G. Gabor 1, F. Toth 1, M. Mezes 2
1 Department of Cattle Breeding Research Institute for Animal Breeding, H-2053 Herceghalom, Hungary,
2 Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Szent Istvan University, H-2103 Godollo, Hungary

PRELIMINARY COMPARISON OF LUTEAL CAVITY SIZE WITH SOME SERUM METABOLIC PARAMETERS IN DAIRY COWS

Luteal cavities are often found in cattle ovaries, even in pregnant cows and heifers during ultrasound examination. There are several previous papers about the size of the luteal cavities and their relationship with the serum progesterone (P4) concentration. Otherwise most of the authors reported that the cavity size has no significant effect on serum P4 concentration. We found based on routine rectal ultrasonography and milk urea determinations of dairy cows that these structures - independently from season - are possibly associated with energy deficiency or uterine disorders. The observations showed that if the luteal cavities occurred only at individual level these were mostly accompanied with uterine abnormalities, while if they occurred at herd level (15 - 20 % of the examined cows) it was found mainly at 50-90 days post partum and among the high lactating cows (35-55 kg milk/cow/day). The objective of this preliminary study was to check the relationship among the size of luteal cavity and serum progesterone level in association with some blood metabolic parameters. Twenty-one crossbred (R3-R4) Holstein-Friesian milking non-pregnant cows with different size of luteal cavities were involved in the experiment. Ovaries were examined by ultrasound scanner (Scanner 100 LC Vet, Pie Medical, Maastricht, The Netherlands) and a 6 MHz rectal linear transducer was used. Images were frozen and saved when largest diameter of the CL and cavities were found. Later the built in software was used for measuring of the exact area of the corpora lutea and luteal cavities. Immediately after the ultrasonic examination blood samples were obtained by coccygeal venipuncture. Serum P4 level was determined by an ELISA test (QuantiCheck, Veterinorg Ltd., Budapest, Hungary). Serum Ca, P, total protein, glucose, urea and beta-carotene levels, AST and LDH activities were checked by spectrum photometric methods. In all animals LDH activity showed higher values than the normal (mean: 1971 U/L) and AST activity also showed elevated levels in eighteen cows. Based on the individual data there were no significant correlations among the luteal cavity size, serum P4 concentrations and the metabolic parameters what probably mean that its formation is a multi-factorial process.