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. 2021 Feb 12;11(2):487.
doi: 10.3390/ani11020487.

Approaches to Identify Pregnancy Failure in Buffalo Cows

Vittoria Lucia Barile  1 , Laura Menchetti  2 , Anna Beatrice Casano  3 , Gabriele Brecchia  4 , Noelita Melo de Sousa  5 , Riccardo Zelli  3 , Claudio Canali  3 , Jean François Beckers  5 , Olimpia Barbato  3
Affiliations

Approaches to Identify Pregnancy Failure in Buffalo Cows

Vittoria Lucia Barile et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

The aim of this work was to find the best strategy to diagnose pregnancy failures in buffalo. A total of 109 animals belonging to a buffalo herd subjected to a synchronization and artificial insemination (AI) program were enrolled in this study. Blood samples were collected at days 0, 14, 25, 28 and 40 after AI for the determination of progesterone (P4) and pregnancy-associated glycoproteins (PAGs) by the radioimmunoassay (RIA) method. Transrectal ultrasonography was performed on day 25, 28 and 40 after AI to monitor pregnancy. The animals included in the data analysis were assigned ex post in pregnant (n = 50) and mortality (n = 12) groups. By ultrasonography, the predictive sign of mortality was the heartbeat. At day 25, the PAGs concentration was significant in predicting embryonic mortality with respect to ultrasonography and P4, at the cut-off of 1.1 ng/mL. At day 28, either PAGs, at a cut-off of 2.2 ng/mL, or ultrasonography, with no detection of heartbeat, were highly predictive of embryonic mortality. PAGs were the best marker (p < 0.05) for predicting embryonic mortality between 25 and 40 days of gestation in buffalo. Its utilization as a diagnostic tool can influence management decisions in order to improve farm reproductive management.

Keywords: buffalo; embryonic mortality; pregnancy-associated glycoproteins; progesterone; ultrasonography.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Concentrations of progesterone (P4) in mortality and pregnant groups at day 0, 14, 25, 28 and 40 post-AI. Bars not sharing the same superscript within each day are significantly different at p < 0.05.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Receiver operating characteristics curves for the detection of embryonic mortality by P4 at days 25 (Panel A), 28 (Panel B), and 40 (Panel C) post-AI. Optimal cut-offs for predicting mortality were 2.6 ng/mL, 2.6 ng/mL, and 2.4 ng/mL at days 25, 28 and 40 post-AI, respectively.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Concentrations of pregnancy-associated glycoproteins (PAG) in mortality and pregnant groups at days 0, 25, 28, and 40 post-AI. Bars not sharing the same superscript within each day are significantly different at p < 0.05.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves for the detection of embryonic mortality by PAG at days 25 (Panel A), 28 (Panel B), and 40 (Panel C) post-AI. Optimal cut-offs for predicting mortality were 1.1 ng/mL, 2.2 ng/mL, and 2.7 ng/mL at days 25, 28 and 40 post-AI, respectively.
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