No abstract

Gilts reproductive efficiency is one of the primary factors of successful piglets' production. This performance, among other things, is expresses by the number of pregnant gilts, with desirable genetic traits, body weight and age, sexual maturity status, and general good health, provided for the replacement of sows in primary herd. This goal is very difficult to achieve in practical conditions. The main reason is occurrence of prolonged preinsemination anoestrus (oestrus was not detected even after 8 months of age). This paper review the occurrence of prolonged preinsemination anoestrus, based on the results of our and study of other authors. All studies consistently show that, in most of these gilts, pubertal cyclic ovarian activity were established, that silent oestrus occurred in only 4% of the cyclic gilts, and that this problem can be solved by applying appropriate technologies for oestrus detection, and by treatment with adequate hormonal preparations.

No abstract

Due to the prolonged preinsemination anoestrus (the sings of oestrus were not found even after eight months of age) 25 to 40% of gilts are culled on the farms in Vojvodina. The question is if those gilts did not reach puberty at all or if it was the result of an inadequate technology in oestrus detection. Concerning this issue, a morphological examination of the genital organs of 175 gilts, in which oestrus was not detected during the first 8 to 9 months of age, was carried out. The average age of these gilts was, at sacrifice, 267 days (242 to 278 days). In further research, the treatment of delayed puberty gilts and control gilts was carried out with hormone preparations from the progestin group (Regumate, Altrenogest) or placental gonadotropin (PMSG - 'Folligon'). Based on examination of the gilts' genital organs, in which oestrus was not detected even after 8 months of age, it was established that 38.9% of those gilts did not reach sexual maturity at all, i.e. did not have cyclic ovarian activity. With the other 61.1% of the examined gilts, the puberty ovarian cyclicity was established, as their ovaries had the functional structures (preovulatary follicles, corpora hemorrhagica, corpora lutea and corpora albicantia). Thus, one oestrus cycle was reached by 57.9% while two oestrous cycles were reached by 42.1% out of the total number of sexually mature gilts. A high degree of oestrous reaction (80%), a high farrowing rate (87.5%) and a satisfactory average number of live-born piglets per litter were established in the delayed puberty gilts treated with the Regumate preparation. The obtained results distinctly show that a great number of gilts reached the puberty cyclic ovarian activity while the absence of oestrus detection was the result of inadequate technology in oestrus detection on farms

Increasing pressure on animal and human health as well as food security, due to antimicrobial resistance, is leading to increased demand for natural-product-derived antibiotics worldwide. Considering the importance of bovine mastitis as well as the huge challenge posed by mastitis therapy in cattle production, the main goal of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of the essential oil-based pharmaceutical (Phyto-Bomat), as an alternative to the existing treatment with antibiotics. The therapeutic response of the cows was monitored using clinical and bacteriological cure of the proposed formulation. Among 550 dairy cows, 75 were diagnosed with a clinical or subclinical form of mastitis and divided into three experimental groups: treated with antibiotic; Phyto-Bomat; antibiotic and Phyto-Bomat. Indicators of bacteriological cure were somatic cell count (SCC), total bacterial count, and causative agent isolation, while the clinical cure was accessed by observing physical udder conditions. All mentioned indicators were assessed before and after the treatment (1st and 7th day post-treatment), with all of the three therapeutic protocols. After Phyto-Bomat treatment, no visible signs of irritation were noticed, while no significant effect in reducing SCC and total bacterial count was observed. Phyto-Bomat has shown promising results in the treatment of mastitis, without the risk of udder irritation, alone or in combination with antibiotics as part of a mastitis control program during lactation.

Modern intensive pig production demands an increasing number of insemination doses per ejaculate of genetically superior boars. In order to achieve such a result the possibility of producing insemination doses in both reduced volume and spermatozoa count without decreasing the fertility of sows is studied. In this trial we studied the effect of insemination with reduced volumes of semen (50 mL) and varied spermatozoa count (4, 2 or 1x109). Insemination was performed by the classical (intracervical) or by the new (intrauterine) techniques and the basic fertility parameters (farrowing % and litter size) were measured. The farrowing value decreased with decreasing spermatozoa numbers after intracervical and intrauterine insemination. However, the farrowing value, regardless of spermatozoa numbers, was significantly higher after intrauterine insemination (83.3%, 76.7%, 66.7%) compared to the classical intracervical insemination (73.3%, 66.7% and 50%). Litters size did not vary significantly depending on the applied insemination procedure or spermatozoa number. These results indicate that application of the new intrauterine insemination procedure enables the use of doses with a smaller volume and spermatozoa number, at the same time obtaining a satisfactory farrowing and litter size. This opens the possibility of obtaining a significantly higher number of doses per ejaculate when compared to the classical intracervical insemination procedure. In such a way can be increased significantly the degree of reproductive exploitation of genetically superior boars

The reproductive performance of gilts significantly affects the number of annually produced piglets per sow. The paper presents the results of an analysis of the reproductive performance of gilts on a big pig farm in Vojvodina (Republic of Serbia), with a capacity of around 5,500 sows. Out of the total of 19,000 female piglets selected for reproduction, insemination, aged 210 days, a total of 5,420 (28.5%) gilts are prepared, and 70% of these are inseminated. A total of 29.3% gilts are culled for reproduction because of longterm pre insemination anestria (estrus was not established until the age of 9 months). It is believed that the basic reason for the occurrence of long-term anestrias is the inadequate technology for detecting estrus on the farm (once every 24 hours, without direct contact between the test boar and the gilts). As a consequence, there are significant economic losses in piglet production on the examined farm

BackgroundProlonged pre-insemination anestrus (i.e. delayed puberty) is a major contributing factor for culling up to 30% of the replacement gilts at large breeding farm units in Vojvodina. It is imperative to determine if these gilts are acyclic (prepubertal) or cyclic, but just fail to exhibit behavioural estrus. Recent investigations demonstrate that treatment with equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG) can increase the diestrous phase duration in sexually mature gilts. Based on these finding, the aim of the present studies was to determine the reproductive status of delayed puberty gilts following injection with eCG.MethodsTwo experiments were conducted on a swine breeding farm in Vojvodina. In Exp. 1, 20 prepubertal (acyclic) gilts, and 120 sexually mature (cyclic) gilts were injected with a single injection of 400 IU eCG + 200 IU human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) or with 1000 IU eCG (cyclic gilts), at d5, d11 or d17 after spontaneous estrus detection, to determine their ovarian reaction and induced estrus manifestation. In Exp. 2, sixty delayed puberty gilts (estrus not detected until 8 month of age, av. 258 days) were culled from breeding herd and slaughtered to determine their reproductive status based on ovarian anatomical features. The second group of gilts (n = 60) was treated with a single 1000 IU eCG injection to determine their reproductive status, based on the interval between eCG injection to estrus detection and duration. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test, analysis of variance and Duncan’s test in the software package Statistics 10th.ResultsOvulations were induced in 90% of acyclic (sexually immature) and, on average, 93.3% of cyclic (sexually mature) gilts after the eCG injection. On average, 4 days after the eCG injection, estrus was detected in 85% of the treated acyclic (sexually immature) gilts and in 95% (19/20) of the cyclic (sexually mature) gilts, treated with eCG on day 17 after spontaneous estrus detection. The interval from eCG to induced estrus detection was prolonged (av. 25 days) in 95% (19/20) of the sexually mature gilts treated with eCG on day 5 and in 90% (18/20) of gilts treated on day 11 after spontaneous estrus detection (Exp. 1). Forty anestrous gilts reached cyclic pubertal ovarian activity. Estrus manifestation was detected in 56 gilts (93.3% of the total 60 treated prolonged anestrous gilts, av. 259 days of age), after a single 1000 IU eCG injection. Thirty-four gilts (60.7% of the total gilts in estrus) with prolonged eCG to estrus interval (av. 24.7 days) were considered spontaneously cyclic (sexually mature), but behaviourally anestrous before treatment. The remaining 22 (39.3% of the total gilts in estrus) were considered truly sexually immature (acyclic) before the treatment or were eCG injected in the late luteal or proestrous phase of spontaneous estrous cycle (Exp. 2).ConclusionsIn 66.7% of the delayed puberty gilts, pre-ovulatory follicles (PoF), corpora hemorrhagica (CH), corpora lutea (CL), or corpora albicantia (CA) were found on the ovar...