Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T15:27:39.424Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Nutritional status of adult ewes during early and mid-pregnancy. 1. Effects of plane of nutrition on ewe reproduction and offspring performance to weaning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2008

C. Muñoz ,
A. F. Carson ,
M. A. McCoy ,
L. E. R. Dawson ,
N. E. O’Connell  and
A. W. Gordon
C. Muñoz*
Affiliation:
Queen’s University Belfast, University Road, Belfast BT7 1NN, Northern Ireland, UK
A. F. Carson
Affiliation:
Agriculture Branch, Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI), Large Park, Hillsborough, Co., Down BT26 6DR, Northern Ireland, UK
M. A. McCoy
Affiliation:
Veterinary Sciences Division, AFBI, Stoney Road, Belfast BT4 3SD, Northern Ireland, UK
L. E. R. Dawson
Affiliation:
Agriculture Branch, Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI), Large Park, Hillsborough, Co., Down BT26 6DR, Northern Ireland, UK
N. E. O’Connell
Affiliation:
Agriculture Branch, Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI), Large Park, Hillsborough, Co., Down BT26 6DR, Northern Ireland, UK
A. W. Gordon
Affiliation:
Biometrics Department, AFBI, Newforge Lane, Belfast BT9 5PX, Northern Ireland, UK
*
E-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of plane of nutrition during early and mid-pregnancy on the performance of mature ewes and their offspring. From day 0 to day 39 post mating (early pregnancy, EP), 82 multiparous ewes were fed to provide either 60% (low, L), 100% (medium, M) or 200% (high, H) of predicted metabolisable energy (ME) requirements for maintenance, following a synchronised mating. From day 40 to day 90 (mid-pregnancy, MP), ewes were provided with either 80% (M) or 140% (H) of ME requirements. After 90 days of gestation, all ewes were fed to meet requirements for late pregnancy. During EP, mean live weight (LW) and body condition score (BCS) change of ewes were −6.3, −0.8 and +6.0 kg and −0.02, +0.10 and +0.22 units in the L-, M- and H-EP treatments, respectively. During MP, mean LW and BCS change were −0.8 and +4.9 kg and −0.09 and +0.09 units in the M- and H-MP treatments, respectively (P < 0.001). Treatments had no effect (P > 0.05) on conception rate, although there tended to be an inverse relationship (P = 0.085) between plane of nutrition in EP and plasma progesterone concentrations at day 42 of gestation. EP nutrition influenced foetal development with lambs from ewes offered diet L-EP being smaller (P < 0.01) at day 56 than M- or H-EP lambs. However, at parturition L-EP lambs were heavier (P < 0.05) and tended to have higher (P = 0.056) immunoglobulin status 24 h after birth. Mortality rates at weaning were reduced (P < 0.05) for lambs born from ewes offered diet L-EP compared with M- or H-EP lambs. Diet M during mid-pregnancy resulted in larger (P < 0.05) foetuses at day 80 of gestation. At parturition, these lambs had longer head and crown-rump lengths than H-MP lambs (P < 0.05). Lambs born to ewes offered diet M-MP tended to progress faster to attempting to suckle than H-MP lambs (P = 0.089). There was an interaction between plane of nutrition in early and mid-pregnancy, whereby the highest number of lambs weaned was a result of diet L-EP followed by diet M-MP. These results indicate that in adult ewes, temporary nutrient restriction during early pregnancy results in better lamb survival; and mild nutrient restriction in mid-pregnancy tends to improve neonatal behaviour and results in lambs with longer skeletal size.

Keywords

foetal developmentlamb behaviournutritionpregnancysheep
Type
Full Paper
Information
animal , Volume 2 , Issue 1 , January 2008 , pp. 52 - 63
Copyright
Copyright © The Animal Consortium 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agriculture and Food Research Council 1993. Energy and protein requirements of ruminants. CAB International, Wallingford.Google Scholar
Amemiya, T 1973. Regression analysis when the dependent variable is truncated normal. Econometrica 41, 997–1016.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Annett, RW, Carson, AF 2006. Effects of plane of nutrition during the first month of pregnancy on conception rate, foetal development and lamb output of mature and adolescent ewes. Animal Science 82, 947–954.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ashworth, CJ 1995. Maternal and conceptus factors affecting histotrophic nutrition and survival of embryos. Livestock Production Science 44, 99–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barker, DJP 1994. Mothers, babies, and disease in later life. BMJ Publishing Group, London.Google Scholar
Boland, TM, Callan, JJ, Brophy, PO, Quinn, PJ, Crosby, TF 2006. Lamb serum vitamin E and immunoglobulin G concentrations in response to various maternal mineral and iodine supplementation regimens. Animal Science 82, 319–325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dwyer, CM, Lawrence, AB, Brown, HE, Simm, G 1996. Effect of ewe and lamb genotype on gestation length, lambing ease and neonatal behaviour of lambs. Reproduction Fertility and Development 8, 1123–1129.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dwyer, CM, Lawrence, AB, Bishop, SC 2001. The effects of selection for lean tissue content on maternal and neonatal lamb behaviours in Scottish Blackface sheep. Animal Science 72, 555–571.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dwyer, CM, Lawrence, AB, Bishop, SC, Lewis, M 2003. Ewe-lamb bonding behaviours at birth are affected by maternal undernutrition in pregnancy. The British Journal of Nutrition 89, 123–136.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heasman, L, Clarke, L, Firth, K, Stephenson, T, Symonds, ME 1998. Influence of restricted maternal nutrition in early to mid gestation on placental and fetal development at term in sheep. Pediatric Research 44, 546–551.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heasman, L, Clarke, L, Stephenson, TJ, Symonds, ME 1999. The influence of maternal nutrient restriction in early to mid-pregnancy on placental and fetal development in sheep. The Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 58, 283–288.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holst, PJ, Killeen, ID, Cullis, BR 1986. Nutrition of the pregnant ewe and its effects on gestation length, lamb birth-weight and lamb survival. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 37, 647–655.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelly, RW 1992. Nutrition and placental development. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society of Australia 17, 203–211.Google Scholar
Kelly, RW, Newnham, JP, Johnson, T, Speijers, EJ 1987. An ultrasound technique to measure placental growth in ewes. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 38, 757–764.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McEwan, AD, Fisher, EW, Selman, IE, Penhale, WJ 1970. A turbidity test for the estimation of immune globulin levels in neonatal calf serum. Clinica Chimica Acta 27, 155–163.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meat and Livestock Commission 1983. Feeding the ewe. MLC Sheep Improvement Services, Milton Keynes.Google Scholar
Mellor, DJ 1983. Nutritional and placental determinants of foetal growth rate in sheep and consequences for the newborn lamb. The British Veterinary Journal 139, 307–324.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Muñoz C, Carson AF, McCoy MA, Dawson LER, O’Connell NE and Gordon AW 2008. Nutritional status of adult ewes during early and mid pregnancy. 2. Effect of supplementation with selenized yeast prior to mating on ewe reproduction and offspring performance to weaning. Animal 2, 64–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Connor, CE, Lawrence, AB, Woodgush, DGM 1992. Influence of litter size and parity on maternal-behaviour at parturition in Scottish blackface sheep. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 33, 345–355.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Doherty, JV, Crosby, TF 1997. The effect of diet in late pregnancy on colostrum production and immunoglobulin absorption in sheep. Animal Science 64, 87–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parr, RA, Cumming, IA, Clarke, IJ 1982. Effects of maternal nutrition and plasma progesterone concentrations on survival and growth of the sheep embryo in early gestation. Journal of Agricultural Science 98, 39–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parr, RA, Williams, AH, Campbell, IP, Witcombe, GF, Roberts, AM 1986. Low nutrition of ewes in early-pregnancy and the residual effect on the offspring. Journal of Agricultural Science (Cambridge) 106, 81–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parr, RA, Davis, IF, Fairclough, RJ, Miles, MA 1987. Overfeeding during early-pregnancy reduced peripheral progesterone concentration and pregnancy rate in sheep. Journal of Reproduction and Fertility 80, 317–320.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Parr, RA, Davis, IF, Miles, MA, Squires, TJ 1993. Liver blood-flow and metabolic-clearance rate of progesterone in sheep. Research in Veterinary Science 55, 311–316.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pharr, JW, Rowell, JE, Flood, PF 1994. Fetal growth in muskoxen determined by transabdominal ultrasonography. Canadian Journal of Veterinary Research 58, 167–172.Google ScholarPubMed
Rae, MT, Rhind, SM, Kyle, CE, Miller, DW, Brooks, AN 2002. Maternal undernutrition alters triiodothyronine concentrations and pituitary response to GnRH in fetal sheep. The Journal of Endocrinology 173, 449–455.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Redmer, DA, Wallace, JM, Reynolds, LP 2004. Effect of nutrient intake during pregnancy on fetal and placental growth and vascular development. Domestic Animal Endocrinology 27, 199–217.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robinson, JJ 1983. Nutrition of the pregnant ewe. In Sheep production (ed. W Haresign), pp. 111–131. Butterworth, London.Google Scholar
Robinson, JJ 1985. Nutritional requirements of the pregnant and lactating ewe. In Genetics of reproduction in sheep (ed. RB Land and DW Robinson), pp. 361–370. Butterworth, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, JJ 1986. Nutrition and embryo loss in farm animals. In Embryonic mortality in farm animals (ed. JM Sreenan and MG Diskin), pp. 235–248. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht, Netherlands.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, JJ, Sinclair, KD, McEvoy, TG 1999. Nutritional effects on foetal growth. Animal Science 68, 315–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, JJ, Rooke, JA, McEvoy, TG 2002. Nutrition for conception and pregnancy. In Sheep nutrition (ed. M Freer and H Dove), pp. 189–211. CAB International, Wallingford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russel, AJF, Doney, JM, Gunn, RGSubjective assessment of body fat in liver sheep. Journal of Agricultural Science 72 1969 451–454.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wallace, JM, Aitken, RP, Cheyne, MA 1996. Nutrient partitioning and fetal growth in rapidly growing adolescent ewes. Journal of Reproduction and Fertility 107, 183–190.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wallace, J, Bourke, D, Da Silva, P, Aitken, R 2001. Nutrient partitioning during adolescent pregnancy. Reproduction 122, 347–357.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wallace, JM, Aitken, RP, Milne, JS, Hay, WW 2004. Nutritionally mediated placental growth restriction in the growing adolescent: consequences for the fetus. Biology of Reproduction 71, 1055–1062.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wallace, JM, Milne, JS, Aitken, RP 2005. The effect of overnourishing singleton-bearing adult ewes on nutrient partitioning to the gravid uterus. The British Journal of Nutrition 94, 533–539.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, AH, Cumming, IA 1982. Inverse relationship between concentration of progesterone and nutrition in ewes. Journal of Agricultural Science 98, 517–522.CrossRefGoogle Scholar