Pregnancy diagnosis in sheep

Abstract

Accurate diagnosis of early pregnancy is a key factor for successful reproduction management in sheep farm. Among the numerous methods used for pregnancy diagnosis in sheep, a few methods can diagnosis early pregnancy. However, these methods are either impractical or not specific for pregnancy. Recently, pregnancy-associated glycoproteins (PAG) have been isolated from domestic ruminant placentas and radioimmunoassays have been developed for detecting PAG in the maternal blood or milk of pregnant animals. These radioimmunoassays have been used accurately for detecting early pregnancy in cattle and goats. However, there is no data about the accuracy of pregnancy associated glycoprotein-radioimmunoassay (PAG-RIA) for early pregnancy diagnosis in sheep. Transrectal ultrasonography has been recommended as a practical test for early pregnancy diagnosis in sheep. The variable accuracy of transrectal ultrasongraphy for early pregnancy diagnosis in sheep led us to study the factors, which could improve the accuracy of the technique and to investigate the false ultrasonographic pregnancy diagnoses.