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Scholar’s Advances in Animal and Veterinary Research, 2(4): 205-211
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Review Article
Improving the Profitability of Dairy Farmers by Artificial Induction of
Lactation in Dry Barren (Infertile) Dairy Cows and Buffaloes: A Mini Review
Ghulam Muhammad1, Imaad Rashid1, Sehrish Firyal2* and Muhammad Saqib1
1
Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan
Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore,
Pakistan
*Corresponding Author: Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, University of Veterinary and
Animal Sciences, Lahore
2*
ARTICLE HISTORY
ABSTRACT
Received: October 12, 2015
Revised: November 13, 2015
Accepted: December 12, 2016
Key Words:
Pyometra
Buffaloes
Lactation
Tool
Hundreds of thousands of high producing dairy cows and buffaloes
are culled every year because they fail to become pregnant due to a
variety of reproductive problems (e.g. repeat breeding, anoestrus,
chronic cervicitis, pyometra, or congenital abnormalities like
freemartinism, underdeveloped ovaries or genitalia), anatomical
defects (e.g. persistent Mullerian ducts) and hormonal dysfunction
(e.g. cystic ovaries). About 27 to 47% dairy cows are culled due to
reproductive problems. It is a problem all over the world. Artificial
induction of lactation by hormonal treatment/other drugs can reduce
the economic losses to the farmers due to infertility/sterility of the
high producing dairy cows and buffaloes. Induction of lactation by
hormonal treatment of nonbreeding cows has been found to be
more profitable than to purchase replacement heifers. This
technology can be used as a profitable management tool to help
All copyright reserved to Mr.Scholar
To Cite This Article: Muhammad, G., I. Rashid, S. Firyal* and M. Saqib, 2015. Improving the profitability
of dairy farmers by artificial induction of Lactation in dry barren (infertile) dairy cows and buffaloes: A mini
review. Scholar’s Adv. Anim. Vet. Res., 2(4): 205-211.
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Scholar’s Adv. Anim. Vet. Res., 2015, 2(4): 205-211.
production ability (but suffering from nonresponsive
reproductive problems) back into the herd.
inhibitory action of progesterone on the synthesis of
prolactin receptors (Tucker, 2000; Jewell, 2002).
Endocrinological and therapeutic basis of
induction of lactation in cows and buffaloes: In
artificial induction of lactation by hormones and
drugs, we try to create conditions which resemble
the mammary gland development during pregnancy
and particularly at the time of parturition. During the
last few days of pregnancy, levels of prolactin,
estrogens and cortisol increase tremendously.
Different hormones (e.g. estrogen, progesterone,
prolactin placental lactogen, insulin and
glucocorticoids) act synergistically to induce
lactation (Jewell, 2002). Functions of these
hormones and other drugs are briefly described
below:
Prolactin: Prolactin is released from anterior
pituitary gland. Its main function is lactogenesis and
not galactopoiesis. Stimulation of udder and teats
(e.g. by massage) at the time of milking causes
release of prolactin. Prolactin is not required for
milk
production
after lactation has been
established.
Bovine somatotropin (bSTr, growth hormone):
bSTr is used to increase milk production.
Magliaro et al. (2004) evaluated the efficiency of
bSTr in the increase in milk production in dairy
cows artificially induced into lactation with estrogen
and progesterone and observed that bSTr treated
cows produced 21.9% more milk when compared to
induced cows that did not receive bSTr. Growth
hormone increases milk production by partitioning
of available nutrients away from body tissues and
towards milk synthesis.
Estrogen and progesterone: Estrogen stimulates
development and growth of mammary gland ducts.
Estrogen and progesterone in combination stimulate
development of lobule-alveolar tissue (milk
producing tissue) of the mammary gland. Estrogen
additionally helps in initiation of lactation in two
ways. Firstly, it causes release of prolactin from the
anterior pituitary gland into the blood. Secondly, it
causes an increase in prolactin receptors in
mammary cells (Tucker, 2000; Jewell, 2002).
Role of prostaglandins (e.g. PGF2á): For artificial
induction of lactation PGF2á is used to induce
luteolysis which brings all treated cows and
buffaloes in a uniform phase of the estrous cycle.
This uniformity may eliminate variations among
animals related to differences in concentrations of
estrogen, progesterone, glucocorticoids and prolactin
at the time of initiation of lactation. In addition,
removing the progesterone source (corpus luteum)
by PGF2á may allow induced cows to be more
responsive to reserpine and dexamethasone
treatment following the initial estrogen and
progesterone treatment. It also allows
glucocorticoids to displace progesterone from
binding sites in mammary tissue, thereby removing
the progesterone block to lactogenesis. Thus, use of
PGF2á to induce luteolysis offers the opportunity to
initiate a lactation induction protocol during very
Glucocorticoids (e.g. cortisol and
dexamethasone): Glucocorticoids cause alveolar
cell differentiation of the mammary gland. They
compete with the progesterone for binding sites on
the mammary epithelial cells. Injecting
glucocorticoids to dry cows which have already been
treated with estrogen and progesterone (and thus
have a developed mammary gland) helps in the
induction of lactation. An increased level of
glucocorticoid as a result of dexamethasone
injection, would displace progesterone from the
receptors on mammary cells, thus reducing the
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different stages of the estrous cycle; estrus and
metestrus when progesterone is low and estrogen is
elevated, or diestrus when progesterone is the
dominant steroid hormone (Jewell, 20002).
yield was relatively high. Important undesirable
side-effect of large doses of estrogen included
exhibition of abnormal estrous behavior sometimes
for as long as 20-50 days after stopping the estrogen
injection.
Thyroid and parathyroid hormones: Thyroid
hormone is an iodine containing hormone that
increases the basic metabolic rate of the animal.
Owing to loss of iodine in the milk, during lactation,
the mammary gland is in a euthyroid state while the
rest of the body is hypothyroid (Tucker, 2000).
During lactation, parathyroid hormone is responsible
for removal of calcium from the bones and adding it
to the blood for milk synthesis.
Protocol # 2: Freitas et al. (2010) protocol was
tested on 20 dry Holstein cows that were suffering
from reproductive problems and had failed to get
pregnant.
Protocol
1. Day 1, 8 and 21: Recombinant bovine
somatotropin (bSTr, 500 mg)
2. Day 2 to 15: Estradiol benzoate (0.071 mg kg!1
per day subcutaneously)
3. Day 2 to 8: Medroxy progesterone acetate
(0.25 mg kg!1 per day, subcutaneously)
4. Day 19: Prostaglandin F2á (0.530mg,
subcutaneously)
5. Day 19-21: Isoflupredone acetate (0.05 mg kg!1)
intramuscularly
6. Massage of teats and udder for 5 minutes daily
from Day 17 to 21. Milking carried out from
22nd day of induction.
7. bSTr was injected every two weeks after
induction of lactation.
8. Mean milk yield with this protocol was
21.9±2.9 kg day!1
Insulin: In cattle, insulin is involved in mechanisms
partitioning nutrients away from synthesis of milk
and towards body tissues. Thus, higher the insulin
consideration, the lower the milk yield (Tucker,
2000).
Reserpine: Reserpine (an alkaloid obtained from the
roots of Rauwolfia serpentina) is used to stimulate
release of prolactin and its use decreases the
variation in milk production amongst animals as
well as it shows an increase in the induction of
lactation rate (Collier et al., 1977).
Protocols used for induction of lactation in
cows
and
buffaloes:
Several different
protocols have been used to induce lactation in
nonbreeding, infertile non-lactating cows and
buffaloes. A few of these protocols are briefly
described below:
Protocol # 3: Collier et al. (1977) the protocol was
tested in two experiments. In experiment I, 10 cows
were administered estradiol-17â (0.1 mg kg!1 per
day) and progesterone (0.25 mg kg!1 per day) for
7 days. On Day 18 to Day 20, dexamethasone
(20 mg per day) was administered. After this,
animals were divided into two equal groups. Five
animals were kept as control whereas the other 5
animals were administered reserpine 5mg per day on
Day 13 to Day 16. In experiment II, 9 animals were
given injections of estradiol-17â, progesterone and
Protocol # 1: Smith et al. (1973) and Smith and
Schanbacher (1973; 1974) Daily injections of
estrogen plus progesterone @ 0.1 and 0.25 mg kg!1
body weight respectively for seven days. Some cows
failed to respond. In cows, in which lactation was
successfully induced (= 60% of treated cows), milk
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dexamethasone as in experiment I. After Day 7,
animals were divided into 2 groups (4 control and 5
treated with reserpine @ 5 mg kg!1 per day on Day
8, 10, 12 & 14). During estradiol-progesterone
injections, serum prolactin levels were 30 ng mL!1.
In control cows, serum prolactin levels increased on
Day 14 to Day 21 in a variable pattern. During the
period of reserpine administration, serum prolactin
levels increased. In both experiment I and
experiment II, reserpine treated cows had higher
peak milk yield and overall higher milk production
over a period of 100 days than those of control
groups. Peak milk yields of reserpine groups were
10 to 21 kg per day in experiment I whereas in
experiment II, the corresponding range was 16 to
24 kg day!1. Results of the study were consistent
with hypothesis that serum prolactin levels may
be low in those cows which fail to lactate following
the estrogen-progesterone treatment to induce
lactation.
Protocol
1. Day 1 and Day 10: Prostaglandin F2 á (Inj.
Lutalyse® ) 25 mg IM on day 1 and day 10
2. Day 11 to Day 17: Daily subcutaneous
injections of 17â-estradiol (0.1 mg kg!1 ) and
progesterone (0.25 mg kg!1) for 7 days
3. Day 18: Injection Prostaglandin F2 á (Inj.
Lutalyse® ) 25 mg IM
4. Day 19 to Day 21: Reserpine (5 mg day!1) IM
and dexamethasone (20 mg day!1) IM for 3 days
Lactation was successfully induced is 71%
of cows and 85% of heifers. Milking was started
on Day 23 and continued for 154 days. Mean
weekly milk yield was 78.2±5.1 kg. Massage of
udder and teats before milking did not increase milk
yield.
Protocol # 6: Successive induction of lactation
twice (Dabas and Sud, 1989). Protocol was tested
on 5 cross bred heifers aged 32-42 months and
4 multiparous crossbred cows which were dry for
15-60 months Eight of these animals were repeat
breeders.
Protocol # 4: Magliaro et al. (2004) tested on 28
parity 1 or greater, non-pregnant healthy Holstein
cows
Protocol
Protocol
1. Day 1 to7: Estradiol-17â (0.075 mg kg!1 per
day) and progesterone (0.25 mg kg!1 per day).
2. Day 18: Milking begun
3. Day 37±20 of milking: Cows randomly divided
into Control or bST groups and their milk yield
of 70 days compared
4. The average milk yield of bST treated cows
(28.4 kg day!1) was higher than that of the
control cows (24.1 kg day!1)
1. Day 1 to 7: Estradiol -17 â (0.1 mg kg!1 per day)
and Progesterone (0.25 mg kg!1 per day) Each
day, calculated doses of estradiol and
progesterone were divided into two equal
portions and injected subcutaneously in the
morning and evening.
2. Day 9 to 12: Two mg of reserpine twice a day
subcutaneously
3. Day 10 onward: Hand milking twice a day
4. Induction of lactation was successful in all
9 animals and they produced milk for periods
varying from 258-476 days and were then dried
off for 2-4 months.
Protocol # 5: Ramgattie et al. (2014) this protocol
was tested on 21 dry crossbred cows (Holstein x
Jersey or Holstein x Jamaica Hope) and 26
nulliparous heifers aged more than 18 months.
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5. After a minimum dry period of 2 months,
all animals were injected estradiol valerate
(0.1 mg kg!1 per day) and hydroxyl
progesterone caproate (0.25 mg kg!1 per day) on
day 1 to 3 and 2 mg twice daily of reserpine on
day 8 to 11 Re-induction of lactation was
successful in all 9 animals and in 2nd induced
lactation they produced milk for 228 to
426 days. Milk yield of animals ranged from
4.1 to 9.6 kg day!1 during first induced
lactation and 3.9 to 9.2 kg day!1 in 2nd induced
lactation.
General considerations for artificial induction of
lactation (tribuneindia.com/2003/…/agro.htm;
Heidrich and Renk, 1967): Artificial induction of
lactation in cows or buffaloes should be taken as a
last resort. One should exhaust all recommended
procedures before considering induction of
lactation
Not all animals are suitable for artificial
induction of lactation. Only cows and buffaloes with
well-developed healthy teat and udder are suitable
for induction of lactation. Treatment of cows and
buffaloes suffering sub-clinical mastitis may flare up
signs of acute clinical mastitis. For good results,
artificial induction of lactation should be attempted
only in those cows and buffaloes which have been
good producers in the previous lactation.
In cyclic cows and buffaloes, hormonal
treatment should be started preferably 7 to 10 days
after the animal is detected in heat.
For good results, a thorough and frequent
massage of udder is essential. In additional, one
should start frequent milk as soon as secretion
commences. Massage of udder and frequent milk
will stimulate the hypophysis (pituitary gland) to
secrete the hormones which promote mammary
gland development, synthesis of milk and milk
secretion (Heidrich and Renk, 1967)
Owing to excretion of hormones in the milk, the
milk of treated animal should not be put for human
consumption for about 30 days from the start of the
hormonal therapy.
Treated animals requires separate special
housing as they may show signs of heat
If successive induction of lactation is
considered, a dry period of at least 50 days should
be targeted between two artificially induced
lactation
Cows and buffaloes with artificially induced
lactation generally produce 60 to 70% of normal
milk yield that they had yielded in the previous
lactation after calving.
Protocol # 7: Buffalo protocol (Singh et al., 2002)
Protocol tested on 4 repeat breeding multiparous
buffaloes and two heifers of Murrah breed.
Protocol
1. Day 1 to 7: Estradiol-17 â (0.1 mg kg!1) and
progesterone (0.1 mg kg!1) dissolved in absolute
alcohol and administered subcutaneously in the
neck during and evening.
2. Udder stimulation (massage) started on Day 8
and continued till the udder was full of secretion
3. Day 23 to 24: milking started. In the beginning,
4 treated buffaloes yielded a greenish yellow
secretion whereas 2 buffaloes produced normal
looking white milk even on the first day of
milking. The buffaloes produced 3.7, 3.8, 8.0,
6.5, 6.7 and 7.5 kg milk day!1 at peak lactation.
Milk composition changed to normal over a
period of 7-14 days. There was a significant
decrease in levels of plasma growth hormone
after start of lactation. Per rectal examination
indicated changes in reproductive organs due to
treatment with the hormones. Out of the 6
buffaloes induced into lactation, 3 became
pregnant. This study indicated that induction of
lactation could also prove useful in correcting
reproductive disorders.
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