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- Title
Pregnancy outcome, placental and foal birth weights on a large warmblood stud.
- Authors
Koether, Karoline; Sielhorst, Jutta; Blanco, Miguel; Volkmann, Nina; Kemper, Nicole; de Mestre, Amanda M.; Sieme, Harald
- Abstract
In recent years a growing body of work has been published regarding pregnancy outcome and gestational parameters in Thoroughbred populations. However, data in warmbloods is still limited. Therefore, the aims of the present study were to (1) describe gestational, placental and foal characteristics on a big commercial warmblood stud and (2) analyse factors influencing pregnancy out-come, placental and foal birth weight. A total of 10,737 pregnancy and foaling records from 2,866 mares (3-25 years; 10.1 ± 4.6) were obtained retrospectively (2010-2019). Mares were divided into three groups according to their age (AgeGroup1: 3-7 years; AgeGroup2: 8-11 years; AgeGroup3: =12). Foals were divided into two groups depending on the average birth weight (BWG1: light foals < 56 kg, BWG2: heavy foals > 56kg). A chi-square test was performed to analyse the relationship between age groups and the occurrence of abortion (defined as pregnancy loss between D70-300). Effects on gestational length (GL), placental weight (PW) and foal's birth weight (BW) were analysed using generalized linear mixed models. The occurrence of abortion (529/10737; 4.93 %) was related to mare's age: AgeGroup1: 129/3460; 3.73%a vs AgeGroup2: 196/3630; 5.4%b vs AgeGroup3: 204/3647; 5.59%b, p < 0.001. Gestation length (332.4 ± 24.92 days) was affected by foal height (105.5 ± 3.60 cm) and gender of the foal as well as the month of foaling (all p < 0.0001) and BWG (BWG1: 335.0 ± 9.10 days vs BWG2: 338 ± 7.83 days; p < 0.01). Placental weight (6.7 ± 1.47 kg) was influenced by age of the mare as well as BWG (BWG1: 6.18 kg ± 1.36; BWG2: 7.26 kg ± 1.31) (p < 0.0001). Birth weight (56.20 ± 6.95 kg) was affected by PW (p < 0.0001) as well as foal's gender (BW fillies: 55.5 kg ± 6.9; n = 5,095 vs BW colts: 56.8 kg ± 6.9; n = 5,066; p = 0.001). In conclusion, this study evaluating more than 10,000 pregnancies confirmed gestational, placental as well as foal characteristics found in previous warmblood studies. Furthermore, the effects of mare's age on abortion rate and placental weight highlights the importance of further research on pregnancies of mares increasingly used for breeding at an advanced age.
- Subjects
PREGNANCY outcomes; HUMAN reproduction; PREGNANCY complications; BIRTH weight; FOALS
- Publication
Revista Academica Ciencia Animal, 2023, Vol 21, p99
- ISSN
2596-2868
- Publication type
Article