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<body id="AAVS_498Nexus" lang="en-GB">
		<div class="Basic-Text-Frame">
			<p class="Type-of-Article">&nbsp;</p>
			<p class="Type-of-Article"><span class="CharOverride-1">Research Article</span></p>
	</div>
		<div class="Basic-Text-Frame">
			<p class="Title ParaOverride-1">&nbsp;</p>
			<p class="Title ParaOverride-1">Early Pregnancy Diagnosis in Dairy Cattle: Economic Importance and Accuracy of Ultrasonography </p>
		</div>
		<div class="Basic-Text-Frame">
			<p class="Authors ParaOverride-1">&nbsp;</p>
			<p class="Authors ParaOverride-1"><span class="A3 CharOverride-2">Muzamil</span><span class="A3 CharOverride-2"> </span><span class="A3 CharOverride-2">Abdullah</span><span class="A3 CharOverride-3">1</span><span class="A3 CharOverride-2">, </span><span class="A3 CharOverride-2">Tushar</span><span class="A3 CharOverride-2"> </span><span class="A3 CharOverride-2">Kumar</span><span class="A3 CharOverride-2"> </span><span class="A3 CharOverride-2">Mohanty</span><span class="A3 CharOverride-3">1</span><span class="A3 CharOverride-2">, </span><span class="A3 CharOverride-2">Arumugam</span><span class="A3 CharOverride-2"> </span><span class="A3 CharOverride-2">Kumaresan</span><span class="A3 CharOverride-3">1</span><span class="A3 CharOverride-2">*, </span><span class="A3 CharOverride-2">Ashok</span><span class="A3 CharOverride-2"> </span><span class="A3 CharOverride-2">Kumar</span><span class="A3 CharOverride-2"> </span><span class="A3 CharOverride-2">Mohanty</span><span class="A3 CharOverride-3">2</span><span class="A3 CharOverride-2">, </span><span class="A3 CharOverride-2">Ambadas</span><span class="A3 CharOverride-2"> </span><span class="A3 CharOverride-2">Rakhamaji</span><span class="A3 CharOverride-2"> </span><span class="A3 CharOverride-2">Madkar</span><span class="A3 CharOverride-3">3</span><span class="A3 CharOverride-2">, </span><span class="A3 CharOverride-2">Rubina</span><span class="A3 CharOverride-2"> </span><span class="A3 CharOverride-2">Kumari</span><span class="A3 CharOverride-2"> </span><span class="A3 CharOverride-2">Baithalu</span><span class="A3 CharOverride-3">1</span><span class="A3 CharOverride-2">, </span><span class="A3 CharOverride-2">Mukesh</span><span class="A3 CharOverride-2"> </span><span class="A3 CharOverride-2">Bhakat</span><span class="A3 CharOverride-3">4</span></p>
		</div>
		<div class="Basic-Text-Frame">
			<p class="Authors ParaOverride-1"><span class="CharOverride-4">1</span><span class="CharOverride-5">Livestock Research Centre, Livestock Production Management, National Dairy </span><span class="CharOverride-5">Research Institute, Karnal – 132001, Haryana India. </span><span class="CharOverride-4">2</span><span class="CharOverride-5">Animal Biotechnology Centre, </span><span class="CharOverride-5">National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal – 132001, Haryana, India. </span><span class="CharOverride-4">3</span><span class="CharOverride-5">Livestock </span><span class="CharOverride-5">Production Management, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh - </span><span class="CharOverride-5">243122, India. </span><span class="CharOverride-4">4</span><span class="CharOverride-5">Artificial Breeding Research Centre, National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal – 132001, Haryana, India.</span></p>
		</div>
		<div>
			<p class="Abstract ParaOverride-1">&nbsp;</p>
			<p class="Abstract ParaOverride-1"><span class="Abstract CharOverride-6">Abstract</span><span class="Abstract CharOverride-7"> | </span><span lang="he-IL">Early</span><span lang="he-IL"> pregnancy diagnosis is essential for effective management of pregnant </span><span lang="he-IL">animals and early submission of non-pregnant animals for subsequent </span><span lang="he-IL">breeding to reduce calving to conception interval. The present study </span><span lang="he-IL">assessed the accuracy in early pregnancy diagnosis by ultrasonography and </span><span lang="he-IL">estimated the loss due to delayed identification of non-pregnant </span><span lang="he-IL">animals. Transrectal ultrasonography was used to diagnose the pregnancy in </span><span lang="he-IL">dairy animals (n=47) at 30 and 45 days post </span><span lang="he-IL">breeding. The sensitivity and specificity was found to be 92.30% </span><span lang="he-IL">and 97.05%, respectively, on day 30 and re-examination was </span><span lang="he-IL">done at day 45 for confirmation of pregnancy. Animals found </span><span lang="he-IL">positive for pregnancy by ultrasound scanning on day 30 post-</span><span lang="he-IL">breeding had significantly high concentrations of plasma progesterone (&gt; 3ng/ml) </span><span lang="he-IL">on day 20 post-breeding. It was found that pregnancy </span><span lang="he-IL">diagnosis using ultrasonography 30 days after AI can reduce number </span><span lang="he-IL">of open days by 15 days and 30 days compared </span><span lang="he-IL">to per rectal examination, which is generally done on day </span><span lang="he-IL">45 and day 60 post-breeding, respectively. It was found </span><span lang="he-IL">that one day increase in open period resulted in loss (</span><span lang="he-IL">rearing and milk costs) to the tune of INR 281 </span><span lang="he-IL">and INR 368 in Sahiwal and Karan Fries cows, respectively. </span><span lang="he-IL">It was calculated in Karan Fries cows that if the </span><span lang="he-IL">calving interval is reduced by 1 month due to early </span><span lang="he-IL">pregnancy diagnosis, the expected gain of life time productive days </span><span lang="he-IL">would be around 132 days, which in turn would lead </span><span lang="he-IL">to benefit of about INR 48466. It can be concluded </span><span lang="he-IL">that use of ultrasonography at an early date (at 30 </span><span lang="he-IL">days) post breeding is an effective method for accurate identification </span><span lang="he-IL">of non-pregnant animals to reduce the calving to conception interval in dairy animals.</span></p>
		  <p class="Abstract ParaOverride-1">&nbsp;</p>
		</div>
		<div class="Basic-Text-Frame">
			<p class="Editor----Citation"><span class="Editor---Citation CharOverride-6">Editor </span>| Kuldeep Dhama, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Uttar Pradesh, India.</p>
			<p class="Editor----Citation"><span class="Editor---Citation CharOverride-6">Received</span> | July 29, 2014; <span class="Editor---Citation CharOverride-6">Revised</span> | September 10, 2014; <span class="Editor---Citation CharOverride-6">Accepted</span> | September 11, 2014; <span class="Editor---Citation CharOverride-6">Published</span> | September 27, 2014&#9;&#9;</p>
			<p class="Editor----Citation"><span class="Editor---Citation CharOverride-6">*Correspondence</span> | Arumugam Kumaresan, National Dairy Research Institute Karnal, 132001, Haryana, Indi; <span class="Editor---Citation CharOverride-10">Email</span><span class="Editor---Citation">: </span>ogkumaresan@gmail.com</p>
			<p class="Editor----Citation"><span class="Editor---Citation CharOverride-6">Citation</span> | Abdullah  M, Mohanty TK, Kumaresan A, Mohanty AK, Madkar AR, Baithalu RK, Bhakat M (2014). Early pregnancy diagnosis in dairy cattle: economic importance and accuracy of ultrasonography. Adv. Anim. Vet. Sci. 2 (8): 464-467.</p>
			<p class="Editor----Citation"><span class="Editor---Citation CharOverride-6">DOI</span> | <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.14737/journal.aavs/2014/2.8.464.467"><span class="Hyperlink">http://dx.doi.org/10.14737/journal.aavs/2014/2.8.464.467</span></a></p>
			<p class="Editor----Citation"><span class="Editor---Citation CharOverride-10" lang="en-US">ISSN </span><span class="Editor---Citation CharOverride-10" lang="en-US">(</span><span class="Editor---Citation CharOverride-10" lang="en-US">Online</span><span class="Editor---Citation CharOverride-10" lang="en-US">)</span> | 2307-8316; <span class="Editor---Citation CharOverride-10" lang="en-US">ISSN </span><span class="Editor---Citation CharOverride-10" lang="en-US">(Print) </span> | 2309-3331</p>
			<p class="Editor----Citation"><span class="Editor---Citation CharOverride-6">Copyright </span>© 2014 Abdullah et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.</p>
		</div>
		<div class="Basic-Text-Frame">
			<p class="Heading-1--Introduction----">&nbsp;</p>
			<p class="Heading-1--Introduction----">&nbsp;</p>
		  <p class="Heading-1--Introduction----">INTRODUCTION</p>
			<p class="Caps-on-First-Para ParaOverride-1">&nbsp;</p>
			<p class="Caps-on-First-Para ParaOverride-1"><span class="_idGenDropcap-1">I</span>dentification of non-pregnant animals at the earliest day post-breeding is of prime importance for maintaining an optimum calving interval. Pregnancy diagnosis as early as possible after insemination helps in better management of pregnant animals and early submission of non-pregnant animals for subsequent breeding (Thompson et al., 1995; Fricke, 2002). Although several methods like non-return to estrus, estimation of progesterone in blood or milk, and ultrasonography are used to diagnose pregnancy in dairy animals, rectal examination during 45-60 days post-breeding continue to be the most common method used for pregnancy diagnosis, especially under field conditions. By rectal examination, it is difficult to identify the pregnancy before 45 days. Ultrasonography offer a great scope for early pregnancy diagnosis and additionally the cases of early embryonic mortality, which can be misdiagnosed as pregnant by serum progesterone estimation, can be detected by ultrasonography more accurately. Although it is undeINRtood that delay in identifying non-pregnant animals post-breeding leads to economic loss, information on the quantitative estimation of such loss is scanty. Thus, the aim of the present study was to assess the accuracy of ultrasonography in early pregnancy diagnosis and to estimate the economic loss due to delayed identification of non-pregnant animals in an organized dairy herd.</p>
			<p class="Caps-on-First-Para ParaOverride-1">&nbsp;</p>
		  <p class="Caps-on-First-Para ParaOverride-1">&nbsp;</p>
			<p class="Heading-1--Introduction----">MATERIALS AND METHODS</p>
		  <p class="Heading-1--Introduction----">&nbsp;</p>
			<p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1">The study was conducted at Livestock Research Centre, NDRI, Karnal, on 47 animals [32 Karan Fries (KF) and 15 Sahiwal (SW) cows]. Animals were reared under loose housing system and fed 10% extra as per NRC (2001) recommendations. Standard management practices, as per the farm schedule, were followed to maintain animals healthy. </p>
			<p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1">&nbsp;</p>
			<p class="Heading-2--History-in-MM-"><span class="CharOverride-13">Transrectal-Ultrasonography</span>			</p>
			<p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1">The transrectal ultrasonography (Aloka Prosound 2) was done at 30 days post breeding and repeated after 45 days post breeding for confirmation. The examiner maintained standard procedure for ultrasonography. Ultrasound scanning of the uterus and ovaries were made using a 6.5 MHz rectal linear probe (Aloka UST-5820-5, Aloka) for diagnosis and confirmation of pregnancy.</p>
			<p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1">&nbsp;</p>
			<p class="Heading-2--History-in-MM-"><span class="CharOverride-13">Plasma Progesterone Concentration</span>			</p>
			<p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1">Blood sample collection was done on day 20 after artificial insemination. The blood sample were immediately centrifuged at 3000 g for 20 minutes to separate the plasma and then the  plasma was stored in cryovials at -20 <span class="CharOverride-15">0</span>C. The samples were analysed for progesterone estimation using Bovine Progesterone Hormone (P<span class="CharOverride-16">4</span>) ELISA test Kit (Endocrine Technologies, Inc. Newark, CA).  </p>
		  <p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1">&nbsp;</p>
			<p class="Heading-2--History-in-MM-"><span class="CharOverride-13">Statistical analysis</span></p>
			<p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1">The sensitivity and specificity of ultrasonography examination were calculated as per Broaddus and De Vries, (2005):</p>
			<p class="Body-Text"><span class="CharOverride-17"> </span></p>
			<p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1"><span class="CharOverride-10">Sensitivity</span> = No. of animals correctly diagnosed as pregnant / No. of animals correctly diagnosed as pregnant + Non-pregnant declared wrongly as pregnant </p>
			<p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1"><span class="CharOverride-10">Specificity</span>= No. of animals correctly diagnosed as Non-pregnant/ No. of animals correctly diagnosed as Non-pregnant + pregnant declared wrongly as non-pregnant.  </p>
		  <p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1">&nbsp;</p>
			<p class="Heading-2--History-in-MM-"><span class="CharOverride-13">Calculation of losses</span></p>
			<p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1">Per day losses were calculated by adding per day costs of feed, labour and losses of milk. Wet average of SW (71 milking and 74 dry cows) was calculated as 7.3 litres and for KF (127 milking and 52 dry cows) wet average was 10.5 litres (LRC, NDRI Karnal). The overall losses were calculated by multiplying per day loss with number of open days. Labour rates were kept as per current local rates of Haryana (Labour Law Reporter, 2014). The procurement price for cow’s milk was kept at INR 22/litre as per the local prevailing rate.</p>
			<p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1">&nbsp;</p>
		  <p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1">&nbsp;</p>
			<p class="Heading-1--Introduction----"><span class="CharOverride-12">Results</span></p>
		  <p class="Heading-1--Introduction----">&nbsp;</p>
			<p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1">The transrectal ultrasonography done at 30 days post-breeding showed sensitivity and specificity of 92.30% and 97.05% and re-examination was done on day 45 for confirmation of pregnancy (Table 1). The USG scan of pregnant cows is depicted in Figure 1. Plasma progesterone concentration ranged from 3.19 to 4.97 ng/ml on day 20 after AI in pregnant animals. Non-pregnant animals showed significantly (P&lt;0.05) lower plasma progesterone concentration at 20 days post-AI (0.39 to 0.88 ng/ml) compared to pregnant animals. </p>
		  <p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1">&nbsp;</p>
			<p class="Heading-2--History-in-MM-"><span class="CharOverride-13">Expected reduction in number </span><span class="CharOverride-13">of open days due to early </span></p>
			<p class="Heading-2--History-in-MM-">&nbsp;</p>
		  <p class="Heading-2--History-in-MM-"><span class="CharOverride-13">pregnancy diagnosis </span></p>
			<p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1">By using ultrasonography at 30 days after AI, the non-pregnant animals can be identified at least 15  days and 30 days earlier when compared to the standard per rectal examination that is generally conducted on day 45 and day 60, respectively.</p>
		  <p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1">&nbsp;</p>
			<p class="Heading-2--History-in-MM-"><span class="CharOverride-13">Expected economy of early pregnancy diagnosis</span> </p>
			<p class="Body-Text">The cost of rearing (feeding and labour cost) for main taining SW and KF cow/day was estimated to be INR 120 and INR 137, respectively. The losses due to milk <span class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1">were calculated as INR 161 in SW and INR 231 in KF. It was found that total per day loss due to one day increase in open period due to delay in pregnancy diagnosis in SW and KF cow was INR 281and INR 368, respectively. Early pregnancy diagnosis on 30<span class="CharOverride-15">th</span> day post service would benefit about INR. 4215 for SW and INR. 5520 for KF cows by reducing the number of open days of around 15 days compared to per rectal examination done on 45 days post service.</span></p>
			<p class="Body-Text">&nbsp;</p>
		  <p class="Body-Text">&nbsp;</p>
			<p class="Figure--and-Table-Heading"><span class="CharOverride-10">Table 1: </span><span class="CharOverride-21">Details of the cows subjected to trans-rectal ultrasonography</span></p>
			<table width="657" height="387" class="Table-Style-1 TableOverride-1" id="table-1">
				<colgroup>
					<col class="_idGenTableRowColumn-1" />
					<col class="_idGenTableRowColumn-2" />
					<col class="_idGenTableRowColumn-3" />
				</colgroup>
				<tbody>
					<tr class="_idGenTableRowColumn-4">
						<td>
							<p class="Normal ParaOverride-2" lang="en-US"><span class="Title CharOverride-23">1</span></p>
						</td>
						<td>
							<p class="Normal ParaOverride-2" lang="en-US"><span class="Title CharOverride-23">No of  animals scanned</span></p>
						</td>
						<td>
							<p class="Normal ParaOverride-3" lang="en-US"><span class="Title CharOverride-23">47</span></p>
						</td>
					</tr>
					<tr class="_idGenTableRowColumn-5">
						<td>
							<p class="Normal ParaOverride-2" lang="en-US"><span class="Title CharOverride-23">2</span></p>
						</td>
						<td>
							<p class="Normal ParaOverride-2" lang="en-US"><span class="Title CharOverride-23">No of animals non pregnant</span></p>
						</td>
						<td>
							<p class="Normal ParaOverride-3" lang="en-US"><span class="Title CharOverride-23">34</span></p>
						</td>
					</tr>
					<tr class="_idGenTableRowColumn-4">
						<td>
							<p class="Normal ParaOverride-2" lang="en-US"><span class="Title CharOverride-23">3</span></p>
						</td>
						<td>
							<p class="Normal ParaOverride-2" lang="en-US"><span class="Title CharOverride-23">No.  of  animals diagnosed pregnant at 30 days </span></p>
						</td>
						<td>
							<p class="Normal ParaOverride-3" lang="en-US"><span class="Title CharOverride-23">12</span></p>
						</td>
					</tr>
					<tr class="_idGenTableRowColumn-5">
						<td>
							<p class="Normal ParaOverride-2" lang="en-US"><span class="Title CharOverride-23">4</span></p>
						</td>
						<td>
							<p class="Normal ParaOverride-2" lang="en-US"><span class="Title CharOverride-23">No. of animals actually pregnant at 30 day</span></p>
						</td>
						<td>
							<p class="Normal ParaOverride-3" lang="en-US"><span class="Title CharOverride-23">13</span></p>
						</td>
					</tr>
					<tr class="_idGenTableRowColumn-4">
						<td>
							<p class="Normal ParaOverride-2" lang="en-US"><span class="Title CharOverride-23">5</span></p>
						</td>
						<td>
							<p class="Normal ParaOverride-2" lang="en-US"><span class="Title CharOverride-23">Pregnant diagnosed as non-pregnant (false negative) </span></p>
						</td>
						<td>
							<p class="Normal ParaOverride-3" lang="en-US"><span class="Title CharOverride-23">1</span></p>
						</td>
					</tr>
					<tr class="_idGenTableRowColumn-5">
						<td>
							<p class="Normal ParaOverride-2" lang="en-US"><span class="Title CharOverride-23">6</span></p>
						</td>
						<td>
							<p class="Normal ParaOverride-2" lang="en-US"><span class="Title CharOverride-23">Non pregnant diagnosed as pregnant (false positive)</span></p>
						</td>
						<td>
							<p class="Normal ParaOverride-3" lang="en-US"><span class="Title CharOverride-23">1</span></p>
						</td>
					</tr>
					<tr class="_idGenTableRowColumn-4">
						<td>
							<p class="Normal ParaOverride-2" lang="en-US"><span class="Title CharOverride-23">7</span></p>
						</td>
						<td>
							<p class="Normal ParaOverride-2" lang="en-US"><span class="Title CharOverride-23">No. of animals pregnant at 45 days</span></p>
						</td>
						<td>
							<p class="Normal ParaOverride-3" lang="en-US"><span class="Title CharOverride-23">12</span></p>
						</td>
					</tr>
					<tr class="_idGenTableRowColumn-5">
						<td>
							<p class="Normal ParaOverride-2" lang="en-US"><span class="Title CharOverride-23">8</span></p>
						</td>
						<td>
							<p class="Normal ParaOverride-2" lang="en-US"><span class="Title CharOverride-23">No. of embryonic deaths between 30-45 days</span></p>
						</td>
						<td>
							<p class="Normal ParaOverride-3" lang="en-US"><span class="Title CharOverride-23">1</span></p>
						</td>
					</tr>
					<tr class="_idGenTableRowColumn-4">
						<td>
							<p class="Normal ParaOverride-2" lang="en-US"><span class="Title CharOverride-23">9</span></p>
						</td>
						<td>
							<p class="Normal ParaOverride-2" lang="en-US"><span class="Title CharOverride-23">Embryonic mortality rate between 30-45 days</span></p>
						</td>
						<td>
							<p class="Normal ParaOverride-3" lang="en-US"><span class="Title CharOverride-23">7.69%</span></p>
						</td>
					</tr>
					<tr class="_idGenTableRowColumn-5">
						<td>
							<p class="Normal ParaOverride-2" lang="en-US"><span class="Title CharOverride-23">10</span></p>
						</td>
						<td>
							<p class="Normal ParaOverride-2" lang="en-US"><span class="Title CharOverride-23">Sensitivity of ultrasonography on 30 day</span></p>
						</td>
						<td>
							<p class="Normal ParaOverride-3" lang="en-US"><span class="Title CharOverride-23">92.30%</span></p>
						</td>
					</tr>
					<tr class="_idGenTableRowColumn-4">
						<td>
							<p class="Normal ParaOverride-2" lang="en-US"><span class="Title CharOverride-23">11</span></p>
						</td>
						<td>
							<p class="Normal ParaOverride-2" lang="en-US"><span class="Title CharOverride-23">Specificity ultrasonography on 30 day</span></p>
						</td>
						<td>
							<p class="Normal ParaOverride-3" lang="en-US"><span class="Title CharOverride-23">97.05%</span></p>
						</td>
					</tr>
				</tbody>
			</table>
			<p class="Normal" lang="en-US">&nbsp;</p>
			<p class="Normal" lang="en-US">&nbsp;</p>
			
            <div class="pt" > <a href="http://nexusacademicpublishers.com/uploads/figures/20141015023205.png" target="new"><img class="img_display" src="http://nexusacademicpublishers.com/uploads/figures/20141015023205.png" width="80" height="80"></a>
<p class="Txt_Dis" ><span><b><a href="http://nexusacademicpublishers.com/uploads/figures/20141015023205.png" target="new">Figure 1: </a></b><a href="http://nexusacademicpublishers.com/uploads/figures/20141015023205.png"><span>Ultrasound image of 30 days (A) and 45 days (B) pregnancy in Karan Fries cows</a></p>
          </div>

			
			<p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1">&nbsp;</p>
			<p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1">&nbsp;</p>
			<p class="Heading-2--History-in-MM-"><span class="CharOverride-13">Calculation of expected life time </span><span class="CharOverride-13">benefits from KF due to early pregnancy diagnosis&#9; </span></p>
			<p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1">The average productive life of KF is 1604 days, i.e. 4.39 yINR. (Sharma, 2010). Increase of productive days in the life time when calving interval is reduced by 1 month in each lactation due to early pregnancy diagnosis would be 4.39 × 30 = 131.7 days. Therefore, the amount of life time benefits in KF would be INR 48466.</p>
			<p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1">&nbsp;</p>
		  <p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1">&nbsp;</p>
			<p class="Heading-1--Introduction----"><span class="CharOverride-12">Discussion</span></p>
		  <p class="Heading-1--Introduction----">&nbsp;</p>
			<p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1">Sensitivity and specificity of pregnancy diagnosis by ultrasound at 30 days in this experiment are comparable with observations of Filteau and DesCôteaux, (1998) who demonstrated sensitivity of ultrasonography greater than 95% at day 26 post-insemination. Ultrasonography from day 28 of pregnancy allows obtaining a predictive value of 95% for a negative test (Filteau and DesCôteaux, 1998). Similarly, PieteINRe et al. (1990) found sensitivity and specificity of pregnancy diagnosis with ultrasound as 44.8 and 82.3%, respectively, when conducted between 21 and 25 days post AI but increased to 97.7 and 87.7%, respectively, when conducted between 26 and 33 days post AI, which is similar to our results. In the present study low sensitivity (7.69 %) at 30 days of pregnancy might be due to early embryonic mortality. The incidence of early embryonic mortality in the present study was in accordance with the observations made by Whitlock and Maxwell (2008) (5–10%; 28 to 42 days) in lactating dairy cows and by Silke et al<span class="CharOverride-26">.</span> (2002) (3.2%; at more than 27 days) in low producing cows. Therefore, it can be concluded that on 30 days post breeding, the sensitivity and specificity is acceptable to efficiently diagnose a pregnant/non-pregnant cow. Animals  diagnosed as pregnant by ultrasound scanning on day 30 showed significantly increased value of plasma progesterone concentration on day 20 i.e. &gt; 3ng/ml, which is minimum concentration required for maintenance of pregnancy.  </p>
		  <p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1">&nbsp;</p>
			<p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1">Similarly, DesCoteaux and Fetrow (1998) calculated the cost of a day open was around $4. Rosenbaum and Warnick (2004) and<span class="CharOverride-27"> </span>Filteau and DesCôteau (1998) observed a reduction of 7-9 days open when ultrasound was used for early pregnancy diagnosis at day 30. Filteau and DesCôteau (1998) also calculated that the total amount saved due to the early pregnancy diagnosis through ultrasound was $10,080 per 1000 HF cows. Oltenacu et al. (1990) found that the value of increasing in sensitivity and specificity from 95% to 97.5% was worth $0.10 to $4.70 per cow. De Vries  et al. (2005) observed that a reduction in sensitivity and specificity from 98% to 92% reduces net revenue by $10 to $20 per cow per year. Pregnancy diagnosis on 35<span class="CharOverride-15">th</span> or 50<span class="CharOverride-15">th</span> post service day was profitable with a net return of $5.10 and $2.5 per cow, respectively (Oltenacu et al., 1990).</p>
			<p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1">In the present study the economic return due to early pregnancy diagnosis at 30 days by USG was around INR 4215 for SW and INR 5520 for KF cows, which was comparable to the studies reported earlier.  </p>
			<p class="Heading-1--Introduction----">&nbsp;</p>
			<p class="Heading-1--Introduction----"><span class="CharOverride-12">Conclusio</span>NS</p>
			<p class="Heading-1--Introduction----">&nbsp;</p>
			<p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1">The use of ultrasonography at an early date is an accurate method for identification of pregnant and non-pregnant animals and may help reduce the calving to conception interval. Transrectal ultrasonography done at 30 days showed sensitivity and specificity of 92.30% and 97.05%, respectively. The economic benefit through early pregnancy diagnosis at 30<span class="CharOverride-15">th</span> day post service by USG was INR 4215 in Sahiwal and INR. 5520 in Karan Fries cows by reducing the number of open days of around 15 days compared to per rectal examination done on 45 days post service.</p>
			<p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1">&nbsp;</p>
		  <p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1">&nbsp;</p>
			<p class="Heading-1--Introduction----"><span class="CharOverride-12">Acknowledgement</span></p>
		  <p class="Heading-1--Introduction----">&nbsp;</p>
			<p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1">The authoINR are thankful to the Director and Vice-chancellor of National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal for providing the facilities. The work was funded by <span lang="en-US">NFBSFARA/BS-3014 Project.</span></p>
			<p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1">&nbsp;</p>
		  <p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1">&nbsp;</p>
			<p class="Heading-1--Introduction----"><span class="CharOverride-12">Conflict of Interest </span></p>
		  <p class="Heading-1--Introduction----">&nbsp;</p>
			<p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1">The authoINR have no conflict of interests.</p>
			<p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1">&nbsp;</p>
		  <p class="Body-Text ParaOverride-1">&nbsp;</p>
			<p class="Heading-1--Introduction----"><span class="CharOverride-12">References</span> </p>
		  <p class="Heading-1--Introduction----">&nbsp;</p>
			
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