THE EFFICACY OF INTRA-UTERINE INFUSION OF IODINE COMPOUNDS ON THE REPRODUCTIVE EFFICIENCY OF POSTPARTUM AND REPEAT BREEDER CROSS-BRED DAIRY COWS IN THE SUDAN

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the percentage of uterine bacterial infection among PP cross-breddairy cows and to evaluate its influence on their reproductive efficiency. Furthermore, the effects of intra-uterine infusion of iodine compounds (1% Lugol's iodine and 2% Povidone iodine) on the reproductive efficiency of PP and repeat breeder dairy cows was investigated. Experiment I. was designed to determine the incidence of uterine bacterial infection among early PP dairy cows. Furthermore, the effects of uterine bacterial infection on PP reproductive efficiency of the same cows were evaluated by studying six reproductive parameters. These parameters were uterine involution, appearance of the first DF, appearance of the FO, length of DO, rate of service per conception and CI. Uterine endometrium swabs were collected on day 5 PP from 130 dairy cows and werecultured within 2 hours of collection in blood agar media and MacConkey agar media. The uteri of 120 cows (93%) were found infected and 10 cows (7%) were found none infected. From the total infected cows 40 cows were used to evaluate the effect of bacterial uterine infection on their reproductive performance. Twenty cows were severely infected and the remaining cows (20 cows) were mildly infected. The result of this experiment showed that dairy cows that suffered sever uterine bacterial infection had a significantly (P<0.001) extended uterine involution period, long time for the appearance of the DF and the FO, the length of DO and CI compared to the dairy cows that suffered mild uterine bacterial infection. Moreover, the dairy cows which suffered sever uterine bacterial infection had a significantly (P<0.001) increased rate of 13 service per conception compared tothe cows with mild uterine bacterial infection. Experiment II. This experiment was conducted to study the effects of intra-uterine infusion of diluted Lugol's iodine on PP reproductive efficiency of cows having uterine bacterial infection. From the remaining cows that were diagnosed as severely infected in experimentI, 40 cows having severe uterine bacterial infection were selected. The cows divided randomlyinto two equal groups (A) and (B) 20 cow each. Group A was intra-uterine infused with 1% Lugol’s iodine on day 5 PP. Group B was left untreated to serve as a control. The above mentioned parameters were evaluated. The result of this experiment showed that infusion of 1% Lugol’s iodine significantly improved (P<0.0001) all the reproductive parameters compared to the control. Experiment III. This experiment was conducted to study the effects of intra-uterine infusion of diluted Povidone iodine on PP reproductive efficiency of cows having uterine bacterial infection. From the remaining cows that were diagnosed as severely infected in experimentI, 40 cows having severe uterine bacterial infection were selected. The cows were divided randomly into two equal groups (A) and (B) 20 cow each. Group A was intra-uterine infused with Povidone iodine on day 5 PP. Group B was left untreated to serve as control. The above mentioned parameters were evaluated. The result of this experiment showed thatinfusion of 2% Povidone iodine significantly improved (P<0.0001) all the reproductive parameters compared to the control. Experiment IV. was conducted to study the possibility of using diluted Lugol’s iodine for treating repeat breeder cow syndrome. Sixty cross-bred repeat breeder dairy cowswere used in this experiment. 14 Uterine swabs were collected from uteri of all cows. After bacterial culture all the selected cows werefound mildly infected. They were then grouped randomly into three groups. Group A (n = 20 cows) was intra-uterine infused with 1% Lugol’s iodine 6 hours pre-insemination. Group B (n = 20 cows) was infused with the same solution 6 hours post-insemination. Group C (n = 20 cows) was left without treatment to serve as control. The potency ofdiluted Lugol’s iodine to cure repeat breeder cow syndrome was evaluated by studying the DO, rate of service per conception and the CI. The results of this experiment showed that, the DO, rate of service per conception and CI were significantly (P<0.001) reduced by infusion of diluted Lugol's solution 6 hours pre/post insemination as compared to the control. Experiment V. was conducted to study the possibility of using diluted Povidone iodine for treating repeat breeder cow syndrome. Sixty cross-bred repeat breeder dairy cows were used in this experiment. Uterine swabs were collected from uteri of all cows. After bacterial culture all the selected cows were found mildly infected. They were then grouped randomly into three groups. Group A (n = 20 cows) was intra-uterine infused with 2% Povidone iodine 6 hours preinsemination. Group B (n = 20 cows) was infused with the same solution 6 hours post-insemination. Group C (n = 20 cows) was left untreated to serve as control. The potency of diluted Povidone iodine to cure repeat breeder cow syndrome was evaluated by studying the same parameters as in experiment 4. The findings of this experiment showed that, the infusion of diluted Povidone iodine pre/post insemination significantly (P<0.001) reduced the DO and CI as compared to the control. Furthermore, the rate of service per conception was significantly (P<0.001)minimized compared to the control. 15 It is concluded that, the reduced reproductive efficiency of cross-bred dairy cows is likely to be due to early PP uterine bacterial mild infection that decreases reproductive efficiency and leads to repeat breeding syndrome later. Intra-uterine infusion of 1% Lugol's iodine can be used successfully to improve the PP reproductive performance of cross-bred dairy cows.