Efficacy of intravaginal progesterone administration combined with prostaglandin f(2alpha) for cystic ovarian disease in Japanese Black cows

The objective of this study was to investigate cystic ovarian disease (COD) in commercial Japanese Black cows and to evaluate the efficacy of 7-day insertion of an intravaginal progesterone insert (CIDR) combined with prostaglandin F(2alpha) (PGF(2alpha)) at CIDR removal. Experiment 1 was conducted to group cysts into 4 patterns based on alteration of plasma progesterone (P(4)) concentrations on d -7 and d 0 (=CIDR insertion) with 1.0 ng/ml as the cut-off level by ultrasonographic examination of 28 cows with COD that were >or=40 days postpartum and anoestrous after calving. In Experiment 2, a total of 55 cows under the same conditions as in Experiment 1 were utilized, and the same regimen as in Experiment 1 was performed without 7 days of pre-observation before treatment. As a result, 92.9% of CLs on d 21 were highly formed in Experiment 1 and 83.6% were highly formed in Experiment 2. The conception rates within 60 days after CIDR removal were also satisfactory high and were 71.4% and 54.5%, respectively. There were no differences in any overall reproductive parameters between Experiments 1 and 2 (P>0.05). The average days between CIDR removal and conception were 24.4 +/- 5.3 and 24.0 +/- 6.5 days, respectively (P>0.05); therefore, the conception dates of the cows in Experiment 2 were at least 7 days earlier compared with Experiment 1. In conclusion, treatment with a CIDR and PGF(2alpha) against COD could minimize the risk of incorrect treatment and provide sufficient reproductive performance in Japanese Black cows.