New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research abstracts

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The evaluation of two doses of prostaglandin F2 analogue, Prosolvin, for oestrous synchronisation of Syrian Awassi ewes

M. ZARKAWI

Division of Animal Production
Department of Agriculture
Atomic Energy Commission
P.B. Box 6091
Damascus, Syria

Abstract  An assessment was made of the effectiveness of two doses of Prosolvin, a synthetic prostaglandin F2, on oestrous synchronisation in local ewes during the breeding season. Thirty cycling Awassi ewes were divided equally into three groups. Ewes in group T10 and group T15 were injected intramuscularly twice with either 10 mg (T10) or 15 mg (T15) of Prosolvin, with an interval of 11 days. The third group received no treatment and served as a control group (C). Oestrus commenced in the ewes in group T10 at 83.3 +/- 42.9 hours, and in the ewes in the T15 group at 136.5 +/- 109.9 hours, after the second injection of Prosolvin. In the control group (C), oestrus behaviour was more variable and commenced 251.2 +/- 130.9 hours after introduction of the rams. In the time to onset of oestrus, the difference between the effects of the two doses was not significant (P > 0.05) but there was a significant difference (P < 0.05) between treated and untreated ewes. The mean serum progesterone level dropped sharply within 24 hours after the treatment, from 8.48 nmol l^-1 to 0.52 nmol l^-1 in the ewes in group T10, and from 7.95 nmol l^-1 to 0.45 nmol l^-1 in the group T15. The treatment had no effect on either the duration of pregnancy or birth weight. It could be concluded that it is possible to use the synthetic prostaglandin Prosolvin at doses of 10 or 15 mg for oestrous synchronisation in local Awassi ewes during the breeding season.

Keywords  Prosolvin; oestrous synchronisation; reproduction; Awassi sheep; progesterone; radioimmunoassay

New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 2000, Vol. 43: 509-514

0028-8233/00/4304-0509 $7.00/0 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand 2000

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (425K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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