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THE INDUCTION AND SYNCHRONIZATION OF LAMBING WITH THE AID OF DEXAMETHASONE

Summary.: Dexamethasone (8 or 16 mg), injected intramuscularly into ewes of Île-de-France breed at the beginning of the lambing period, induced parturition within a mean of 47·27 hr (±17·28) and 45·04 hr (±12·38) after treatment. With 4 mg, the interval between injection and parturition increased to 80·62 hr (±44·04), compared to 114·31 hr (±44·29) for the controls. No statistical differences were associated with the time of treatment (08.00 or 20.00 hours), but ewes treated at 20.00 hours showed a tendancy to lamb earlier and over a shorter period. For these ewes also, 74·4% of parturitions took place during the day (06.00 to 18.00 hours) whereas the ewes treated at 08.00 hours lambed equally during day and night, as did the controls.

Under the same conditions, these intervals were similar in the Préalpes ewes, but they increased when injections were given 2 days earlier.

No influence on the number or on the sex of the lambs born has been shown and no detrimental effects were observed on the fertility and lactation of treated ewes. These results indicate that dexamethasone may be of use in the synchronization of lambing.

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