Application of Radioimmunoassay for Livestock Fertility Management

Abstract

Reproductive performance is one of the important factors for determining the economics of livestock production. Reproduction is a complex luxurious process affected by environmental factors and involves a series of physiological processes and supported by endocrine system through release of various hormones A sound knowledge of reproductive functioning in terms of interplay of hypothalamic, gonadotropic and gonadal hormones, with synergistic and antagonistic influences from other hormones and factors involved in the regulation of various reproductive stages, accurate oestrus detection, timely pregnancy diagnosis and early detection of non-conceived stock can be expected to lead to an improvement of the reproductive efficiency. The different phases of reproductive cycle and pregnancy are regulated by intricate sequential events and interactions between hypothalamic releasing hormones, hormones secreted from the pituitary and sex steroids secreted by the ovary. Lack of integration or synchronization or endocrine imbalances at any phase of the sequence may result in reproductive failure. This paper focuses on use of various hormones for detection of estrus and early pregnancy in livestock. Assessment of hormones in livestock is widely used to achieve the improvement of both production and reproduction. Conventional ways of (genetic) improvement of livestock are based on selection and crossbreeding programme. These programmes have proved to be very effective, but in general they are time consuming and expensive. Furthermore, heritability estimates are generally very low. For these reasons, much of the current research is directed towards the development of alternative methods of selection, which are based on the correlation between biochemical parameters such as hormones, enzymes, metabolites etc and economically important traits. Much of this type of research has initially been directed to the study of blood types and protein polymorphism in which markers are most likely linked to the action of a single gene or a few genes only. These marker genes may be coupled to other genes which are relevant to economically useful traits, and therefore can be used, in principle, as a basis for selection. Some hormones considered to be possible markers for production traits are thyroid hormones, growth hormone, insulin, prolactin, corticosteroids and androgens. The hormones used for markers of reproductive status are LH, testosterone, progesterone, estrogen, estrogen sulphate etc. An important step towards an improved understanding of reproductive physiology was the introduction of highly specific and sensitive radioimmunoassay technique in the early 1960s. Earlier bioassay methods of hormone estimation were not so much reliable and accurate. Radioimmunoassay (RIA) and other related techniques now a day’s allow measurement of hormones and other substances with a sensitivity up to the level of pico gram. Therefore RIA techniques become so popular over the others.

Authors and Affiliations

Sukanta Mondal, Sandip R Sardessai, VP Varshney

Keywords

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  • EP ID EP571869
  • DOI 10.26717/BJSTR.2017.01.000422
  • Views 199
  • Downloads 0

How To Cite

Sukanta Mondal, Sandip R Sardessai, VP Varshney (2017). Application of Radioimmunoassay for Livestock Fertility Management. Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research (BJSTR), 1(5), 1291-1297. https://europub.co.uk./articles/-A-571869