
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Mylrea, G. E. 
A1  - Mulley, R. C. 
A1  - English, A. W. 
A1  - Evans, G. 
T1  - Reproductive cycles of farmed female chital deer (<emph type="2">Axis axis</emph>)
JF  - Reproduction, Fertility and Development
JO  - Reprod. Fertil. Dev.
Y1  - 2000
VL  - 11
IS  - 3
SP  - 167
EP  - 174
KW  - oestrous cycles, post partum, progesterone.
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1071/RD99048 
N2  - Studies were conducted on chital deer hinds (Axis axis) living in a temperate region to advance the understanding of the patterns of reproduction of a tropical cervid species. The hinds exhibited regular patterns of oestrus cyclicity throughout the year as evidenced by concentrations of serum progesterone mon-itored over a 14-month period, and detection of behavioural oestrus by vasectomized stags. The mean length of the oestrous cycle was 18.0 $plusmn; 0.7 days (range, 12&#8211;23 days). Profiles of serum progesterone showed con-centrations of &#60;0.5 ng mL-1 at the time of oestrus, which rose to a peak (range 1.5&#8211;5.0 ng mL-1) about Day 13, and then declined to low concentrations at the next oestrus. Observations following parturition showed that the first detected oestrus occurred at a mean (&#177; SEM) time of 26.9 &#177; 3.0 days later for seven of nine hinds. The mean length of the oestrous cycle after the first post-partum oestrus was 16.6 &#177; 1.0 days (range 7&#8211;20 days). The presence of a stag may influence the length of the post-partum period in chital deer hinds, and hinds in contact with a stag in this study had a significantly shorter interval from parturition to first ovu-lation (P&#60;0.01) compared with hinds not in contact with a stag. By 7 weeks post partum a corpus luteum was detected in 93% of hinds. In comparison only 43% of hinds with no stag contact had a corpus luteum by 7 weeks post partum. It is suggested that the tendency towards seasonal calving in the study population may be related more to male than female factors. 
ER  -

