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Examining the Effects of Whole Crop Wheat Silage on Ewe Performance during Late Gestation Compared to Traditional Grass Silage across Three Prolific Breed Types
SIMPLE SUMMARY: Nutrition of the ewe during late pregnancy can impact the subsequent performance of the ewe and her lambs. In indoor lambing systems, grass silage is the predominant forage used but is of sub-optimal quality. This study examined the potential of whole crop cereal silage when offered...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2020
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7552157/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32887295 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani10091554 |
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author | Higgins, Jonathan T. Campion, Dermot Jones, Joe Lott, Stephen Lynch, M. Bridget McEvoy, Mary McGovern, Fiona Boland, Tommy M. |
author_facet | Higgins, Jonathan T. Campion, Dermot Jones, Joe Lott, Stephen Lynch, M. Bridget McEvoy, Mary McGovern, Fiona Boland, Tommy M. |
author_sort | Higgins, Jonathan T. |
collection | PubMed |
description | SIMPLE SUMMARY: Nutrition of the ewe during late pregnancy can impact the subsequent performance of the ewe and her lambs. In indoor lambing systems, grass silage is the predominant forage used but is of sub-optimal quality. This study examined the potential of whole crop cereal silage when offered to one of three prolific breed types in late pregnancy. With the exception of reduced crude protein intake on the whole crop wheat silage diets, nutrient intake or ewe body reserves were not affected by forage type. However, ewes offered whole crop wheat silage-based diets produced smaller lambs. Mule ewes produced lower volumes of colostrum in the first 18 h after lambing reflecting a lower nutrient intake during late pregnancy. Maternal nutrition and breed type merit careful consideration in prolific sheep production systems to ensure lamb welfare and survivability are not compromised. ABSTRACT: Provision of adequate nutrient intake in late gestation of the ewe is an important determinant of dam and offspring performance. A 2 × 3 factorial design experiment examining two forage types, whole crop wheat silage (WCWS) or grass silage (GS) offered to one of three prolific breed types, (Belclare X, Lleyn X, Mule (Bluefaced Leicester × Blackface Mountain)), was conducted. Forage type had no impact on dry matter (DM) or metabolizable energy (ME) intake, body weight and body condition score change, or colostrum production (p > 0.05). Ewes offered WCWS had lower crude protein (CP) intake (p < 0.0001) and a lower combined litter weight (p < 0.05). Mule ewes consumed less DM, CP, (p < 0.05), and ME (p < 0.01) compared to Belclare X and Lleyn X ewes however, water intake per kg DM consumed did not differ with breed type (p > 0.05). Colostrum yield over the first 18 h postpartum was lower for Mule ewes compared to other breed types (p < 0.05). In conclusion, results from this study suggest nutrient concentration and balance as opposed to forage type is important for late gestation nutrition and breed type can impact feed intake and colostrum yield. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7552157 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-75521572020-10-16 Examining the Effects of Whole Crop Wheat Silage on Ewe Performance during Late Gestation Compared to Traditional Grass Silage across Three Prolific Breed Types Higgins, Jonathan T. Campion, Dermot Jones, Joe Lott, Stephen Lynch, M. Bridget McEvoy, Mary McGovern, Fiona Boland, Tommy M. Animals (Basel) Article SIMPLE SUMMARY: Nutrition of the ewe during late pregnancy can impact the subsequent performance of the ewe and her lambs. In indoor lambing systems, grass silage is the predominant forage used but is of sub-optimal quality. This study examined the potential of whole crop cereal silage when offered to one of three prolific breed types in late pregnancy. With the exception of reduced crude protein intake on the whole crop wheat silage diets, nutrient intake or ewe body reserves were not affected by forage type. However, ewes offered whole crop wheat silage-based diets produced smaller lambs. Mule ewes produced lower volumes of colostrum in the first 18 h after lambing reflecting a lower nutrient intake during late pregnancy. Maternal nutrition and breed type merit careful consideration in prolific sheep production systems to ensure lamb welfare and survivability are not compromised. ABSTRACT: Provision of adequate nutrient intake in late gestation of the ewe is an important determinant of dam and offspring performance. A 2 × 3 factorial design experiment examining two forage types, whole crop wheat silage (WCWS) or grass silage (GS) offered to one of three prolific breed types, (Belclare X, Lleyn X, Mule (Bluefaced Leicester × Blackface Mountain)), was conducted. Forage type had no impact on dry matter (DM) or metabolizable energy (ME) intake, body weight and body condition score change, or colostrum production (p > 0.05). Ewes offered WCWS had lower crude protein (CP) intake (p < 0.0001) and a lower combined litter weight (p < 0.05). Mule ewes consumed less DM, CP, (p < 0.05), and ME (p < 0.01) compared to Belclare X and Lleyn X ewes however, water intake per kg DM consumed did not differ with breed type (p > 0.05). Colostrum yield over the first 18 h postpartum was lower for Mule ewes compared to other breed types (p < 0.05). In conclusion, results from this study suggest nutrient concentration and balance as opposed to forage type is important for late gestation nutrition and breed type can impact feed intake and colostrum yield. MDPI 2020-09-02 /pmc/articles/PMC7552157/ /pubmed/32887295 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani10091554 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Higgins, Jonathan T. Campion, Dermot Jones, Joe Lott, Stephen Lynch, M. Bridget McEvoy, Mary McGovern, Fiona Boland, Tommy M. Examining the Effects of Whole Crop Wheat Silage on Ewe Performance during Late Gestation Compared to Traditional Grass Silage across Three Prolific Breed Types |
title | Examining the Effects of Whole Crop Wheat Silage on Ewe Performance during Late Gestation Compared to Traditional Grass Silage across Three Prolific Breed Types |
title_full | Examining the Effects of Whole Crop Wheat Silage on Ewe Performance during Late Gestation Compared to Traditional Grass Silage across Three Prolific Breed Types |
title_fullStr | Examining the Effects of Whole Crop Wheat Silage on Ewe Performance during Late Gestation Compared to Traditional Grass Silage across Three Prolific Breed Types |
title_full_unstemmed | Examining the Effects of Whole Crop Wheat Silage on Ewe Performance during Late Gestation Compared to Traditional Grass Silage across Three Prolific Breed Types |
title_short | Examining the Effects of Whole Crop Wheat Silage on Ewe Performance during Late Gestation Compared to Traditional Grass Silage across Three Prolific Breed Types |
title_sort | examining the effects of whole crop wheat silage on ewe performance during late gestation compared to traditional grass silage across three prolific breed types |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7552157/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32887295 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani10091554 |
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