Reproductive Performance of Ewes, Fed Flushing Diet at Different Management Feeding Program

Abstract

Background and Objective: There is very rare information regarding data of reproduction performance of small ruminant with different management flushing program in Asian countries. The aim of this study was to evaluate the implementation of flushing diet program containing lemuru fish oil with time management difference, by evaluating the reproductive performance of local Garut ewes. Materials and Methods: Twenty of garut ewes (average body weight 30.06±6.20 kg) were used in this experiment using Completely Randomized Block Design (CRBD), in four treatments with five animals of each treatment. The treatments were without flushing (F0 as control), flushing at the beginning of mating (F1 = 2 weeks pre-mating until 2 weeks just after-mating), two times flushing (F2 = F1 plus 4 weeks flushing during mid gestation) and three times flushing (F3 = F2 plus 2 weeks flushing at the end of gestation and 2 weeks after parturition). The ratio of flushing or basal concentrate to forage was 70:30. Basal concentrate was given during untreated. Nutrients consumption, body condition score (BCS), average daily gain (ADG), feed efficiency ratio (FER) and reproduction parameters were evaluated. The data of sex ratio and birth type were expressed descriptively. Results: The results showed that the treatment had significant effect (p<0.05) on crude fat consumption, total digestible nutrients (TDN) and changes of BCS values, but had no effect on other nutrients consumptions. All treatments did not affect to total birth weight, the number of embryo, litter size, gestation period and sex ratio. The percentage of ewes pregnancy with the flushing treatment was 25% higher than the control. The flushing treatments were significantly effect on partus weight of ewes (p<0.05). Conclusion: It was concluded that three times flushing program at early, middle and late of gestation could improve the nutritional status and reproductive performance of ewes, such as fat intake, partus weight, improved percentage of pregnancy and type of birth, but did not affect to total birth weight, litter size, pregnant period and sex ratio.

The initial study on the benefits of flushing with Lemuru fish oil as a source of DHA and EPA on the performance of reproductive parameters in Garut ewes

“…This is because oil ushing increases ovulation and the potential for multiple births (Greco et al, 2018). Still, palm oil ushing, in contrast to lemuru sh oil supplementation, could not reduce the potential activity of prostaglandins (plant oils did not show signi cant inhibition of PG in the endometrium) (Khotijah et al, 2022;Verma et al, 2018), and possibly the size of the CL formed is small compared to sh oil supplementation (Mahla et al, 2017), resulting inability to maintain pregnancy in PO treatment. However, in the control group, the resulting pregnancy is mostly single embrio, so it is better to maintain the pregnancy and cause the embryo loss rate to be lower than PO.…”

The Role of Certain Specific Hormonal Treatments in Estrus Synchronization of Ewes: A mini Review

“…Due to the seasonality of production in sheep and increase demand for them in certain seasons, it is necessary to follow applied systems to improve reproductive and productive performance throughout the year under conditions of intensive production. It can be applied by regulating erogenous compatibility in ewes and increasing the rate of twins at times that may be outside the pollination season, which is defined as the period when animal fertility is at its highest [2]. Sheep are seasonal animals with multiple estrus cycles [3].…”