COMPARISON OF EFFICACY AND COSTS BETWEEN REAL TIME ULTRASONOGRAPHY (RTU) AND GONADOTROPIN ESTIMATION FOR PREGNANCY DIAGNOSIS
D. Kruger and G. Bilkei

Abstract
In a large pig production unit, two methods of early pregnancy diagnosis between days 16-19 of pregnancy were compared. In Group one (246 sows): the sows were trans-rectally pregnancy tested at day 16-19 post-mating (PM) with real time ultrasonography (RTU). Pregnancy was confirmed either by visualising embryonic vesicles, embryos or corpora lutea. Sows tested non-pregnant received a gonadotropin injection (PG 600? Intervet, Munich, Germany) immediately after testing. At subsequent oestrus, these animals were artificially inseminated (AI) on three consecutive days. Sows in Group two (201) received one injection of gonadotropin (PG 600? Intervet, Munich) on day 17 PM. When showing subsequent oestrus, they received AI in the same way as the animals in group one. The following parameters were evaluated:
????A: time allotted for treating a sow.
????B: accuracy of pregnancy diagnosis.
????C: subsequent farrowing rate.
The time allotted showed marked differences between the groups (group one 8.4 minutes vs. group two 0.4 minute per sow). The accuracy of pregnancy diagnosis did not differ significantly between the groups (group one revealed 17 (6.9%), group two 13 (6.4%) non-pregnant sows. Subsequent farrowing rate did not differ significantly between the groups. Although both RTU and gonadotropin-performed pregnancy diagnosis result in similar results, the gonadotropin-performed pregnancy diagnosis is cheaper as it requires less labour and time.

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