Monitoring of embriyonic and fetal development by transrectal and transabdominal ultrasonography in Turkish saanen goats

The aim of the present study was to estimate the gestational age by real time B-mode ultrasonography using the measurement of embryonic vesicle diameter (EVD), crown-rump length (CRL), amnion vesicle diameter (AVD), placentom diameter (PD), bi-parietal diameter (BPD), occipito-nasal length (ONL), thoracic diameter (TD), fetal heart rate (FHR), transversal heart diameter (THD), orbit diameter (OD), umbilical cord diameter (UCD) and kidney diameter (KD) as well as, to determine the maternal serum progesterone concentrations during pregnancy and to compare the relationship between progesterone concentrations and gestational age in days, litter size and kid birth weight at parturition in Turkish Saanen goats. Seven pregnant goat (3 twin and 4 single pregnancies) were used for the present study. Transrectal ultrasonography (4,0 - 6,5 MHz) was performed between the days 15 and 27 at 3 days interval after mating, where as transabdominal from day 30 to 128 at 7 days interval. Blood samples were collected from day 15 to 24 daily and 27 to 128 during the each ultrasonography. PD, BPD, ONL, TD, FHR, THD, OD, UCD and KD were highly correlated with and gestational age and gestational age equations were produced depending on these correlations. However, the correlation between gestational age and EVD, CRL and AVD could not be established due to the insufficient data. It was found that maternal serum progesterone concentrations were higher in twin pregnancies than those single pregnancies in general (P ˂ 0,001). Moreover it was determined that, maternal serum progesterone concentrations detected on day 51, 107, 114 and 128 were significantly higher in carrying twins than in carrying single (p ˂ 0,05). A negative correlation was evident between progesterone concentrations and kids birth weight. In conclusion, it is indicated that the gestational age can be estimated by embriyonic and fetal ultrasonography in Turkish Saanen goats. Moreover, it is suggested that measuring the maternal serum progesterone concentrations in some periods during pregnancy can be use for determining the single twin pregnancies. Key words: Embryo, Fetus, Progesterone, Turkish Saanen Goat, Ultrasonography