Five students, Rohhi Unggul Laksonowati (Veterinary Medicine), Rizky Pawestri Utami (Veterinary Medicine), Syifa Salsabila Putri Priambodo (Biomedical Engineering), Muhammad Thoriq Kusumo Satrio (Biomedical Engineering), and Awinda Zharfani Puspasari (Industrial Engineering), made a Pregnancy and Estrous Kit for Cattle to help farmers detect early pregnancy and estrous cycle in cows.
“The kit is equipped with an app called Farm.co that is connected to the farmer’s phone,” said team leader Rohhi, Thursday (21/10).
Rohhi said the kit development was driven by common findings of farmers mistaking their cows for estrus when they secrete cervical mucus. Meanwhile, the discharge of cervical mucus can also be done by pregnant cows for protection.
“Therefore, we created a kit to assist farmers in detecting whether the cows are in estrus or early pregnancy with a fetus of 1 month age. Correct detection leads to correct artificial insemination,” explained Rohhi.
According to Rohhi, the test kit works similarly to a human pregnancy test. Unlike the human test, the cattle kit uses a different circuit and PCB design. It has a built-in pH meter to examine the pH of cervical mucus. Rohhi opined this kit could substitute rectal palpation, a relatively cheaper method than ultrasound, in detecting pregnancy.
“Using the Pregnancy and Estrous Kit for Cattle will not cause miscarriage because when the kit is used, it will not come into direct contact with cows. That way, it is safe and does not pose a risk to cows, especially to those that are pregnant,” said the team leader.
Rizky added the kit was a non-disposable one, thus enabling farmers to use it on repeat. The only thing to replace is simply the strip. The Farm.co app allows farmers to read the detection results through their phones. It can also store cattle data and detection readings for when in need.
“From the stored detection data, the app will then predict the next estrous cycle,” said Rizky.
This kit is among many innovations made by UGM students to compete in the upcoming National Student Science Week (PIMNAS).
