Abstract
This paper addresses the question whether the pregnancy rate of dairy cows and heifers may be affected by administering prostaglandin F 2α at the time of artificial insemination. A field trial involving 1031 dairy cows and heifers distributed to a large number of small dairy farms in an area of extensive farming in central Germany provided evidence that intramuscular administration of 25 mg Dinoprost (Dinolytic ®) at the time of insemination has no effect on pregnancy rate (61% of the cows and heifers were pregnant in both prostaglandin F 2α-treated and saline control groups). On the other hand, deposition of 0.5 mL of a 0.5 mg/mL Dinoprost solution in the uterine lumen immediately after artificial insemination gave rise to a pregnancy rate of 66% as compared with 59% in saline controls. The increase in pregnancy rate of 229 prostaglandin F 2α-treated animals (66% pregnant) over that of 226 saline controls (59% pregnant) amounted to 12%. This improvement was not statistically significant ( P = 0.12). Factors exerting a significant effect on pregnancy rate were parity (74% pregnancies in heifers versus 57% in cows, P < 0.01 and 65% pregnancies in first parity-cows versus 55% in older cows, P < 0.01) and season (57% during the barn season versus 64% during the pasture season, P < 0.05), whereas length of service period, level of milk production and serum or milk progesterone level at the time of insemination did not. A follow-up trial involving more animals will have to be conducted aimed at confirming the promising results obtained by intrauterine PGF 2α administration.
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