Placentome collection from dairy cows for research purposes and its implications for their future reproductive performance

Placentome in cattle comprises fetal cotyledon and maternal caruncle and is a vital site for feto-maternal substance exchanges. There are considerable metabolic and hormonal interactions in the placentomes that could affect the body of the fetus and the mother. Despite the importance of this tissue in reproduction of cattle, there are few studies on this tissue probably due to worries about the invasive trait of placentome collection and its implications for the future reproductive performances of the cow. In this study, we described a method of placentome collection from cows and investigated its implications for the cows’ subsequent reproductive performance. In this study, placentomes were collected from six cows within 30 minutes after parturition by using a guitar string and a hygienic protocol. Then, one dose of vitamin K and two doses of B-complex (during two days) were administered and the health status of the cows was monitored for several days. The number of inseminations until conception, the length of open days, the interval between two subsequent parturitions and the health status of the following calf were recorded for each cow. These six cows considered as placentome collected group and their data were compared to 45 cows in the same herd as control group. Cows in the control group had at most 430 days of interval between their two subsequent parturitions and underwent no manipulation. According to the results, general health of the placentome collected cows was not affected after placentomectomy. None of the reproduction related parameters including the number of insemination until conception, the length of open days, the interval between two parturitions and the health status of the calves showed significant difference between the placentome collected group compared to control. However, the interval between the first parturition and the second insemination was significantly shorter in the cows that underwent placentome collection. In this study, we described an easy and efficient method of placentome collection from alive cows and showed that this method does not have considerable implications for the cows’ reproductive performance. Therefore, by careful collection of placentomes and by having justifiable research purposes, placentome collection from the cows could be considered for future studies.