Nyabinwa Pascal, Kashongwe Olivier Basole, Hirwa Claire d'Andre, Bebe Bockline Omedo
Department of Animal Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Egerton University, P.O, Box 536, Egerton, Kenya; Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board, P.O, Box 5016, Kigali, Rwanda.
Department of Animal Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Egerton University, P.O, Box 536, Egerton, Kenya.
Anim Reprod Sci. 2020 Oct;221:106584. doi: 10.1016/j.anireprosci.2020.106584. Epub 2020 Aug 27.
Endometritis is a prevalent post-partum uterine infection in dairy cows resulting in suboptimal reproductive performance. The hypothesis was that endometritis status is associated with suboptimal reproductive performance of postpartum dairy cows managed under zero-grazing feeding practice on smallholder farms. In this study, there was evaluation of effects of endometritis diagnosed at 38.5 ± 14.7 days postpartum (dpp) on subsequent reproductive performance. Reproductive performance of 436 cows from 345 farms was recorded for 210 dpp. Values for reproductive performance indicators were less (P < 0.05) in cows determined to be positive compared to negative for endometritis. Cows that tested positive, as compared to negative, for endometritis had longer periods after parturition until initiation of oestrous cycles (median, interquartile range; 85.0, 57.5-127.0 and 62.6, 49.0-90.0 days, respectively), longer durations before being detected pregnant (95.5, 61.8-145.5 and 63.0, 50.0-83.0 days, respectively), lesser pregnancy rates as a result of the first breeding postpartum (16.5% and 32.7%, respectively), more natural-mating or artificial inseminations per pregnancy (1.3 ± 0.1 and 1.1 ± 0.0, respectively) and more occurrences of anoestrus postpartum (48.4% and 11.7%, respectively). These results provide evidence of a strong association between endometritis and suboptimal fertility performance in zero-grazed cows on smallholder farms in Rwanda. Considering there were 70.2% of cows in the present study were diagnosed with endometritis, this is indicative of a widespread herd health issue, warranting that field veterinary practitioners prioritise endometritis in their herd health service delivery to smallholder dairy farmers for effective disease management and herd sustainability.
子宫内膜炎是奶牛产后常见的子宫感染，会导致繁殖性能不佳。研究假设是，在小农户农场零放牧饲养管理模式下，子宫内膜炎状况与产后奶牛繁殖性能不佳有关。在本研究中，评估了产后38.5±14.7天诊断出的子宫内膜炎对后续繁殖性能的影响。记录了来自345个农场的436头奶牛210天的繁殖性能。与子宫内膜炎检测呈阴性的奶牛相比，检测呈阳性的奶牛繁殖性能指标值更低（P<0.05）。与子宫内膜炎检测呈阴性的奶牛相比，检测呈阳性的奶牛产后至发情周期开始的时间更长（中位数，四分位间距；分别为85.0、57.5 - 127.0天和62.6、49.0 - 90.0天），怀孕前的持续时间更长（分别为95.5、61.8 - 145.5天和63.0、50.0 - 83.0天），产后首次配种的怀孕率更低（分别为16.5%和32.7%），每次怀孕的自然交配或人工授精次数更多（分别为1.3±0.1和1.1±0.0），产后乏情的发生率更高（分别为48.4%和11.7%）。这些结果证明了卢旺达小农户农场零放牧奶牛的子宫内膜炎与生育性能不佳之间存在密切关联。鉴于本研究中有70.2%的奶牛被诊断出患有子宫内膜炎，这表明这是一个普遍存在的畜群健康问题，需要现场兽医从业者在为小农户奶农提供畜群健康服务时，将子宫内膜炎作为重点，以实现有效的疾病管理和畜群可持续性。
