Influence of dextrose on fertility of repeat breeding cows

Abstract

A study was conducted to assess the efficacy of intrauterine administration of dextrose after insemination in improving the breeding efficiency of repeaters. Post – insemination intra – uterine administration of 50 ml of 15 per cent dextrose to 147 repeate breeders resulted in a conception rate of 47.62 per cent as against 15.38 per cent in 13 controls. The difference in the conception rate of animals in the treatment and control group was highly significant (P < 0.01). For analysis, the data on the treatment and control animals were grouped on the basis of blood glucose level, parity, age, post – partum interval in months, number of previous unsuccessful inseminations and type of semen used for insemination. The conception rate of 66.67 per cent was obtained in animals having low blood glucose level (upto 45 mg/100 ml) as against 41.77 per cent in those which had high blood glucose level (56 mg/100 ml and more). Significant statistical association between the conception rate and blood glucose level was observed. The blood glucose level of normal cows (59.79 + 1.63 mg/100 ml) which settled to one or two inseminations was significantly higher than that of repeaters (53.02 + 0.69 mg/100 ml). The conception rate was higher in cows (52.13 per cent) than in heifers (39.62 per cent) though, the blood glucose levels did not show significant variations between the two groups. The parity did not influence the blood glucose level significantly, however, a positive association was observed with parity and fertility. A positive correlation was observed between the age and fertility also. However, blood glucose level did not show a significant variation between age groups. Highest fertility rats (59.38 per cent) was obtained in animals inseminated with frozen semen and lowest (36.96 per cent) in those animals inseminated with CME semen. However, there was no significant difference in blood glucose levels. Administration of a combination of dextrose and antibiotics after insemination was found to increase the conception rate in repeaters which failed to conceive to post – insemination dextrose therapy. Post – insemination intra – uterine administration of dextrose alone or dextrose with antibiotics increased conception rate in repeat breeders.