Effects of Parity and Nutrition Plane During Late Pregnancy on Metabolic Responses, Colostrum Production and Lamb Output of Rahmani Ewes

The effect of feeding different concentrates during the last two months pre-partum on ewe and lambs performance were tested on 30 Rahmani ewes and their progenies.Ewes were assigned to three treatments, a) ewes were fed on high energy ration (HE), b) ewes were fed on high protein ration (HP) and c) the 3 rd group served as control group (CTR) and only fed on maintenance ration.No significant differences between primiparous and multiparous ewes in blood constituents, except cholesterol level which is significantly affected by parity (P<0.01).Treatment affected albumin, A/G ratio and glucose level significantly but the main differences were insignificant.Serum albumin, total protein and urea levels were higher in the ewes fed HP.The multiparous ewes had significantly (P<0.05)higher loss in body weight than primiparous ewes.No significant differences were found between primiparous and multiparous in placentome diameter at 6, 4 and 2 weeks before lambing.Live weight change of ewes and growth performance of their lambs affected significantly by nutritional treatments, while the interaction between parity and treatment was not significant.There is a significant effect of parity on total colostrum yield and yield at 36 hours after parturition, while colostrum yield or composition in the early periods after parturition were not affected by parity.Colostral production affected significantly (P<0.01) by nutritional treatment, while chemical composition of colostrum except total solids did not differ.The results suggested that, late gestation ewes can be supplemented with high energy or high protein for two months before parturition influenced physiological states, increased growth performance of lambs, decreased the ewe loss and increased colostoral production which is beneficial of lamb survival.Determination of placentome diameter pre-lambing may be helpful in judging the fetal age and size.