Hadi MORADI; Abolfazl Zali; Mehdi Ganjkhanlou
Abstract
Objective: Body Condition Score (BCS) of ewes has a significant impact on the occurrence and severity of metabolic disorders in late pregnancy and early lactation. Body Condition Score refers to the amount of body fat in ewes and can affect their energy reserves, feed intake, and metabolic performance. ...
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Objective: Body Condition Score (BCS) of ewes has a significant impact on the occurrence and severity of metabolic disorders in late pregnancy and early lactation. Body Condition Score refers to the amount of body fat in ewes and can affect their energy reserves, feed intake, and metabolic performance. Providing trace minerals during pregnancy not only affects the performance and health of ewes but also affects growth and health of lambs both before and after birth. Feed formulations traditionally use inorganic mineral salts that are poorly absorbed and retained by the body. Compared to inorganic forms, the organic trace minerals could be used more effectively, which boosts health and body performance. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of dietary supplementation of organic and inorganic trace minerals on the productive performance of Ghezel ewes with different BCSs in late pregnancy and early lactation, and their newborn lambs.
Material and method: In this study, 72 Ghezel ewes in third parity and an estimated lambing date of 30±5 days were used in a 2 × 3 factorial design, including three levels of BCS (low, moderate and high) and two types of trace mineral supplements (organic and inorganic) .Treatments were as follows: 1) low BCS (<3) and diet containing chelated minerals 2) low BCS (<3) and diet containing inorganic trace minerals, 3) Moderate BCS (3-4) and diet containing chelated minerals, 4) moderate BCS (3-4) and diet containing inorganic trace minerals 5) high BCS (>4) and diet containing chelated minerals, and 6) high BCS (>4) and diet containing inorganic trace minerals.
Results: The results showed that the sources of mineral supplements did not affect feed intake, milk yield and composition, but feed intake and milk yield increased with the enhancement in BCS (P<0.05). Fat and milk total solids were significantly higher in high BCS ewes compared to low BCS ewes (P<0.05). Ewes with low BCS had lower MUN in comparison with other BSC levels (P<0.05). Body weight and BCS loss during all periods were lower in low BCS ewes rather than other BCS levels (P<0.05). The weight of lambs at 30 days of age tended to increase in high BCS compared to those with low BCS (P < 0.1). Additionally, chelated minerals supplements increased average daily gain and weaning weight (P<0.05).
Conclusion: An appropriate BCS during late gestation has positive effects on productive performance in the postpartum period. Furthermore, supplementing trace elements in chelated form during the transition period, positively, affects the weight gain of newborn lambs.
Reza Karimi; Armin Towhidi; Mahdi ganjkhanlou; Sepideh Khoee; Hamid Ghasemzadeh-Nava; Amir Alijani; Mohamadjavad Mozafari
Abstract
The aim of the present experiment was to evaluate the effect of feeding a glucogenic diet on the somatotropic axis of early lactation Holstein dairy cows. Sixteen fresh cows were used in a completely randomized design with two treatments and eight replicates in each treat. In the treatment of glucogenic ...
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The aim of the present experiment was to evaluate the effect of feeding a glucogenic diet on the somatotropic axis of early lactation Holstein dairy cows. Sixteen fresh cows were used in a completely randomized design with two treatments and eight replicates in each treat. In the treatment of glucogenic diet, cows received 600 g of encasulated glucose daily as top dressed. In the control treatment, the cows received daily the same amount of glucose and coating material (mainly fat). Experimental diets were fed from day 4 to 30 after calving. Milk production and dry matter intake were recorded daily. Blood samples collected on days 4, 15 and 29 after parturition from coccygeal vein. The results show that there is no significant difference between treatments in terms of milk yield, energy corrected milk yield, 3.5% fat corrected milk yield, dry matter intake and blood glucose concentration. The glucogenic diet caused a significant increase in blood insulin (P<0.05) and a numerical increase in blood IGF-1 (P<0.15). Cows that received control diet showed a significant decrease in IGF-1 concentration (P<0.05) but no significant decrease was observed for cows received diet containing glucogenic supplement. The results of this study showed that feeding a glucogenic supplements can affect the somatotropic axis of early cows and cause an increase glucose turnover and blood insulin and relative improvement of blood IGF-1 levels.
Ayub Mohammadi; Farhang Fatehi; Abolfazl Zali; Mehdi ganjkhanlou; Amirhossein Sarzaem
Abstract
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of feed bunk space and forage particle size on feed intake and nutrient digestibility in growing Holstein female calves. Fourty Holstein female calves with an average age of 8-12 months (295.6 ± 32.8 kg) were used in a 2×2 factorial ...
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The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of feed bunk space and forage particle size on feed intake and nutrient digestibility in growing Holstein female calves. Fourty Holstein female calves with an average age of 8-12 months (295.6 ± 32.8 kg) were used in a 2×2 factorial change-over design (with four treatments, four periods and four stalls), in which 10 calves were allocated to each stall. The current experiment lasted 4 months as one month allocated to each period. The experimental treatments were included: 1) 24 cm of feed bunk space and average forage particle size of 4.6 mm (24/fine); 2) 24 cm of feed bunk space and average forage particle size of 7.1 mm (24/coarse); 3) 48 cm of feed bunk space and average forage particle size of 4.6 mm (48/fine); 4) 48 cm of feed bunk space and average forage particle size of 7.1 mm (48/coarse). The results of this study showed that the apparent digestibilities of DM, CP and NDF for the 48/Coarse treatment was the highest, the treatment of 24/Coarse had an intermediate state, and for the treatment of 48/fine and 24/fine were the lowest. Also, apparent digestibilities of DM, CP and NDF were higher for treatments including coarse forage particles than treatments with fine forage particle size. Finally, it seems that feeding growing Holstein heifers with diets containing coarse forage particle size could result in better nutrient digestibility.
hamid amanlou; abolfazl zali
Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of Pomegranate seed pulp (PSP) containing long-chain fatty acids with L-carnitine (LC) on performance and carcass traits of thirty two Mahabadi male kids. Experimental diets were 1) diet without PSP and LC 2) diet with 10% PSP Kg/DMI and without ...
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The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of Pomegranate seed pulp (PSP) containing long-chain fatty acids with L-carnitine (LC) on performance and carcass traits of thirty two Mahabadi male kids. Experimental diets were 1) diet without PSP and LC 2) diet with 10% PSP Kg/DMI and without LC 3) diet without PSP and with 300ppm LC Kg/DMI and 4) diet with 10% PSP and 300ppm LC Kg/DMI. Kids were slaughtered at the end of study and carcass characteristics were measured. Addition of PSP and LC in diet decreased kidney fat (P<0.05). The kids fed with PSP and LC supplement had higher fat digestibility than other treatments (P<0.05). Furthermore, the use of PSP in the diet decreased the feed cost per Kg of hot carcass (P=0.05). The results of this study indicated that replacing a part of dietary cereal grains with PSP and LC supplement decreased kidney fat. Also, the simultaneous use of LC and PSP increased apparent digestibility of fat, and showed numerically higher performance. According to the results of this study, the PSP can be used as an economical byproduct without negative effects on performance, and along with LC in the diet of kids it will reduce kidney fat as well.
Moustafa Hajilou; Hamid Reza Mirzaei Alamouti; Mehdi Ganjkhanlou; Hamid Amanlou
Abstract
Four ruminally-cannulated Holstein cows were used in a 4 × 4 Latin square changeover design within periods of 21 days to evaluate effects of feeding frequency of different sources of rumen degradable nitrogen on total tract digestibility of nutrients, feeding behaviors, rumen and blood metabolites ...
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Four ruminally-cannulated Holstein cows were used in a 4 × 4 Latin square changeover design within periods of 21 days to evaluate effects of feeding frequency of different sources of rumen degradable nitrogen on total tract digestibility of nutrients, feeding behaviors, rumen and blood metabolites of Holstein cows. Treatments were: 1) control diet which was as total mixed ration (TMR) offered once daily in the morning (08:00), 2) control diet in which a part of its soybean was offered at 19:00, 3) control diet in which a part of its urea was offered at 19:00 and 4) control diet in which a part of its fish meal was offered at 19:00. Rumination time increased in cows fed twice daily with protein sources (P<0.05). Total tract digestibility of dry matter and organic matter were higher in cows received urea at the evening time. Total tract digestibility of neutral detergent fiber increased with feeding all sources of protein at the evening time (P<0.05). Molar proportion of volatile fatty acids, rumen pH and rumen ammonia concentration were not affected by feeding time of protein sources. The results indicated that increasing delivery of rumen degradable nitrogen sources improved dry matter and fiber digestibility and chewing activity of non-lactating Holstein dairy cows.