Key result
Early weaning and starter feeding increased liver IGF-I mRNA and rumen IGF-IR mRNA expression in neonatal lambs compared to later starter feeding.
Why the study?
It was unclear whether the expression of IGF-1 and IGF-1R genes is affected by starter feeding and weaning in lambs.
RCT (n=102)
Randomly divided
Early weaning and starter feeding affect liver IGF-I mRNA and rumen IGF-IR mRNA expression in lambs.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Early weaning alters IGF-I expression in lambs; hypothesis-generating and leaves open translation to livestock or clinical applications.
The early weaning and starter feeding have significant effects on lamb growth and digestive tract development. However, it is not clear whether the expression of IGF-1/IGF-1R genes could be affected by feeding starter and weaning. Therefore, a total of 102 Hu male neonatal lambs were randomly divided into 3 groups: fed with starter at 42d + weaned at 56d (group A), fed with starter at 7d + weaned at 28d (group B) and fed with starter at 7d + weaned at 56d (group C), to explore the effects of starter feeding and weaning age on developmental expressions of IGF-I gene in liver and IGF-IR gene in rumen of Hu sheep. The results showed that IGF-I and IGF-IR genes were expressed extensively in various tissues of lambs, the expression of IGF-I was significantly higher in liver (p < 0.01), while the expression of IGF-IR was higher in rumen among gastrointestinal tissues. The mRNA level of IGF-I of group C was strikingly higher than that of group A at 28, 70, and 84d (p < 0.01) in liver, respectively. Rumen mRNA level of IGF-IR of group C was prominently higher than that of group A at 70d and 84d (p < 0.05), respectively. However, IGF-IR expression of group A was higher than that of group C at 14 and 42d (p < 0.05). The mRNA level of IGF-I of group B was significantly higher than that of group C at 42, 56, 70, and 84d (p < 0.01) in liver, while IGF-IR expression of group B was higher than that of group C at 70d (p < 0.01). In conclusion, early weaning and starter feeding affected liver IGF-I mRNA and rumen IGF-IR mRNA expression.
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Zhang et al. (2022) reported an RCT. Early weaning and starter feeding vs. Starter at 42d and weaned at 56d was evaluated on Developmental expressions of IGF-I gene in liver and IGF-IR gene in rumen (p=<0.01). Early weaning and starter feeding increased liver IGF-I mRNA and rumen IGF-IR mRNA expression in neonatal lambs compared to later starter feeding.
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