Pregnancy Diagnosis and Monitoring in Zebu by Ultrasonography

Abstract

Pregnancy diagnoses were carried out in 64 Peuhl and Gudali zebu (Bos indicus) females at 28 and 40 days postinsemination with an ultrasound scanner equipped with a 6 MHz linear transducer. At day 28, the overall accuracy for pregnancy diagnosis was 92.2%, with 92.6% and 91.9% accuracies for positive and negative diagnoses, respectively. At day 40, the overall accuracy was 98.4%, with 100% and 97.3% accuracies for positive and negative pregnancy diagnoses, respectively. The predictive values varied from 89.2% (positive predictive value at day 28) to 100% (negative predictive value at day 40). Fetal growth was monitored in 16 pregnant females at days 45 and 120 postinsemination. The main fetal measurements concerned cranial length and trunk diameter. At day 45 of gestation, cranial and trunk diameters were respectively 1.8 ± 0.1 cm and 1.4 ± 0.3 cm. At day 120, the values were 6.5 ± 0.6 cm and 5.8 ± 0.5 cm, respectively. From day 120 on, the uterus occupied a very deep position that prohibited visualizing fetus growth.