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This investigation was carried out on 40 advanced pregnant Jafarabadi buffaloes of 2–4 parity equally divided into two groups, viz., control and treatment groups. The control animals were maintained on standard routine farm feeding, and the animals of the treatment group received additional oral supplements of 50 g chelated mineral mixture and 150 g bypass fat daily along with concentrates for 6 weeks prepartum and 8 weeks postpartum. The bypass fat was given @ 15 g/liter of milk produced limiting up to 200 g/head/day from 15–60 days postpartum. Ten animals in each control and treatment group further received Inj. Stimvet 5 mL (micro-minerals) around day 45 prepartum and on day of calving. Half of these Stimvet treated and control subgroups also received ecbolic Exapar (n = 5) 2 boli/day for 4 consecutive days postpartum. Blood samples were obtained from all animals by jugular vein puncture on the day –45, –30, –7 and 0 (day of calving), 7, 15, 30, 45, 60 peripartum for estimation of plasma trace minerals, viz., zinc, iron, copper, cobalt, and manganese. The plasma zinc and copper concentrations were found to be higher on day 30 prepartum and again on day 7 postpartum in Stimvet injected groups.Moreover, the overall pooled mean concentration of zinc was significantly higher in nutrients supplemented than the control group. The plasma concentrations of iron, cobalt, and manganese did not reveal any specific trend or significant variations between groups or between periods within any of the groups. Further, the peripartum oral nutrients supplementation significantly shortened the periods of placental expulsion time and uterine involution, with early onset of postpartum first estrus, apparently shorter service period and enhanced pregnancy rate in comparison to control group. The influence of Stimvet and Exapar alone or in combination, however, did not show a significant beneficial effect on these traits, except shortened placental expulsion time and higher plasma zinc and cobalt status. Hence, the Jafarabadi buffalo keepers may be advised to provide additional oral nutrients supplementation in the form of bypass fat and chelated minerals over routine feeding to their animals during a transitional period for improved postpartum fertility.

This study was undertaken on 36 freshly calved cows randomly divided into 6 equal groups under field conditions. Cows of group-VI that shed placenta within 8-12 hours postpartum naturally served as healthy control. The cows with retained fetal membranes (RFM, n = 18) for more than 12 hrs were managed either by manual removal of placenta without antibiotics (group-I), parenteral antibiotic (Ceftiofur 1 g i/m) for three consecutive days (group-II) or a combination of both (group-III). In group-IV and group-V, cows were administered with Inj. Oxytocin @ 50 IU i/m and Inj. Dinoprost tromethamine (PGF2α) @ 25 mg i/m, respectively, immediately after parturition and time of placental shedding was recorded. The overall prevalence of Brucellosis by RBPT was found to be 5.55 % amongst these 36 animals. The placental expulsion in groups following medicinal treatment was found to be 50 (3/6) % in Ceftiofur alone by 3 days (group-II), and 66.67 (4/6) % in Oxytocin (group-IV) and 100 (6/6) % in PGF2α inj. (group-V) groups within 12 hrs. The time of uterine involution in groups I to VI was found to be 42.00 ± 1.94, 39.50 ± 0.99, 40.67 ± 1.39, 38.33 ± 1.55, 37.50 ± 1.02 and 37.33 ± 1.76 days, respectively, while the interval for the appearance of first postpartum estrus was 54.83 ± 2.06, 51.00 ± 1.05, 52.17 ± 1.96, 50.17 ± 2.03, 48.67 ± 1.90 and 49.17 ± 1.55 days, respectively, which did not vary statistically. The mean serum progesterone profile obtained on day 0 and day 21 postpartum was statistically non-significant between groups. However, it was significantly (p less than 0.05) lower on day 0 as compared to day 21 in group-I, II and VI. The levels on day 0 coincided with the time of blood sampling after calving. The high level of serum P4 on day 0 in group-IV and V could be due to sampling immediately after calving. The serum calcium and phosphorus levels were significantly(p less than 0.05) lower on day 0 than on day 21, but not the magnesium. The group effect was however non-significant for any of three minerals. It was observed that manual removal of RFM without parenteral antibiotics, resulted in puerperal metritis, cervicitis, pyometra which ultimately resulted into delayed uterine involution, delayed first postpartum estrus and thus, reduced the postpartum reproductive efficiency. It was inferred that the PGF2α and Oxytocin injections could be used as a treatment of choice for prevention of RFMs in cattle.