Reproductive recovery in cows with subclinical ketosis

Abstract

The development of ketosis in high productive cows is accompanied by damage to various organs and systems of the body.Therefore, even with successful treatment, animals have long-term consequences leading to a decrease in milk production, metritis, steroidogenesis disorders, impaired development of follicles and yellow bodies, and infertility. It is because the problem remains poorly understood, which is associated with the special features of the restoration of reproductive function in cows with ketosis. Our research was carried out on 208 cows of Holstein and Ukrainian black-and-white dairy breeds at the age of 2–6 years, with various fatness and productivity of 6–10 thousand kg of milk per lactation. The concentration of β-ketones was determined on the 5th and 10th days after delivery using a CareSens Dual ketometer. After detecting 1.1 and more mmol/l ketone bodiesin the blood of cows, the animal was considered sick and treatment was started according to the farm scheme. After identifying the stage of the reproductive cycle, insemination was carried out using payets. The pregnancy was diagnosed with an ultrasonic device Kaixin KX 5200 on the 35-40 day after insemination. After the research, it was found that on the fifth day after giving birth, an increased content of β-ketones in the blood was found in 42,8%, and on the tenth day – in 21,4% of cows. Of these, in 18,3% of animals the disease was re-detectedon the tenth day after calving. The emergence of subclinical ketosis after parturition is accompanied by decrease(3,6days)of the period from calving to recovery of reproductive cyclicity and the number of pregnant animals(32,7%, p <0.001), and by increase of 17,6 (p <0.001) days in the duration of infertility and insemination index(by 1,3). Re-development of latent ketosis in cows complicated the course of the disease. After a diseaserelapse there was a decrease by 15,1 days (p <0.001) in the impedance period and by 66,7% (p <0.001) of fertility and an increase by 29,4 days(p <0.001) in the service period and by 11,7 the number of sperm doses used for one successful insemination. Key words: ketosis, cow, fertility, insemination index, ketometer, β-ketones, blood, reproductive cycle.