Association of peripartum progesterone, estradiol, cortisol, PGFM and relaxin concentrations with retention of fetal membranes in crossbred dairy cows

Retention of fetal membranes (RFM) in bovines not only lowers fertility and productivity but also leads to significant economic loss to the dairy farms. The present study compared peripartum progesterone, estradiol, cortisol, Prostaglandin F2 metabolite (PGFM) and relaxin concentrations in crossbred cows with normal parturition (NP) and with RFM. Blood samples were collected from 33 dairy cows at weekly interval from 30 days prepartum till 7th day before calving, followed by every alternate days till calving and 1st and 2nd day postpartum. Significantly higher plasma cortisol concentrations was observed between day 3 prepartum and day 2 postpartum in RFM cows (n=6) compared to NP cows (n=6). Plasma estradiol level was significantly lower in RFM group than in NP group on the day of calving while progesterone concentrations did not differ between the groups. In RFM cows, PGFM level was significantly lower on day 1 and day 2 postpartum compared to NP cows. On the day of calving and on day 1 postpartum, relaxin concentration was significantly (P<0.05) higher in NP cows compared to RFM cows. The ROC analysis, commonly used for development of diagnostic threshold value, revealed that cows with cortisol concentration above 7.35 ng/ml and PGFM concentration below 1,072 pg/ml on day-1 were associated with 5.99 times higher risk of RFM. It may be inferred that peripartum plasma cortisol and PGFM concentrations may be useful for identification of crossbred cows at the risk of developing RFM.