Ewe Vaginal Microbiota: Associations With Pregnancy Outcome and Changes During Gestation.

ABSTRACT: Reproductive performance is paramount to the success of livestock production enterprises focused on lamb meat production. Reproductive success is influenced by various factors, possibly including the reproductive tract microbial communities present at the time of copulation and throughout pregnancy. There are few publications that identify the vaginal microbial communities of livestock, and even fewer exist for sheep. To compare ewe vaginal microbial communities, vaginal swabs were taken from 67 Hampshire and Hampshire X Suffolk crossbred ewes from the Iowa State University sheep farm at a pre-breeding time point (S1) and after pregnancy testing (S2). Animals that were determined pregnant were sampled again within a few days of expected parturition (S3). DNA was extracted from these swabs,

SUBMITTER: Koester LR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8570082 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature