Morphometric Study of the Cervical Canal in Karayaka Ewe

Abstract

The cervical canal of the ewe does not allow for the transcervical passage of insemination instruments. The purpose of this study was to examine, the gross anatomy of the cervix in ewe lambs and adult ewes of Karayaka breed peculiar to Black sea Region. Reproductive tracts were excised immediately from carcass of Karayaka ewes and lambs at slaughterhouse in spring. The cervical canals were filled with silicone moulds were obtained consisting 31 ewe lambs and 16 adult ewes. The mean length of cervix of adult ewes (36.90 +/- 6.5 mm) were significantly different from ewe lambs (28.95 +/- 3.59 mm) (p<0.001). The diameter of cervical canal measured between external uterine ostium and first fold of ewe lambs and adult ewes were 2.58 +/- 0.76 and 3.11 +/- 1.4 mm, respectively. It was observed that the diameter of cervical canal became smaller from the second fold in both ewe lambs and adult ewes. Average number of folds of ewe lambs and adult ewes were 5.16 +/- 0.93 and 4.73 +/- 0.7. The distance of first fold from external uterine ostium of adult ewes and ewe lambs were not determined to be statistically important (p>0.05). The diameter of third fold of adult ewes was 8.20 +/- 2.01 mm, while it was 6.74 +/- 1.21 mm in ewe lambs (p<0.01). The results of this study would be beneficial to improve the lambing rate of Karayaka ewes following transcervical artificial insemination.