Dung test to detect early pregnancy in tigresses expanded to cattle

What started as an effort to stop tigresses in captivity from killing their very own cubs has become an sudden boon for Indian farmers. Scientists on the CSIR–Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad have developed a easy, non‑invasive test — primarily based on animal dung evaluation — that may detect pregnancy in cows and buffaloes as early as six to eight weeks after conception.

The test is predicated on a novel biomarker recognized in animal faeces, which researchers translated right into a lateral‑move machine able to early pregnancy detection, mentioned CCMB’s Chief Scientist and in-charge of the Laboratory for the Conservation of Endangered Species (LaCONES) G. Umapathy.

How early pregnancy detection helps farmers

Conventional pregnancy detection in cattle depends on strategies corresponding to rectal palpation, ultrasonography, or hormone estimation in blood or milk—procedures that change into dependable solely three to 4 months after conception. Early detection is essential for farmers because it helps scale back inter‑calving intervals, minimise financial losses and plan well timed synthetic insemination, identified Dr. Umapathy.

CCMB’s Chief Scientist and in-charge of the Laboratory for the Conservation of Endangered Species (LaCONES) G. Umapathy
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What prompted scientists to work on it?

LaCONES scientists have been initially engaged on early pregnancy detection in captive tigers, following observations that tigresses typically kill their cubs due to stress and behavioural disturbances attributable to human proximity. Several such incidents have been reported on the Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad, prompting zoo authorities to search a technique to establish pregnancy early in order that expectant females might be shifted to quieter enclosures.

Existing pregnancy markers have been largely blood‑primarily based, however tranquillising wild animals for blood sampling posed severe dangers to each the animal and the foetus. “We therefore shifted our focus to a non‑invasive approach,” mentioned Dr. Umapathy. Using gasoline chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC‑MS), the staff screened urine and dung samples for pregnancy‑associated molecules.

Two pregnancy markers recognized

After analysing hundreds of faecal and urinary samples from a number of species — starting from primates and deer to lions and tigers — the researchers recognized two promising pregnancy markers in faeces. One of those molecules, though identified to exist in mammals, had by no means been reported earlier as a pregnancy indicator.

The staff developed an Enzyme‑Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) utilizing antibodies raised in opposition to the marker. The test proved correct throughout a number of species and was subsequently adopted by many zoos. The leap to livestock got here after a veterinarian raised a question at a scientific symposium. Subsequent trials at a navy dairy farm confirmed the test’s effectiveness in detecting pregnancy in cattle and buffaloes.

With the collaboration of former CCMB colleagues Ch. Mohan Rao and Amit Asthana, the researchers went on to develop a area‑deployable, paper‑primarily based equipment appropriate for non‑technical customers. The know-how has since acquired patents in the United States and Russia and is now being readied for switch to business, added Dr. Umapathy.