Elsevier

Theriogenology

Volume 56, Issue 4, 1 September 2001, Pages 637-647
Theriogenology

Evaluation of the early conception factor (ECF™) test for the detection of nonpregnancy in dairy cattle

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0093-691X(01)00595-7Get rights and content

Abstract

The ability to detect conception and/or conception failure in cattle would be beneficial to producers in formulating reproductive management plans. A new diagnostic test, the early conception factor (ECF) test, has been developed for this application yet the accuracy of this test has not been adequately determined. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effectiveness of the ECF test for detecting the nonpregnant cow, and to compare the reliability of serum versus milk ECF tests relative to actual pregnancy rates. In Trial I, Holstein heifers were synchronized, the animals were bred (timed-AI), and serum ECF tests were performed 72 h later. Heifers exhibiting a negative ECF test after AI were re-synchronized, bred again, and re-tested for ECF for up to three services. Relative to actual pregnancy rates, a negative ECF test was correct (i.e., true negative) 38.5% of the time over the three services. In Trial II, Holstein heifers were bred (AI) after observed estrus and serum ECF tests conducted between Days 1 and 3 and Days 7 and 9 after AI. In this trial, only 44.4% and 55.6% of the confirmed nonpregnant heifers were identified correctly by serum ECF analysis at Days 1 to 3 and Days 7 to 9 post-AI respectively. In Trial III, 40 lactating cows were synchronized, the animals were bred (AI), and serum and milk ECF tests were performed on Days 3, 9, 15, 21 and 30 after AI. Pregnancy diagnosis (ultrasound on Day 30 and palpation on Day 51) confirmed that 50% of the cows were pregnant to AI, while serum and milk ECF analysis indicated a 100% and 37.5% predicted pregnancy rate, respectively, at 30 d post-AI. Moreover, results of the serum and milk ECF tests disagreed with one another 36.9% of the time overall, while agreement between ECF and actual pregnancy rates were 50.6% and 45.6% for milk and serum respectively. Additionally in Trial III, a negative ECF result only identified 5% and 28.8% of nonpregnant cows overall for serum and milk tests respectively (i.e., true negatives), with a high incidence of false positive ECF results noted (47.5% and 31.3% for serum and milk, respectively). Collectively, these data indicate that the current ECF test cannot accurately identify the nonpregnancy cow with the precision needed by the dairy producer.

References (27)

  • FW Bazer

    Mediators of maternal recognition in mammals

    Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine

    (1992)
  • P Humblot et al.

    Pregnancy-specific protein B, progesterone concentration and embryonic mortality during early pregnancy in dairy cows

    J Reprod Fertil

    (1988)
  • E Koch et al.

    Early pregnancy factor: Biology and practical application

    Br Vet J

    (1983)
  • Cited by (30)

    • A predictive threshold value for the diagnosis of early pregnancy in cows using interferon-stimulated genes in granulocytes

      2018, Theriogenology
      Citation Excerpt :

      Furthermore, the expression levels of ISGs in granulocytes were more accurate compared to the values obtained from methods involving extractions from PBLs [16,17]. Various methods, such as serum progesterone levels, detection of the non-return of heat, rectal palpation, ultrasonography and gene expression, have been applied; however unlike the current method, these cannot detect pregnancy in the first three weeks [6,15,17,27,43,44]. However, some unknown factors and technical difficulties are also involved with the use of this method; these include the determination of a suitable day after insemination for the collection of PBL, appropriate blood types, reliable indicator genes, and a reliable threshold value for detecting gestational signals.

    • Comparison between allantochorion membrane and amniotic sac detection by per rectal palpation for pregnancy diagnosis on pregnancy loss, calving rates, and abnormalities in newborn calves

      2017, Theriogenology
      Citation Excerpt :

      In current cattle practices, two procedures permit immediate diagnosis of pregnancy: per rectum palpation (PRP) and transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS) [2–4]. Pregnancy diagnosis by PRP is the most frequent procedure used by veterinarians around the world [3,7–9], although other techniques of pregnancy diagnosis are available [2,10–13]. In USA, according to the last report of National Animal Health Monitoring System [9], 93% of the Dairy Operations performed pregnancy diagnosis and 86% of these operations used PRP to perform pregnancy diagnosis.

    • Relaxin as a hormonal aid to evaluate pregnancy and pregnancy loss in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)

      2017, General and Comparative Endocrinology
      Citation Excerpt :

      Other pregnancy-related factors have been indicated to have some diagnostic value in domestic and wild animal species. These include early conception factor (Gandy et al., 2001), early pregnancy factor (Ohnuma et al., 2000), alpha-fetoprotein (Morita et al., 2013), pregnancy-associated glycoproteins (González et al., 1999; Szenci et al., 1998), fibrinogen, and other acute-phase proteins (Hart, 1997); C-peptide (Kuniyuki and Hughes, 1992); pregnancy specific protein B (Romano and Larson, 2010); and ceruloplasmin (Willis et al., 2011). Future studies are required to clarify the diagnostic potential of these pregnancy-related factors in cetaceans.

    • Effect of early pregnancy diagnosis by per rectum amniotic sac palpation on pregnancy loss, calving rates, and abnormalities in newborn dairy calves

      2016, Theriogenology
      Citation Excerpt :

      Despite its intensive application, few investigations were designed to answer two important aspects of this practice such as safety and accuracy [7–10]. At present, new methods of pregnancy diagnosis are available in the process of development in cattle [9,11–13]. However, PRP continues to be the procedure of choice for veterinarians for pregnancy diagnosis for several reasons: It does not require equipment or a laboratory, the results are almost immediate, allowing for a rapid decision, and it is an accurate technique after Day 35 of breeding when performed by trained veterinarians [1–4].

    • Relaxin: A hormonal aid to diagnose pregnancy status in wild mammalian species

      2014, Theriogenology
      Citation Excerpt :

      Notably, these hormonal aids are only specific for certain stages of pregnancy and may not be able to differentiate between pseudopregnancy because of embryo and/or fetal loss. Besides hormones, pregnancy-associated factors have been indicated to have some diagnostic value, which include early conception factor [40], early pregnancy factor [41], pregnancy-associated glycoproteins [42,43], fibrinogen, and other acute-phase proteins [44]; C-peptide [38]; pregnancy-specific protein B (www.biotracking.com); and ceruloplasmin [45]. For pregnancy diagnosis, pregnancy-associated glycoprotein has been reported in cattle [46,47]; pregnancy-specific protein B in cattle, goat, sheep, bison, deer, and elk [48–52]; and ceruloplasmin in the giant panda [45].

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text