Effects of prolonged exposure of ewes to oestrogenic pasture 2. Occurrence of abnormalities of the external genitalia and altered mating performance
Autor: | R. W. Kelly, G. H. Shackell, J. G. Wylie |
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Rok vydání: | 1993 |
Předmět: | |
Zdroj: | New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research. 36:459-464 |
ISSN: | 1175-8775 0028-8233 |
DOI: | 10.1080/00288233.1993.10417747 |
Popis: | Romney ewes grazed pasture initially containing 0 (C), 30 (M), or 60% (P) Pawera red clover for c. 6 months per year (spring-autumn) during the first 4 (P) or 5 (M) years of a 6-year study. When not grazing red clover, all animals grazed C-type pastures. In Years 3–6, ewes were scored on a subjective 0–3 scale for vaginal abnormalities. More of the animals grazing M pasture scored 1 or higher each year compared to the ewes on C pasture (P < 0.001). Similarly, more of the ewes grazing P herbage were scored 2 or higher than either of the other two groups (P < 0.001). A greater proportion of the ewes on the P sward were mated more than once at each joining, compared with the other two groups (P < 0.01 in Year 3; P < 0.001 in all other years) and consequently there were differences in the mean number of times each ewe was mated. Long-term grazing of oestrogenic red clover results in both a high incidence of abnormalities of the external genitalia and decreased mating performance in ewes. However, the... |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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