TDK conference 2017

During 2016 spring, we studied the number and size of ovarian structures of hucul mares during their transitional period in the care of Aggtelek National Park. A total of 31 non-pregnant mares were selected for the study from which one group (n=17 mares) was held under pasture circumstances while the control group (n=14 mares) was kept in stables of the farm. We performed ultrasound examinations five times on each mare. We found almost the same numbers of follicles in both groups (P>0,3 in each examination). There was no difference in the numbers of follicles between the 2 groups, but we found a difference in follicle sizes from the 3rd examination afterwards. Although corpora lutea appeared one week earlier in the pasture group, this tendency was not significant (P=0.0668). Based on our results we could conclude, that pasture keeping does not considerably affects the length of vernal transitional period and the appearance of the regular estrus cycle in hucul mares.