Determination of Mineral Flucuations in Cervical Mucus in the Cow

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Owen S. Forck.
Dr. Glenn Wehner and Dr. David McCurdy, Faculty Mentors.

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Previous work by Wehner et. al. (1996) indicated that timed breeding can influence the sex of the resultant calf. They hypothesized that this phenomenon was due to a flux of mineral concentrations from the non-estrus to estrus in cows. Producers who desire more bulls of heifers can use this information to pre-select the sex of a calf. Twenty grazing Gelbvieh cows were utilized for this study. Samples of cervical mucus from the cow non-estrus and the PGF2α induced estrus cycle were collected via cervical stimulation and pipetting. These samples were then prepared using microwave decomposition. Analysis for copper, calcium, zinc, and manganese were performed with Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry. Phosphorus determination was done using Direct Current Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy. These minerals are of physiological importance. Correlations between mineral fluxes and the sex of the calf will be obtained when cows give birth in the spring of 2004.