Estro e morfologia cervical de ovelhas mestiças de Dorper e Santa Inês submetidas à sincronização do estro / Estrus and cervical morphology of crossbred Dorper and Santa Inês ewes submitted to estrus synchronization

ABSTRACT

In order to correlate the beginning of estrus to vaginal and cervical morphologies after synchronizationof estrus in ewes. Forty crossbred females of Dorper and Santa Inês were submitted to estrous synchronizationusing CIDR and eCG. After hormonal treatment, we recorded oestrus, morphology of vagina and cervix. Thedata were analyzed using the Analysis of Variance and the Tukey and Chi-square tests. All sheep presentedestrus, beginning at 32.30 ± 0.99 h after removal of the CIDR. There was a predominance of ewes with vaginaland cervical epithelium with pink coloration. At 0 h and 24 h after CIDR removal, 90% and 75% of the ewespresented incomplete crystallization respectively. The maximum crystallization of the cervical mucus occurred at48 hours after withdrawal of the CIDR. Therefore, the histomorphology of the mucosa and cervical mucus variesaccording to the time of estrus of sheep.