Congenital and acquired abnormalities of reproductive tract of non-pregnant ewes slaughtered in Fars province, Iran

Abstract

Summary Congenital and acquired abnormalities of the reproductive tract of female sheep resulting in subfertility, infertility or sterility cannot easily be detected by routine clinical examination. Morphopathological abnormalities of the reproductive tract of ewes were studied by examining a total of 739 genital tracts in abattoirs of Fars province, Iran. From these, the 648 non-pregnant genitalia were examined grossly. In gross examination, 12.3% of the tracts were pregnant. Out of non-pregnant tracts, 16.6% exhibited abnormalities. Histopathologic examination of these tracts revealed endometritis 2.93%, metritis 0.3%, pyometra 0.15%, hydrometra 0.15%, papillary hyperplasia of endometrial epithelium 0.15%, endometriosis 0.3%, fatty change of myometrial cells 0.3%, multifocal to diffuse hemosiderosis 1.23%, follicular cysts 1.85%, luteinized- follicular cysts 0.6%, paraovarian cysts 0.9%, oophoritis 0.6% and Cysticercus tenuicolis cysts 0.15%. Endometritides were classified as acute or chronic. Acute purulent endometritis and chronic endometritis was diagnosed in 0.75 and 2.18% of the cases, respectively. It was concluded that endometritis and ovarian cysts were the most common abnormalities in the slaughtered ewes.