 49, 1787–1791 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-017-1378-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-017-1378-5

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