The effectiveness of Ultrasonography in predicting Pregnancy, litter size, viability and embryo/fetal age during first three months post-breeding in Iraqi Shami does

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the detection efficiency of early pregnancy by Ultrasonography (ULR), and also to estimate embryo/fetal age, embryo/fetal count and viability in Iraqi Shami Does. Thirty-five mature does were synchronized using progesterone intra-vaginal sponges for 12 days+ equine Chorionic Gonadotrophin (eCG) (500 IU) after sponge removal.  Estrus was detected after two days in only 28 does, therefore, seven does were excluded. All does (n=28) were mated by four breeding bucks. Pregnancy monitoring, embryo/fetus number and developmental stages during the does gestation was carried out with B-mode Transrectal ultrasonography (TRU) (Transrectal probe) on days 17-29 Post mating (PM) using a frequency 6.5-7.5 MHz, and Transabdominal Ultrasonography (TAU) with in days 36-90 PM with frequency 3.5-4.5 MHz. The results revealed that the conception rate was 85.71% (24/28) and the Predicted +value (PV+), Predicted –value (PV-), Sensitivity (Se), Specificity (Sp) and Accuracy (Acc) were low on days 17-20 PM, which recorded 50%, 4%, 12%, 25% and 14% respectively. All detection values between 96-100% in the period 36-50 PM, and 100% in day 60 onwards. The efficiency in predicting embryo/fetal number was 77% and 75% for estimating twin (Se) and singleton (Sp) pregnancies in days 23-29 PM, and the detection parameters reached 100% by day 60, then declined after that. The embryo/fetal viability was 60% in the early gestational period and reached 96% between days 36–50 PM, and 100% after that. The correlation coefficient between embryo/fetal age and Embryonic Vesicle Diameter (EVD), Crown Rump Length (CRL) and Trunk Diameter (TD) was recorded as very high in different gestational ages; R² = 0.99 (23-42 days), R² = 0.97 (23-60 days) and R² = 0.98 (42-90 days). It was concluded that ULR (by using both TRU and TAU) was reliable, very efficient and safe to predict pregnancy, embryo/fetal count, viability and age between days 23-35 and 35-90 PM, respectively.