Comparative between different techniques for pregnancy diagnosis in sheep
Abstract: The aim of this study was to compare the accuracy of five different methods to diagnose pregnancy in sheep. A total of 466 of crossbred (Finnish x Rahmani) ewes were mated naturally in September (n=382) and May (n=84) mating season. Serum P 4 concentrations at day 18 after mating were determined by RIA test. The ewes which showed blood P4 >1 ng were considered pregnant. Based on lambing data, the accuracy for diagnosing pregnant (positive) and non-pregnant ewes (negative) were 96.59 and 100% at day 18, respectively. By day 30 after breeding, an accuracy of 80 and 94.2% has been obtained for pregnant ewes using non-return to estrus as pregnancy diagnostic method at May and September mating season, respectively. Pregnancy diagnosis is possible using ultrasonic-technique (A-scan) 42-85 day post breeding with an accuracy of 92.6 and 69% for pregnant and nonpregnant ewes, respectively. Abdominal palpation is effective during late pregnancy provides accuracy of 84.8 and 57.8% after 60-95 days of gestation in pregnant and nonpregnant ewes, respectively. The present results indicated that ewes pregnant in triple had significant increase in live body weight followed by ewes pregnant in twins and singleton- carrying ewes, with percentage of change in live body weight 6.87-10.29 and 11.52-16.51 after 60 and 90 days post breeding, respectively. It could be concluded that ovine pregnancy can be reliably with high accuracy and safety under field condition by using non-return to estrus, ultrasonic technique (A-scan), abdominal palpation and increase in body weight. The advantage of these methods over the P4 test using RIA method is overcoming lab expenses.
Publication year 2005
Pages 1953-1960
Availability location معهد بحوث الانتاج الحيوانى-7 شارع نادى الصيد- الدقى - الجيزة
Availability number
Organization Name
City المنصورة
serial title Journal Agricultural Science Mansoura University
Author(s) from ARC
Agris Categories Animal physiology - Reproduction
AGROVOC
TERMS		 Mate. Pregnancy diagnosis. Sheep. Ultrasonics.
Publication Type Journal
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