The Effect of One Shot Prostaglandin on Estrus Synchronization of Local and Holstein Friesian Cattle in and around Wukro Kilte Awulaelo District, Northern Ethiopia

Abstract

The study was conducted in Wukro Kilte Awulaelo district in four selected sites with the objective of evaluating the effect of prostaglandin on oestrus synchronization of local cattle and Holstein Friesian cattle.The animals were selected from small holder farmers and unorganized farms of the Wukro Kilte Awulaelo District in four selected locations which were reported as non-cycling by the owner. The  selected  animal were  apparently  clinically  healthy, aged 2 to 12  year with  parity of  0 to 7  with  the  body  condition  score varying  between  3 to 5. Oestrus rate of cows to PGF2_?is 91.67% while, the oestrus rate of heifers was 93.02%. The average rate of pregnancy of the cows and heifers in the study sites was 31.94% and 32.56%, respectively. The differences in oestrus rate within cows of different parity were slight. But cows of different parity had showed varied differences in the rate of conception. A greater difference was observed in oestrus rate of the cows and heifers of different body conditions. In contrast, cattle with body condition score of 5 have the lowest rate of conception (17.4%) compared to others. The cows and heifers with the body condition of 3 and 4 results in conception rate of 25% and 36.9% respectively.The degree of success of conception of semen from different bulls, Bull 10231 was the highest (37.5%) followed by bull 10131 and 10249 (33.33%). The least degree of success of conception of semen was recorded for bull 11249(27.27). Analysis of the data on the basis of local and exotic breeds revealed that out of 76 local cows and  heifers treated with one shot prostaglandin, 24 (31.57%) were became pregnant and from the 39 exotic cows and Heifers treated, 13 (33.33%) were resulted in conception.Slight difference had also been observed in the rate of pregnancy between heifers and cows.The overall mean oestrus rate was 92.17%, while, the overall mean rate of pregnancy of was 32.17%. From the findings of this study it can be inferred that prostaglandin was effective to synchronize cows and heifers. In contrast, the rate of pregnancy was very low. Therefore, selection of dairy belts, farmers and cattle for synchronization should be done carefully. Moreover, strategic feed supplementation of synchronized cattle should not be neglected. Those cows that show standing oestrus should only be inseminated.

Keywords: Conception rate;Synchronization; Oestrus; Bull