SUBCLINICAL ENDOMETRITIS AND ITS EFFECT ON REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE OF CROSSBRED DAIRY COWS IN DEBRE ZEIT
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2007-06
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Abstract
In this study 59 postpartum crossbred dairy cows were selected from three different farming scales (smallholders, medium sized and large scale dairy farms). Each cow had a normal parturition and had no abnormal uterine discharge by vaginoscopy or no abnormality in rectal palpation. Then the cows were examined for subclinical endometritis by examination of endometrial lavage sample for the presence of neutrophils at the 4th and 8th weeks postpartum. The prevalence of cytologically diagnosed subclinical endometritis was 47.5% at the 4th and 30.5% at the 8th weeks of postpartum. In the three farming scales the prevalence of subclinical endometritis was 64.7% in small holders, 40.7% in medium sized and 40.0% in large-scale farms at the 4th week of postpartum (P = 0.240). While prevalence of 41.2%, 26.7% and 25.9% was recorded at the 8th week of postpartum (P = 0.526) in small, medium and large scale dairy farms respectively. Parity did not influence the prevalence of subclinical endometritis at the 4th week of postpartum (P = 0.492). Cytologically diagnosed subclinical endometritis was greatly associated with impaired reproductive performance. Cows that had subclinical endometritis at the 4th week postpartum required a mean of 2.4 services per conception compared to 1.7 services per conception for normal cows (P = 0.000) where as at the 8th week postpartum 2.7 services per conception were required for cows with subclinical endometritis, compared to 1.7 for normal cows (P = 0.001). For cows with subclinical endometritis at the 4th weeks postpartum the median calving to first service interval were 96 days and 80 days for normal cows (P = 0.000) while at the 8th week postpartum it was100 days for cows with subclinical endometritis and 82 days for normal cows. For cows with subclinical endometritis at the 4th weeks postpartum the median days open were 174 and 152 for normal cows (P =0.001) while at the 8th week of postpartum it was 178 for cows with subclinical endometritis and 155 days for cows without subclinical endometritis (P = 0.000). Also, there was a significant difference in first service conception rate between cows with and without subclinical endometritis at the 8th week of postpartum (3.4 versus 27.1%; P < 0.05). From those cows diagnosed negative for subclinical endometritis at the 8th week postpartum Proportionally 51% of cows confirmed to be pregnant with in 180 days, whereas from those positive cows for subclinical endometritis only 2% confirmed to be pregnant. The proportion of cows confirmed to be pregnant with in 180 days were 41 and 12% for normal cows and cows with subclinical endometritis at the 4th week of postpartum respectively. These results also indicated that there was an association between subclinical mastitis and
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subclinical endometritis at the 4th (P = 0.012) and 8th (P = 0.031) week of postpartum. From the follow up findings, it was observed that risk factors like poor body condition scores at the 4th week of postpartum had an association with subclinical endometritis (P = 0.017). Dairy cows with no regular exercise had a higher prevalence of subclinical endometritis than those exercising regularly (53.6 versus 46.4%; P = 0.026). In conclusion subclinical endometritis diagnosed by endometrial cytology in the postpartum period had a detrimental effect on current reproductive performance.
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Cows, Dairy, Endometritis, Inflammation, Reproduction, Subclinical