No abstract

This investigation was carried out on 40 advanced pregnant Jafarabadi buffaloes of 2–4 parity equally divided into two groups, viz., control and treatment groups. The control animals were maintained on standard routine farm feeding, and the animals of the treatment group received additional oral supplements of 50 g chelated mineral mixture and 150 g bypass fat daily along with concentrates for 6 weeks prepartum and 8 weeks postpartum. The bypass fat was given @ 15 g/liter of milk produced limiting up to 200 g/head/day from 15–60 days postpartum. Ten animals in each control and treatment group further received Inj. Stimvet 5 mL (micro-minerals) around day 45 prepartum and on day of calving. Half of these Stimvet treated and control subgroups also received ecbolic Exapar (n = 5) 2 boli/day for 4 consecutive days postpartum. Blood samples were obtained from all animals by jugular vein puncture on the day –45, –30, –7 and 0 (day of calving), 7, 15, 30, 45, 60 peripartum for estimation of plasma trace minerals, viz., zinc, iron, copper, cobalt, and manganese. The plasma zinc and copper concentrations were found to be higher on day 30 prepartum and again on day 7 postpartum in Stimvet injected groups.Moreover, the overall pooled mean concentration of zinc was significantly higher in nutrients supplemented than the control group. The plasma concentrations of iron, cobalt, and manganese did not reveal any specific trend or significant variations between groups or between periods within any of the groups. Further, the peripartum oral nutrients supplementation significantly shortened the periods of placental expulsion time and uterine involution, with early onset of postpartum first estrus, apparently shorter service period and enhanced pregnancy rate in comparison to control group. The influence of Stimvet and Exapar alone or in combination, however, did not show a significant beneficial effect on these traits, except shortened placental expulsion time and higher plasma zinc and cobalt status. Hence, the Jafarabadi buffalo keepers may be advised to provide additional oral nutrients supplementation in the form of bypass fat and chelated minerals over routine feeding to their animals during a transitional period for improved postpartum fertility.

The relative efficacy of different treatment modalities was evaluated for induction of estrus in 32 post-pubertal true anestrus Jafarabadi buffalo heifers randomly divided into four equal groups. Animals of Group I received intravaginal CIDR and i/m injection of 1.0 mg estradiol valerate on day 0, i/m injection of 500 μg PGF2α on day 7 while removing CIDR, and 0.75 mg estradiol valerate on day 8. Fix timed insemination (FTAI) was performed at 48 and 72 h following PGF2α injection. Animals of Group II received standard Ovsynch protocol with FTAI. In Group III, Prajana HS 3 caps/ day for 3 days along with i/m injection of Vitamin AD3E (5 ml) and Tonophosphan (15 ml) on first day were administered. Group IV animals received no treatment and served as control. Among all inseminated heifers, in non-return cases pregnancy was confirmed per rectum 60 days postbreeding. The estrus induction response in Group I and II animals was 100 %, whereas in Group III and IV it was 37.5 % and 12.5%, respectively. In Group I, one animal conceived at induced estrus and another four at second service while in Group II, five animals conceived at second service giving overall conception rate (CR) of 62.5% in each group within 77 days of treatment. In Group III, three animals conceived by 70 days and in Group IV, only one animal (12.5%) showed estrus and conceived by 50 days of treatment with overall CR of 37.5% and 12.5%, respectively. Mean plasma progesterone concentration was significantly (p less than 0.05) higher on day 7 as compared to day 0, at estrus and on day 20 post-AI in all the animals. It was concluded that both CIDR and Ovsynch protocols are better than herbal heat inducer + supplements in inducing fertile estrus in anestrus buffalo heifers.

This investigation was undertaken on 40 transitional Jaffarabadi buffaloes with the objective to evaluate the effect of peripartum nutritional (multiminerals and bypass fat) supplementation without and with micro-minerals (Inj. Stimvet) and oral ecbolic (Boli Exapar) on uterine involution and postpartum fertility including plasma minerals profile. The animals of treatment group (n=20) received additional oral supplements daily with 50 g of chelated mineral mixture and 150 g of bypass fat along with concentrates for 6 weeks prepartum and 2 weeks postpartum over the control farm fed group (n=20). Ten buffaloes in each control and treatment group further received Inj. Stimvet 5 ml (micro-minerals) around day 45 prepartum and on day of calving. Half of these Stimvet treated and control subgroups also received Exapar (n=5) 2 boli/day for 4 consecutive days postpartum. Blood samples were obtained on day –45, –30, –7 and 0 (day of calving), 7, 15, 30, 45, 60 peripartum for estimation of minerals profile. Animals were followed for puerperal events, uterine involution and intervals for postpartum first estrus and conception. The feeding of bypass fat and chelated minerals had significant effect on the time required for expulsion of placenta (3.93±0.24 vs 7.18±0.72 hrs; p Lass Than 0.01), uterine involution (32.75±0.57 vs 37.00±0.56 days; p Lass Than 0.05), intervals for first estrus postpartum (79.05±3.82 vs 100.55±3.47 days; p Lass Than 0.05) and service period (107.10±4.43 vs 133.65±6.04 days; p Lass Than 0.05). The prepartum mean plasma calcium and inorganic phosphorus levels in the buffaloes of both control and treatment groups decreased significantly on the day of calving, and then gradually increased during the days postpartum, again reaching at par with prepartum levels at around day 15-30 postpartum. The mean plasma calcium levels were observed to be higher in treatment than control group at most of the intervals. The mean plasma inorganic phosphorus values on periods closer to calving were apparently higher in treatment group than the control group. Further, the levels during close peripartum period were observed to be apparently higher in untreated subgroup as compared to Stimvet and Exapar alone or its combination subgroups. The mean plasma magnesium concentrations were found to be almost consistent during entire peripartum period studied in both the groups with apparently higher values in treatment than control group at most of the intervals. Very similar trend was also found in subgroups treated with Stimvet and oral Exapar alone or in combination, being little higher in Stimvet injected subgroup.

Caffeine is widely known for its phosphodiesterase enzymes inhibiting, and its powerful reactive oxygen species scavenging property. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of caffeine supplementation @ 0 mM, 1 mM, 3 mM and 5 mM in AndroMed® ex tender on cryopreservation of Jaffarabadi buffalo semen. Twenty-four semen ejaculates (6/bull) with >70% initial sperm motility were obtained from four mature Jaffarabadi bulls using AV. The ejaculates were split-diluted in an egg-yolk-free AndroMed® extender supplemented with different concentrations of caffeine and were cryopreserved using a standard protocol. The semen samples were evaluated for sperm quality parameters as well as oxidative stress parameters, viz., lipid peroxidation, and Glutathione-S-transferase (GST) enzyme activity in seminal plasma at pre-freeze (after equilibration) and post-thaw stage. The levels of caffeine had a significant effect on all these parameters, except sperm abnormalities, at both pre-freeze and post-thaw stages. Supplementation of caffeine in semen extender at 1 mM and 3 mM concentration showed a significant (p<0.05) increase in post-thawed sperm motility (62.04 ± 0.84, 61.25 ± 1.01%), viability (64.21 ± 0.88, 64.25 ± 0.84%), acrosome integrity (58.08 ± 1.08, 57.30 ± 0.93%) and plasma membrane integrity (52.75 ± 0.89, 52.71 ± 0.74%) and a significant (p<0.05) decrease in oxidative damage as evident by lower lipid peroxidation (MDA 7.62 ± 0.41, 7.80 ± 0.70 µM) and GST enzyme activity (31.15 ± 1.36, 29.54 ± 0.54 nmol CDNB/mL/min) as compared to control and 5 mM caffeine. The study concludes that the post-thaw quality of frozen semen of Jaffarabadi buffalo bulls improves significantly with decreased oxidative stress if the AndroMed® extender is supplemented with 1 and 3 mM concentration of caffeine over control.