A mobile ultrasound scanner, which was equipped with liquid crystal display and was operated with a rechargeable battery, was used for pregnancy diagnosis and diagnosis of anestrus in a commercial pig farm. The probe was placed on the abdomen for pregnancy diagnosis, and placed in the inguinal area for ovarian ultrasound examination. The accuracy of the pregnancy diagnosis at 19 days or later after mating was 97.9% (pregnant 179, non-pregnant 5 and false positive 4). The pregnancy rate of this farm was 95.2%. On the other hand, the occurrence rate of anestrus was 11.7% (22/188) diagnosed by transcutaneous ultrasonography or rectal palpation of the ovaries. The mobile scanner was useful not only for pregnancy diagnosis but also for diagnosis of the ovarian quiescence, ovarian cysts and silent heat in commercial herds.
(Theriogenology Section, Department of Production Diseases TEL +81-29-838-7784)
References:
- Iwamura et al. (2001) J. Reprod. Dev. 47:j19-j26 (in Japanese).
- Iwamura (2002) Livestock Technology 581:2-4 (in Japanese).
