Reproductive response of synchronized and extensively grazed Blackbelly ewes during the summer in the tropics

• Autor(a) principal: Ponce-Covarrubias, José Luis
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: García y González, Ethel Caterina, Ramírez-Bribiesca, Jacinto Efrén, Pineda-Burgos, Blanca Celia
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Journal of Animal Behaviour and Biometeorology
• Texto Completo: https://malque.pub/ojs/index.php/jabb/article/view/382
• topic: estrous cycle; reproductive behavior; temperature and humidity index; weight and body condition

The present experiment aimed to evaluate the reproductive response of Blackbelly ewes synchronized with low doses of eCG during the summer in a tropical climate. Sixty multiparous hair ewes were divided into three groups (20 ewes/group): control group (CG; 0 IU of eCG), treated group 1 (TG-1; 140 IU of eCG) and treated group 2 (TG-2; 300 IU of eCG). The study found that the three groups of ewes showed differences in their reproductive behavior (P < 0.01). Indeed, all the ewes in the TG-1 and TG-2 groups presented a higher response to estrus than the CG (P < 0.01). In the same way, TG-1 and TG-2 had an onset to estrus in less time (P < 0.01).  On the other hand, prolificacy was also higher in TG-1 and TG-2 (P < 0.05). Likewise, ewes from TG-1 and TG-2 had more lambs than those from CG (P < 0.05). On the other hand, the variables of fertility and gestation length were similar regardless of the group of ewes (P > 0.05). It´s concluded that the ewes treated with eCG presented good reproductive behavior, and the majority did so in the first 24 to 36 h after removing the intravaginal device.