Abstract:The aim of the study is to determine the effects of different plane of nutrition during late pregnancy to lactation on the performances of ewes and their offspring to weaning. About 36 native Bengal ewes of last 7 weeks gestation were randomly assigned to four different groups (T 0 , T 1 , T 2 , T 3 ). The T 0 , T 1 , T 2 and T 3 groups were supplemented a concentrate mixture at 0.0, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0% of their body weight, respectively. Chopped German grass (Echinochloa polystachya) was provided as basal forages to ewes and a creep mixture (20 g/lamb/day) to the lambs from 2 weeks of age with a weakly increase of 10 g/lamb. The results shown that ewes dry matter intake (p < 0.01), milk yield (p < 0.05), days open (p < 0.01), live weight gain before lambing (p < 0.01) and at weaning (p < 0.01) and weight recovery from late gestation to weaning (p < 0.05) improved with high plane of nutrition. Higher weight recovery found in T 2 group. Litter size had an effect on (p < 0.01) all weight traits of lambs and ewes milk yield. Sex of lamb also affects (p < 0.05) the weaning weight and daily gain of lambs.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.