Gross pathological changes in the reproductive tracts of cows slaughtered at two abattoirs in Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

Abattoir based study was conducted to assess the type and prevalence of reproductive abnormalities and pregnancy status of cows slaughtered at Hawassa municipality abattoir and Tula slaughter house. Out of the 345 genital tracts examined, one or two gross abnormalities with different degrees of severity were observed in 124 (35.9%) of genital tract. The most common abnormalities encountered were ovariobursal adhesions (6.38%, n=22), endometritis (4.93%, n=17), and follicular cysts (4.35%, n=15). On anatomical basis, ovarian abnormalities (14.78%, n=51) were more frequent followed by uterine (10.43%, n=36), cervico-vaginal (7.25%, n=25) and oviductal (4.93%, n=17) abnormalities. Both breed and study area showed no statistically significant effect in the prevalence of reproductive abnormalities. Pregnancy was recorded in 26.67% (n=92) of the slaughtered cows, of which 45.65% (n=42) were in the first trimester, while 30.43% (n=28) and 23.91% (n=22) in the second and third trimesters, respectively. The current study revealed that reproductive tract abnormalities are important diseases in the study areas with considerable impact on the reproductive performance of cows. Moreover, the large number of cyclical (36.52%) and pregnant cows (26.67%) slaughtered without any gross abnormalities indicates the absence of proper gynecological examination prior to slaughtering. Key words: Reproductive abnormalities, genital tract, slaughter, cows, Hawassa, Tula.