Evaluation of the performance of three tests for the early pregnancy diagnosis in ewes and does

Abstract

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.