BACKGROUND Selenium is part of the antioxidant defence system in animals and humans. The available selenium concentration in soil is low in many regions of the world. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of organic versus inorganic selenium supplementation on selenium status of ewes, their lambs, and slaughter lambs. METHODS Ewes on four organic farms were allocated five or si...

Male preterm infants are at greater risk of respiratory morbidity and mortality than females but mechanisms are poorly understood. Our objective was to identify the basis for the "male disadvantage" following preterm birth using an ovine model of preterm birth in which survival of females is greater than males. At 0.85 of term, fetal sheep underwent surgery (11 female, 10 male) for the implanta...

1. Studies were conducted to measure the influence of perinatal undernutrition of twin-bearing ewes on ewe milk yields and lamb performance in early lactation. Comparative studies were conducted with lambs to measure the effects of postnatal nutrition on lamb performance and carcass composition. The major objective of this work was to determine the extent of the influence of postnatal nutrition...

Essential amino acids such as methionine have been increasingly included into diets of lambs. However, few studies have determined the effects of methionine supplementation in the general performance and economic returns of lamb production. To address this question, 21weaned male Rahmani lambs were allotted to 3 dietary treatments: control diet (C), control diet plus 3.30 g of methionine/kg con...

this study was conducted to investigate effect of different sources of copper on gas production parameters and nutrients digestibility in zandi male lambs. in the first experiment, 18 male lambs (initial body weight 17.53±1.62) divided into three groups and fed one of the three experimental diets for 70 days. dietary treatments were control (basal diet without copper supplement), basal diet plu...

Lamb growth, survival and carcass characteristics were compared for progeny of either 1/2-Suffolk, 1/2-Rambouillet (Western) ewes or 1/2-Suffolk, 1/4-Rambouillet, 1/4-Finnsheep (1/4-Finn) ewes produced over 3 yr in three different management systems. System 1 lambs were born in late fall and fed to slaughter on a concentrate diet. System 2 lambs were born in January and February and grazed pure...

Four male lambs (Katahdin; average live weight 25.9±2.9 kg) with "T" type cannulas in the rumen and proximal duodenum were used in a 4×4 Latin square experiment to evaluate the influence of supplemental dry distillers grain with solubles (DDGS) levels (0, 10, 20 and 30%, dry matter basis) in substitution for dry-rolled (DR) corn on characteristics of digestive function and digestible energy (DE...

Two experiments were performed to examine the ability of human pancreatic growth hormone releasing factor (hGRF) administration to stimulate endogenous growth hormone (GH) secretion in lambs. Each study utilized eight Dorset wether lambs in replicated 4 X 4 Latin square experiments. Growth hormone response (integrated area under the curve for 150 min post-injection) for 0, 1, 5 and 10 microgram...

Two lamb trials were conducted to determine the effects of particle length (PL; 2.5 vs 10 cm) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) treatment (0 vs 4%) of wheat straw on dry matter (DM) intake and site and extent of DM and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) digestion. Lambs in the first trial were fed ad libitum once daily. Lambs in the second trail were fed four t imes/d at 6-h intervals and were sacrificed ...

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium L.) leaf powder supplementation in ration on performance, some blood serum biochemical parameters and antioxidant status weaned Tuj lambs. Twenty-four male lambs with an average body weight 11.5±0.3 kg were allocated three groups. While no added basal control group, dried leaves at levels 0.1% (P1) 0.2% (P2) treatmen...