Bulletin UASVM Veterinary Medicine 69(1-2)/2012 Print ISSN 1843-5262; Electronic ISSN 1843-536X Ultrasonography, a Modern Tool for Pregnancy Diagnosis and Identification of Fetal Structures in Domestic Buffaloes Ioan GROZA 1) , Grigore TOMAI 1) , Mihai CENARIU 1) , Simona CIUPE 1) 1) Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj- Napoca, 3-5 Calea Manastur 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania, isgroza@yahoo.com Abstract. Due to extensive breeding and natural mating, management decisions regarding pregnant domestic buffalo dams is very poor, resulting in low reproductive parameters and subsequently in low productions. The aim of this study was the implementation of ultrasonography for early pregnancy diagnosis in domestic buffalo as well as the ultrasonographic visualization of fetal buffalo structures in different stages of gestation, identification of viscera, skeleton lines, and comparative echogenity of the same tissue in different fetuses. A DP 2200 Vet ultrasound scanner was used in order to assess pregnancy status as well as fetal structures in female buffalos, beginning with the 27th day after insemination. Out of 24 females that were inseminated 22 (91.66%) were diagnosed as pregnant, between 27 and 40 days after insemination, while 2 (8.33%) were assessed as non-pregnant. In the pregnant females, the fetal abdominal cavity, limbs, gastric vesicle, umbilical cord, ribs, heart, liver, gull bladder, head and placentomes were described by ultrasonography. The minimum age for ultrasound pregnancy diagnosis in domestic buffalos was established at 27 days, while various fetal structures could easily be identified and described between 40 and 90 days of pregnancy. Keywords: ultrasonography, pregnancy, fetal structures, domestic buffalo INTRODUCTION Breeding buffalos is a traditional activity in Romania. Currently, our country has a total herd of about 62,000 buffalos, distributed mostly in the counties of Salaj, Cluj, Maramures, Bihor, Brasov and Satu-Mare (Velea and Zanc, 2010). Buffalo milk production is around 1,700 liters per lactation (Noakes et al., 2009), with 132 kg of pure fat and fat percentage of 7.49% (Rosati and Van Vleck, 2002). Buffalo in general, but especially swamp buffalo, have been traditionally regarded as poor breeders. This is thought to be because of late maturity, the poor expression of estrus, the variable duration of estrus, and the prolonged inter-calving interval (Kanai and Shimiazu, 1983; Madam and Raina, 1984; Baruselli et al., 1994; Madam, 1998; Singh et al., 2000 cited by Chaikhuna et al., 2010). However, when managed properly and well fed, swamp buffalo can have good fertility (Chaikhuna et al., 2010). Reproductive technology in domestic buffalo has not developed to the extent it has in cattle. Although AI is practiced commercially, it is hampered by difficulties in estrus detection (Drost, 2007). Due to extensive breeding and natural mating, management decisions regarding pregnant buffalo dams is very poor, resulting in low reproductive parameters and subsequently in low productions (Groza and Muntean, 2002). With the advent and refinement of gray scale compound ultrasonography, it is now possible to obtain more detailed information about different fetal parameters during gestation (Ali and Fahmy, 2008). Practical applications of ultrasound include early assessment of pregnancy status, identification of females carrying twin fetuses, detection of ovarian and uterine pathologies, and determination of fetal sex (Fricke, 2002). Use of ultrasound examination for early diagnosis of pregnancy