Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T23:23:59.324Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The effects of frequency of feeding of supplementary concentrates on performance and metabolite and IGF-1 status of ewes given silage in late pregnancy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

D. M. B. Chestnutt  and
A. R. G. Wylie
D. M. B. Chestnutt
Affiliation:
Agricultural Research Institute of Northern Ireland, Hillsborough, Co. Down BT26 6DR
A. R. G. Wylie
Affiliation:
Agriculture and Food Science Centre, Newforge Lane, Belfast BT9 5PX
Get access

Abstract

Eiues on grass silage-based diets were offered, during the last 6 weeks of pregnancy, an increasing allowance of a barley-soya-fish meal concentrate (400 g/day in weeks 15/16; 600 g/day in weeks 17/18; 800 g/day in weeks 19/20) as either one, two or three feeds daily or as a complete mix with silage. Silage dry-matter intake increased with concentrate feeding frequency (P < 0·01) and was greatest with the mixed diet at an average of 1·38 of that with a single daily concentrate meal. The effect on silage intake was evident even at the lowest level of concentrate supplementation during weeks 15/16 and was independent of silage quality. Ewes gained more live weight (P < 0·01), and maintained a higher live weight post partum, as a result of increasing the frequency of feeding of concentrates but mean lamb birth weight was unaffected. Maternal serum metabolites were measured in weeks 17/18 and 19/20 only. Mean [i-hydroxybutyrate was higher, but not significantly so, in weeks 19/20 despite the increased concentrate allowance and was higher overall (P < 0·05) in ewes offered concentrates once daily compared with those receiving concentrates three times daily or mixed with the silage. Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) was higher in serum of ewes given frequent concentrate meals compared with those offered concentrate once daily (P < 0·05). Serum albumin and globulin increased as concentrate intake increased between weeks 17/18 and 19/20 (P < 0·05) and also, when concentrates were offered more than once daily (P < 0·05). Serum urea level was higher with more frequent concentrate meals (P < 0·01) and was affected by silage quality (P < 0·001).

Keywords

feeding frequencyIGF-1metabolitesperformancepregnancy
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Science , Volume 61 , Issue 2 , October 1995 , pp. 269 - 276
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Blowey, R. W. 1972. Metabolic profiles — some aspects of their interpretation and use in the field. In Veterinary annual (ed. Grunsell, C. S. G. and Hill, F. W. G.), pp. 21–30. Wright, Bristol.Google Scholar
Chestnutt, D. M. B. and Kilpatrick, D. J. 1989. Effect of silage type and concentrate supplementation on the intake and performance of breeding ewes. Sixty-second annual report of the Agricultural Research Institute of Northern Ireland, pp. 21–30.Google Scholar
Clemmons, D. R. and Underwood, L. E. 1991. Nutritional regulation of IGF-1 and IGF binding proteins. Annual Reviews of Nutrition 11: 393–412.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gibson, J. P. 1981. The effects of feeding frequency on the growth and efficiency of food utilization of ruminants: an analysis of published results. Animal Production 32: 275–283.Google Scholar
Gluckman, P. D., Douglas, R. G., Ambler, G. R., Brier, B. H., Hodgkinson, S. C., Koea, J. B. and Shaw, J. H. F. 1991. The endocrine role of insulin like growth factor 1. Acta Paediatrica Scandinavica 372: suppl, pp. 97–105.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gordon, J. G. and Tribe, D. E. 1952. The importance to sheep of frequent feeding. British Journal of Nutrition 6: 89–93.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holland, M. D., Hossner, K. L., Tatum, J. D., King, M. E., Mauck, H. S. and Odde, K. G. 1988. Serum insulin like growth factor 1 profiles in beef heifers with single and twin pregnancies, journal of Animal Science 66: 3190–3196.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kirchgessner, M. and Kellner, R. J. 1980. Digestibility of nutrients in basal and concentrate feeds by sheep with different feeding frequencies. Zeitschrift fur Tierphysiologie, Tierernahrung und Futtermittelkunde 43: 117–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lobley, G. E. 1993. Species comparisons of tissue protein metabolism: effects of age and hormonal action. Journal of Nutrition 123: 337–343.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McGuire, M. A., Vicini, J. L., Bauman, D. E. and Veenhuizen, J. J. 1992. Insulin like growth factors and binding proteins in ruminants and their nutritional regulation. Journal of Animal Science 70: 2901–2910.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Foods, Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland and Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland. 1984. Energy allowances and feeding systems for ruminants. Reference book 433. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London.Google Scholar
Mould, F. L., Ørskov, E. R. and Mann, S. O. 1983. Associative effects of mixed feeds. 1. Effects of type and level of supplementation and the influence of the rumen fluid pH on cellulolysis in vivo and dry matter digestion of various roughages. Animal Feed Science and Technology 10: 15–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Payne, J. M. and Payne, S. 1987. Metabolic profile test. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Rhodes, R. W. and Woods, W. 1962. Influence of frequent feeding on the performance of growing and fattening lambs. Journal of Animal Science 21: 108–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russel, A. J. F., Maxwell, T. J., Sibbald, A. R. and McDonald, D. 1977. Relationships between energy intake, nutritional state and lamb birthweight in Greyface ewes. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 89: 667–673.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wylie, A. R. G. 1995. Metabolic and hormonal responses to starvation and incremental refeeding in sheep. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 54: 77A (abstr.).Google Scholar
Wylie, A. R. G. and Chestnutt, D. M. B. 1991. Insulin like growth factor 1 concentrations in serum, colostrum and milk of ewes with single, twin and triplet lambs. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 50: 135A (abstr.).Google Scholar