Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-m9pkr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-11T22:17:11.986Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Oestrous synchronization in ewes: the effect of combining a prostaglandin analogue with a 5-day progestagen treatment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

N. F. G. Beck ,
B. Davies  and
S. P. Williams
N. F. G. Beck
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Wales Aberystwyth, Penglais, Aberystwyth, Dyfed SY23 3DD
B. Davies
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Wales Aberystwyth, Penglais, Aberystwyth, Dyfed SY23 3DD
S. P. Williams
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Wales Aberystwyth, Penglais, Aberystwyth, Dyfed SY23 3DD
Get access

Abstract

An experiment was designed to determine whether combining a single injection of 125 μg prostaglandin F2α analogue (PGF) with a 5-day progestagen pessary treatment (PPT) would obviate the problem with refractory animals that occurs when randomly cycling ewes are synchronized with PGF alone. The efficacy of the combined treatment, in comparison with single and double dose PGF regimes, was also assessed.

A total of 210 ewes were used in this investigation conducted during the 1989 and 1990 breeding seasons. In both breeding seasons, 100% of the ewes treated with PGF combined with PPT were mated by fertile rams within a 3-day period, compared with 52·9% of ewes treated with a single injection PGF or 100% of ewes treated with two injections of PGF, 11-days apart. Returns to service for the three groups were 14·2%, 16·2% and 17·4%, respectively. There was no effect of treatment on lambing performance in 1989. However, in 1990 there were differences between groups in gestation length and birth weight, but these were attributable to enzootic abortion. The results demonstrate that PGF combined with PPT will produce levels of oestrous synchronization and fertility comparable with other methods.

Keywords

ewesoestrusprogestagensprostaglandinssynchronization
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 56 , Issue 2 , April 1993 , pp. 207 - 210
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acritopoulou, S. and Haresign, W. 1980. Response of ewes to a single injection of an analogue of PGF-2α given at different stages of the oestrous cycle. Journal of Reproduction and Fertility 58: 219–223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beck, N. F. G., Davies, M. C. G., Davies, B. and Lees, J. L. 1987. Oestrus synchronization and fertility in ewes: a comparison of three methods. Animal Production 44: 251–254.Google Scholar
Fitzgerald, J. A., Ruggles, A. J., Stellflug, J. N. and Hansel, W. 1985. A seven-day synchronization method for ewes using medroxyprogesterone acetate (MAP) and prostaglandin F2α. Journal of Animal Science 61: 465–469.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gordon, I. 1983. In Controlled breeding in farm animals (ed. Gordon, I.), pp. 181–195. Permagon Press, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greyling, J. P. C., Westhuysen, J. M. van der and Niekerk, C. H. van. 1979. The synchronization of oestrus in sheep. 1. Dosage and time of prostaglandin administration following progestagen pretreatment. South African Journal of Animal Science 9:185–192.Google Scholar
Hackett, A. J. and Robertson, H. A. 1980. Effect of dose and time of injection of prostaglandin F2α in cycling ewes. Theriogenology 13: 347–351.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Henderson, D. C., Downing, J. M., Beck, N. F. G. and Lees, J. L. 1984. Oestrous synchronization in ewes: a comparison of prostaglandin F2a-tham salt with a progestagen pessary. Animal Production 39: 229–233.Google Scholar
Hoppe, K. F. and Slyter, A. L. 1989. Effects of prostaglandin F2α dosage on synchronizing ovine estrus using a modified single injection regimen. Theriogenology 31:1191–1200.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lightfoot, R. J. and Salmon, S. 1970. Fertility of ram spermatozoa frozen by the pellet method. 1. Transport and viability of spermatozoa within the genital tract of the ewes. Journal of Reproduction and Fertility 22: 385–398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, N. W. and Miller, B. G. 1984. The use of the ovariectomized ewe in studies on survival of embryos during early pregnancy: a role for progestagen preceding conception. In Reproduction in sheep (ed. Lindsay, D. R. and Pearce, D. J.), pp. 112–114. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Trounson, A. O., Willadsen, S. M. and Moor, R. M. 1976. Effect of prostaglandin analog cloprostenol on estrus, ovulation and embryonic viability in sheep. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 86: 609–611.CrossRefGoogle Scholar