Esteróides no controle da regressão de folículos de diferentes diâmetros para uso em sistemas de inseminação artificial em tempo fixo de vacas de corte no pós-parto

Abstract

Progestin associated to estradiol benzoate (EB) became the most used treatment for estrous induction in beef cow. However, those programs that use this association still can be enhanced to produce better pregnancy rates and easily the management. Two experiments were designed with this aim. In the first, it was investigated if progestin-estradiol association is able to induce follicular regression in different stages of ovarian follicular waves in cattle. For this, the follicular dynamics of 36 suckling cows, whose received 3 progestin treatments associated to EB before (follicles between 5-7mm), during (8-10mm) or after (>10mm) expected follicular deviation moment. Since, all cows presented regression of the largest follicles, it was concluded that independent of follicular size, cows bearing emerged growing follicles presented similar responses on follicular wave dynamics when treated with EB and different progestin protocols. The second experiment was design to compare two estrus induction protocols for cows in postpartum period, using GnRH and two-day artificial insemination (AI) or EB and fixed-time artificial insemination (TAI). A total of 250 suckled beef cows received a vaginal device containing 250mg of medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) and an injection of 5mg of EB intramuscularly (IM) on day 0. The vaginal device was removed on day 7. On day 6, the cows were injected with 400IU eCG (IM) and 5mg Dinoprost (into vulvar submucosa) and calves were removed for 96h. After removing the vaginal devices (day 7), the cows were divided in two groups. In BioRep group (n=150), estrus detection was carried out twice a day during 48h and the animals were inseminated 12h after detection. Cows not detected in estrus received 100μg of GnRH and were inseminated after 16 to 18h. In EB group, cows received im 1mg of EB on day 8 (24h after removing MPA) and were inseminated on day 9 without estrus detection (54h after removing MPA). The diagnosis of pregnancy was performed 40 days after AI with ultrasound. The data were analyzed by Chi-square test. The pregnancy rate was higher (p<0.01) in BioRep group (54.7%) than EB group (33.3%). To obtain high pregnancy rate, the estrus induction protocols for postpartum beef cows should use two-day AI and GnRH to induce ovulation instead of EB with TAI.