Open AccessEvaluation of the performance of three tests for the early pregnancy diagnosis in ewes and does
Author(s) -
Alina Rahim,
Ashit Kumar Paul
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
bangladesh journal of veterinary medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1729-7893
DOI - 10.33109/bjvmjd2021fam2
Subject(s) - pregnancy , gold standard (test) , predictive value , pregnancy test , medicine , obstetrics , early pregnancy factor , urine , zoology , gynecology , gestation , biology , genetics
Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of three tests for the early pregnancy diagnosis in ewes and does. Methods: A total of 50 ewes and 50 does urine samples were collected in which 25 ewes and 25 does were pregnant, and 25 ewes and 25 does were non-pregnant from different farmers in Babugonj upazila of Barishal district and Sadar upazila of Bhola district. The pregnant and non-pregnant ewes and does were primarily selected from farmer’s record of management history. The pregnancy of ewes and does were confirmed through scanning by B-mode ultrasound machine. Three pregnancy diagnostic tests like barium chloride, copper sulfate and ballottement were evaluated considering B-mode ultrasound technique as gold standard.Results: The sensitivity of manual ballottement technique (MBT) was highest among the three tests: 96% in ewes and 92% in does. On the other hand, the specificity (96%) of the MBT was higher in ewes and that of the copper sulfate test (CST) (91.7%) was higher in does. The highest positive predictive value (PPV) of MBT (95.8%) was in ewes but the PPV of CST was highest (91.7%) in does. The negative predictive value of the MBT was highest both in ewes (92.3%) and does (95.7%).Conclusions: MBT can be considered as a screening test for the early diagnosis of pregnancy in ewes and does. MBT positive cases can be confirmed by ultrasonograpy whenever needed.