Abstract
The objective was to evaluate the efficacy of a single dose of exogenous galectin-1 in improving the pregnancy rate in inseminated cows, comparing the pregnancy rate of the two groups (treatment and control Groups) into 107 contemporary groups (YG) established. An ultrasound exam determined the pregnancy rate performed 25 to 35 days after the fixed-time artificial insemination (FTAI) of breeding beef cows (n = 3469). The pregnancy rate of cows that received a single dose of eGAL-1 (200 ± 10 µg), with an intrauterine administration (n = 1901), was compared with the pregnancy rate of cows inseminated using a conventional AI protocol (n = 1568), both comparing into the same YG. YGs were created considering the grouping of cows belonging to the same farm, with the same nutritional score and management, inseminated by the same inseminator and semen batch, and using the same estrus synchronization protocol). The statistical method used calculated the probability of obtaining pregnancy within each group. The administration of a single dose of eGAL-1 can increase the probability of obtaining pregnancy in beef cows by up to 8.68% (p < 0.0001), suggesting that a single dose of eGAL-1 during the FTAI procedure was reasonable in the beef cattle AI routine and can improve the pregnancy rate considerably.
Highlights
This study analyzed the increase in the pregnancy rate by administering a dose of exogenous GAL-1, combined with the technique of fixed-time artificial insemination (FTAI) in beef cattle
An increase in pregnancy rate of 8.68 percentage points was observed when a single dose of exogenous GAL-1 (eGAL-1) was combined with the FTAI technique
Important points inherent to this issue are that: the YG were built before the stage of exclusion of matrices due to body score, a fact that explains the difference between the number of animals in the treated and control groups; the particularities of sanitary and nutritional management of the different batches of animals worked are perfectly distributed in the statistical model based on the grouping by YG; the negative effect of nutritional deficiency on pregnancy rate was controlled in the experiment, excluding mothers who did not maintain their body score, as mentioned above
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Galectin-1 (GAL-1) is implicated in maternal-fetal tolerance, associated with regulating and modulating the immunological responses, embryo elongation events, and endometrium adherence. It contributes to placentation, development, migration, and trophoblastic invasion, essential in early gestational development. GAL-1 has been cited as a mediator in preventing early embryonic death in mammals.
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