Measurement of faecal progesterone metabolites and its application for early screening of open cows post-insemination.

The present study investigated the changes of serum progesterone (P4) and its faecal metabolites in pregnant and non-pregnant cows (Expt 1) and the feasibilty of using faecal P4 metabolites for early screening of open cows post-insemination (Expt 2). In Expt 1, seven crossbred Holstein-Friesian (HF) cows were studied. Serum and faecal samples were collected once daily from the day of artificial insemination (AI) until 25 days after AI. In Expt 2, 27 crossbred HF inseminated cows were employed. Serum and faecal samples were obtained on the day of AI (day 0) and on days 19-22 post-insemination. Enzyme immunoassay measurements of serum P4 and faecal P4 metabolites were established. The low detection limit of the assay was 0.01 ng/ml and the amount of P4, resulting in a 50% reduction in the initial binding value, was 1.07 ng/ml. The intra- and inter-assay coefficients of variation were <8% and <14%, respectively. A positive correlation between the levels of serum P4 and faecal P4 metabolites was found in every single cow (r = 0.73-0.88, p < 0.001) and pooled data (r = 0.78, p < 0.001). The estimated value of faecal P4 metabolites at 100 ng/g of faeces was equal to the serum P4 levels of 1 ng/ml. The accuracies of pregnancy and non-pregnancy diagnosis based on the analyses of faecal P4 metabolites between day 0 and days 19-22 post-insemination, were 67% and 100%, respectively. In conclusion, the measurement of faecal P4 metabolites can be a potentially alternative method for early screening of open cows post-insemination with the same accuracy and precision, as measured by serum P4 assay.