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Predicting early pregnancy in Egyptian buffalo cows via measuring uterine and luteal blood flows, and serum and saliva progesterone

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Abstract

Various methods are being employed to detect early pregnancy in domestic animals. This study aimed to predict early pregnancy in buffaloes via measuring the corpus luteum (CL) diameter, the luteal blood flow (LBF) area, the uterine blood flow (UBF) vascularization area, and progesterones in saliva and serum for non-pregnant (NPBs, N = 12) and pregnant (PBs, N = 12) buffaloes. The results revealed that the CL diameter and the luteal color blood flow blue and red (P = 0.0001) areas of the pregnant animals kept increasing from day 1 to day 35 of the gestation period, but it decreased in NPBs on day 21 after reaching a peak from ovulation to day 18. Interestingly, the UBF of the pregnant buffaloes (PBs) kept increasing (P = 0.0001) from ovulation to day 42. The difference of the CL diameter (P = 0.03) and the LBF color blue vascularization area (P = 0.002) between PBs and NPBs became clear from day 14 after ovulation, though the difference of UBF between PBs and NPBs became markedly obvious from day 7 after breeding. Both saliva (P = 0.001) and serum (P = 0.0001) progesterones of PBs continued increasing (P = 0.0001) from day 14 to day 35, but those of NPBs started decreasing (P = 0.0001) from day 14 and reached low values on day 21. Therefore, measuring saliva progesterone in addition to the high LBF (day 14) and UBF (day 7) of the pregnant buffaloes using a Doppler ultrasound could be applicable as noninvasive methods to detect early pregnancy and to improve reproductive management of buffaloes.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University, for allowing access, sampling, and examination of their buffaloes belonged to their research farm along the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt

    Mohamed E. Lasheen, Hussein M. Badr, Mohamed Farouk & Mohamed H. Eldawy

  2. Department of Theriogenology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Benha University, Benha, Egypt

    Mohamed M. M. Kandiel

  3. Department of Animal Reproduction and AI, Veterinary Research Division, National Research Centre, Dokki, Giza, Egypt

    Amal M. Abo El-Maaty

  4. Department of Theriogenology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt

    Haney Samir

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  1. Mohamed E. Lasheen
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  2. Hussein M. Badr
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  3. Mohamed M. M. Kandiel
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  4. Amal M. Abo El-Maaty
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  5. Haney Samir
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  6. Mohamed Farouk
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  7. Mohamed H. Eldawy
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Correspondence to Amal M. Abo El-Maaty.

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This study was performed in accordance with the Use and Animal Care Guidelines of the National Research Centre, Cairo University, and Al-Azhar University.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Lasheen, M.E., Badr, H.M., Kandiel, M.M.M. et al. Predicting early pregnancy in Egyptian buffalo cows via measuring uterine and luteal blood flows, and serum and saliva progesterone. Trop Anim Health Prod 50, 137–142 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-017-1413-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-017-1413-6

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