title: Factors affecting pregnancy length and phases of parturition in Martina Franca jennies.
abstract: The knowledge of normal pregnancy length, duration of parturition stages, and neonatal early adaptation is mandatory for a rationale management of birth, especially in monotocous species with long gestations. This study reports data obtained from a large number of Martina Franca jennies with normal healthy pregnancies and spontaneous eutocic delivery of a mature, healthy, and viable donkey foal. Pregnancy lasts, on average, 371 days, and only the fetal gender significantly determines pregnancy length, with longer gestations observed in jennies bearing male fetuses. Other factors such as the year of foaling, month of ovulation, month of parturition, birth weight of the foal, and age of the jenny did not influence pregnancy length. The first stage of foaling lasted on average 65 minutes, the second stage 19 minutes, and the third stage 58 minutes. The umbilical cord ruptured on average within 16 minutes after birth; the foal stood up in 61 minutes and suckled the colostrum for the first time within 10 minutes after birth and again after 143 minutes of birth; meconium passage occurred, on average, 86 minutes after birth. Although times reported for the process of foaling are similar to data reported for the horse, the times for early neonatal donkey foal adaptation are longer as compared to the horse foal.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Teramo, Teramo, Italy.
authors.forename: Augusto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carluccio
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Teramo, Teramo, Italy. Electronic address: gloriaalessia@libero.it.
authors.forename: Alessia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gloria
authors.affiliation: Department of Health, Animal Science and Food Safety, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Cristina
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Veronesi
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Teramo, Teramo, Italy.
authors.forename: Ippolito
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: De Amicis
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Teramo, Teramo, Italy.
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Noto
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Teramo, Teramo, Italy.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Contri
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D018397:Equidae / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D036801:Parturition / Q000502:physiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011270:Pregnancy, Animal / Q000502:physiology
keywords: Donkey; Early neonatal adaptation; Foaling stage; Pregnancy length