REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE, PLASMA PROGESTERONE PROFILE AND DIGESTIBILITY IN EWES FED RATIONS CONTAINING DIFFERENT NI- TROGEN SOURCES

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

2 Animal Production Research Institute, Agricultural Research Centre, Ministry of Agriculture, Dokki, Giza, Egypt

Abstract

T welve Suffolk crossbred ewes were used in this study. Animals randomly assigned to three equal groups and received three different ra­tionss: control ration (C group), 40% ammoniated corn stover (ACSGROUP) and 10% broilers litter ration (BL group).Experimental peri­od included two months preception, gestation and first five weeks of suckling period.Estrous cycle length was not influenced by the dietary treatments, with overall mean 16 days.Mean gestation lenghth was long­er (P<0.05) in BL group than C group (152.25 versus 148 days). Litter weight at birth was not influenced by treatment and not correlated with the length of gestation. Conception rate was not influenced by treat­ment, while, lambing rates decreased. Mean peak concentration of plas­ma progesterone increased (P<0.01) in response to dietary treatments in cycliing ewes but not in pregnant ewes.Twin pregnancies were higher in mean plasma progesterone level than single pregnancies(11.76 versus 8.39 mg/ml). Lambs growths during the first five weeks of suckling peri­od decreased (P<0.05) in BL group. The ACS ration had better CP, EE and NFE digestibility, TDN, DCP and the highest daily intake of TDN. It could be concluded that feeding rations contaning 40% ACS or 10% BL generally maintains the productive and reproductive perfor­mance of cycling, pregnant and lactating ewe.

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