High-Tech Herbal Medicine: Sustainable Ruminant Formula for the Future

Abstract

Recent breeding advancements in estrus synchronization offer the farmers the valuable potential to capture the economic benefit through manipulation of the length of the estrus cycle. Estrus synchronization with Control Internal Drug Release (CIDR) has been employed commercially in the dairy and beef industry. Nevertheless, herbal treatment has gained prominence among the producers, considering its low cost and therapeutic properties. Therefore, the objectives of the present study were (1) to measure the expression of estrus signs in female goats (2) to identify the follicle size in each treatment. Twenty-four non-pregnant female goats (n=24) were randomly assigned into three estrus synchronization protocols and primed with Treatment A (Herbs; n=8), feeding herbs with TMR for seven consecutive days. Treatment B (Herbs+Vitamin E), the female goats were injected once with Vitamin E prior to the onset of feeding herbs with TMR for seven days. Treatment C (CIDR; n=8), an intravaginal device containing 0.3 g progesterone were inserted for ten days. All the female goats were exposed to buck for estrus detection immediately after treatment via visual observation four times daily. Simultaneously, the follicle pattern was confirmed with ultrasound scanning after 24 h onset of treatment and repeated every 48 h until ovulation. The study revealed that the herbs + vitamin E group (Treatment B) had the highest (P>0.05) occurrence of estrus signs at 72.92% than in herbs (Treatment A) and CIDR (Treatment C) at 41.67% and 64.58%, respectively. There was no significant effect (P>0.05) between ovarian follicular diameter and days to ovulation. The mean diameters of the ovulatory follicles observed in herbs+vitamin E were the highest at 9.0 mm compared to herbs 8.50 mm and CIDR 8.76 mm. Lastly, the study demonstrates that the novel approach of herbs + vitamin E is the most efficient tool for eliciting estrus, while herbal supplement offers a novel approach for effective estrus synchronization.