LAUSR

Abstract A profitable and scientific dairy farming can be achieved by identifying the non-pregnant animals at an early date post-insemination. The present study was executed to identify the genes for early pregnancy diagnosis in bovine. The blood samples were collected from the Karan Fries cows on days 0, 4, 8, 12, 14, 16, 18, 21, 24, 28, 35 and 42 relative to the date of insemination. The experimental animals were grouped into pregnant (P), conception failure/early embryonic mortality (EEM) and late embryonic mortality cows (LEM), based on progesterone assay, ultrasonography and per-rectal palpation. Each group comprised of 6 cows. The plasma TNF-α concentration was higher in pregnant than EEM and LEM cows. The IL-8 concentration was higher in EEM than pregnant and LEM cows. The mRNA expression of CXCL17 and IFIT2 was significantly (p < 0.05) higher from day 4–35 than day 0 in pregnant and LEM cows. The degree of expression of Interferon-tau stimulated genes was higher in pregnant and LEM cows than EEM cows. The experiment reveals that the time-dependent changes in the IFNτ stimulated gene expression in blood neutrophils coupled with proinflammatory cytokine profile could be useful biomarkers for bovine gestation.