There is scarce information regarding the effects of probiotics in the diet of lactating ewes on milk yield and composition as well as on metabolite concentrations and enzyme activities in blood. Sixteen Sanjabi ewes, kept under the same feeding and management practices, were divided in two equal groups. The ewes in the first group were fed a diet without probiotics, while the ewes of the second group were fed the same diet supplemented with two grams of commercial probiotics (PrimaLac V R 454 Feed grade, containing Lactobacillus acidophilus, 2.5 Â 10 7 CFU/g; Lactobacillus casei, 2.5 Â 10 7 CFU/g; Bifidobacterium thermophilum, 2.5Â 10 7 CFU/g; Enterococcus faecium, 2.5 Â 10 7 CFU/g). Milk yield measurements, milk composition and blood plasma analyses were carried out at the fourth, eighth and twelfth week of lactation. Probiotics had no effects (p>.05) on any of the examined variables during the first two-thirds of lactation. In the last third of lactation, probiotic supplemented ewes showed an increase (p<.05) of aspartate aminotransferase activity in blood plasma (209 versus 98 U/L) as well as higher (p<.05) yields of milk (503 versus 312 g/d), fat (34.8 versus 22.2 g/d), protein (33.1 versus 20.3 g/d) and lactose (22.4 versus 13.9). In conclusion, probiotics barely affected blood plasma metabolite contents and enzyme activities, but positive effects on milk yield and its components were observed during the last third of lactation. Further research would be needed to determine whether the supplementation of ewe diet with probiotics is advisable for sustainable livestock farming systems.
We hypothesised that probiotic feeding would alter the fatty acid (FA) profile of sheep's milk. Sixteen lactating ewes, kept under the same feeding and management practices, were randomly allocated to receive either a control diet or the same diet supplemented with a commercial multi-strain bacterial probiotic. Milk fat FA contents were monitored fortnightly for eight consecutive weeks from 14 d after lambing. Probiotic supplementation increased the contents of butyric and caproic acids in milk fat and had no negative effects on other relevant FA from the human's health point of view (i.e., no differences in branched chain, vaccenic, rumenic and n-3 FA were observed). Under the conditions assayed in the present work, the contents of milk FA originated from rumen microbial metabolism were scantly altered, which suggests that the rumen conversion pathways of FA were not substantially modified by the probiotics.
This study was conducted to compare milk yield and composition, blood parameters and enzyme activities between two fat-tailed Iranian breeds of sheep (Mehraban and Sanjabi). Two groups of eight ewes per breed were kept indoors and fed a diet based on alfalfa hay (60%) and concentrates (40%). Milk production of the individual ewes was measured and sampled weekly for 11 weeks and blood samples were obtained at 28, 56 and 77 days of lactation. No significant differences between the breeds were evident in average daily milk production and fat and lactose contents, but average milk protein content tended to be higher (P = 0.05) in Mehraban than in Sanjabi ewes.However, milk and protein yields were higher (P < 0.05) in Mehraban ewes in the last two-thirds of lactation.Plasma lipid profile (triglyceride, cholesterol, HDL-and LDL-cholesterol) was not different between the two breeds at any time of study. At the end of lactation, plasma urea contents and alanine amino transferase activities were higher (P < 0.05) either before or after feeding in Mehraban than in Sanjabi ewes, which suggests a more intense metabolic activity in the former probably related to their higher milk and protein production at that stage of lactation.Additional keywords: ewes, milk composition, plasma parameters.Milk production, plasma parameters and different enzyme activities were compared in two Iranian fat-tailed sheep breeds (Mehraban and Sanjabi) during lactation. There were few differences in plasma parameters between breeds.However, Mehraban ewes performed better than Sanjabi ewes in the last two-thirds of the lactation period. (Sakul and Boylan 1992a, 1992b). Those differences can alter the texture of milk products (Lucey et al. 2003). Additionally, knowing breed effects on milk yield and composition is very important to implement breeding selection programs based on the traditional quantitative approach (Carta et al. 2009).Blood biochemical parameters are used to assess the nutritional status of lactating animals and they are known to change according to the physiological status (Nazifi et al. 2002; Karapehlivan et al. 2007; Piccione et al. 2009). The assessment of the relationship between blood biochemical parameters and enzymes activities and patterns of milk production may lead to a better understanding of the ewe's metabolism changes during the lactation period.The aim of the present work was to study milk yield and composition, plasma metabolites and enzyme activities during lactation in Sanjabi and Mehraban ewes, kept indoors under the same feeding regime and management conditions. month before lambing from a synchronised pure flock. All animals were clinically healthy and free from internal and external parasites. Ewes were divided into two groups of eight animals, balanced in parity (2.5 ± 0.53 and 2.4 ± 0.92 in Sanjabi and Mehraban groups, respectively; P = 0.74). The two groups were kept in an enclosed facility as a single flock and fed the same diet without grazing at all. Diet was based on alfalfa hay (60% DM) and a conc...
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