Influence of pre and postnatal energy restriction on the productive performance of ewes and lambs

Revista Brasileira de Zootecnia

Filipe Alexandre Boscaro De Castro¹  Edson Luis De Azambuja Ribeiro¹  Ivone Yurika Mizubuti¹  Leandro Das Dores Ferreira Da Silva¹  Marco Aurélio Alves De Freitas Barbosa¹  Cícero Leandro De Sousa¹  Fernando Henrique Pereira De Paiva¹  Natália Albieri Koritiaki¹ 

[1] ,Universidade Estadual de Londrina

关键词: body condition;    milk production;    mortality;    sheep;    weight gain;   

DOI  :  10.1590/S1516-35982012000400017

来源: SciELO

【 摘 要 】

The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of feeding energy levels during the last third of gestation and lactation on performance of ewes and lambs up to weaning. The experiment was carried out in the sheep raising sector of Universidade Estadual de Londrina (UEL), from August to December of 2007. Thirty-two adult lambs with 105 days of gestation, average live weight of 57.55 kg and average body condition scores of 3.42 were used in the beginning of the experiment. The animals were confined in collective pens, distributed randomly in three treatments: 2.4; 2.2 and 2.0 Mcal of metabolizable energy (ME)/kg of dry matter (DM). Feed supply was ad libitum during the last third of gestation and lactation. Weaning occurred at 70 days. Body weight, body condition score and milk production of ewes and body weight of the lambs were analyzed. There were no significant differences for body weight and body condition of ewes at lambing; however, the level of 2.4 Mcal enabled better results for those characteristics at weaning and higher gain in weight and body condition scoring during the experiment. Severe energetic restriction (2.0 Mcal ME/kg DM) determined lower average daily milk production. Lambs from levels 2.4 and 2.2 presented similar weights in all measurements and were superior to those in level 2.0. Lambs from level 2.4 presented higher average weight gain from birth to weaning. The energetic restriction upon lambs at the end of gestation and during lactation limits the performance of ewes and lambs up to weaning.

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