Animal performance and fatty acid composition of lambs fed with different vegetable oils.

Twenty-seven lambs were used to investigate the effects of the inclusion of 4% hydrogenated palm oil (HPO) or sunflower oil (SFO) in the concentrate on animal performance, carcass and meat quality and fat characteristics and fatty acid composition. Animals (16.2 ± 0.27 kg initial weight) were fed concentrate (Control, HPO or SFO) and barley straw ad libitum and slaughtered at 25 kg. SFO lambs tended to eat less concentrate than HPO animals (P 0.05). SFO decreased proportions of C16:0, C18:1 cis-11 and C18:3 (P < 0.05) and increased C18:1 trans (P < 0.001) and C18:2/C18:3 ratio (P < 0.05). Atherogenicity index was lower (P < 0.05) when SFO was included in the concentrate. HPO did not affected and SFO improved fatty acid composition of fattening lambs without affecting animal performance

Energy and nitrogen retention in milk-fed lambs

The effect of the level of energy intake (EI), crude protein content of the diet (CP), age and sex of growing lambs fed milk diets upon the retention of energy (ER) and nitrogen (NR) was studied.A total of 114 lambs of the Churra breed removed from their dams at birth were used. The lambs were kept in metabolism cages and during the first two days of life were bottle-fed colostrum in quantity equivalent to 40% of their birth weight.Afterwards milk-diets in which the protein-energy concentrations were between 15 and 35% were reconstituted at 180 g/kg of dry matter and given to the lambs according to the experimental design.</jats:p

The effect of dietary protein:energy ratio during food restriction on the size of the digestive tract and subsequent growth of lambs

During both food restriction and subsequent re-alimentation of sheep, the proportion of empty body weight formed by the gastro-intestinal components has been shown to change (Winter, Tulloh and Murray, 1976; Murray and Slezacek, 1988). The extent and nature of compensatory growth depends on the composition of the diet during restriction (Wilson and Osbourn, 1960). This study investigates the effect of rumen undegradable protein in the diet, during food restriction, on these processes. The hypotheses tested were that the protein:energy ratio of the diet during restriction to constant liveweight (LW) influences the relative proportions of the components of the digestive tract and its overall size as a proportion of empty body weight (EBW) a) during restriction and b) during subsequent growth on realimentation.</jats:p

Evolución de las concentraciones plasmáticas de PAG (pregnancy-associated glycoprotein) y progesterona en ovejas de raza Assaff durante la gestación y el postparto.

editorial reviewe

The Effect of pattern of food supply on intake, growth and body components in beulah and welsh mountain lambs

The use of overwinter food restriction of lambs produced on hill and upland farms followed by a period of rapid spring growth may be used to achieve a more even spread of lambs onto the market. However, pattern of feeding and growth may affect performance and body composition of the lambs.</jats:p