الفهرس 
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Abstract
The most common way of detecting pregnancy in rabbits is by manual palpation. Real-time ultrasonography may be an alternative method to be used in rabbit production units in the future if it turns out to be practicable. There is a paucity of scientific knowledge on the suitability of real-time ultrasonography for pregnancy diagnosis in rabbits. In the present study pregnancy diagnosis by transabdominal ultrasonography was compared to manual abdominal palpation and plasma progesterone concentration in rabbits. The present study was carried out at the rabbit facility of the Experimental Farm, Faculty of Agriculture, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt during Autumn season. A total of 56 multiparous New Zealand white rabbit does, aged 5 to 8 months, with an average weight of 2.98 ± 0.11 kg, were used in this experiment. Animals were individually housed in galvanized wired cages, where feed and water were provided ad libitum according to NRC (1984). Animals were randomly divided into two equal groups. The first group was used to detect early pregnancy by last three different methods, whereas the second group was used as control group. Early pregnancy diagnosis started from day 5 after mating onward by ultrasonography and abdominal palpation. Blood samples were collected at mating time, day 3, 5 and every day until day 10 and then 3 days intervals. Also, some productive parameters: litter size, litter weight at birth and weaning and mortality rate were determined.