Effect of fat supplementation in flushing diets on reproductive performance, blood metabolites and hormones in Ghezel breed ewes

This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of various supplemental fats applied in the flushing diet on reproductive performance, blood metabolites and hormones of Ghezel breed ewes. 36 Ghezel sheep were assigned in three treatments for 42 days in completely randomized design. Experimental groups were as follow: control (without supplemental fat in diet), sunflower oil (5% of ration dry matter) and calcium salts of palm oil (5% of ration dry matter). Experimental rations had the same Metabolisable Energy (3.6 Mcal/kg) and Crude Protein (9.2%) contents. CIDR was used for estrus synchronization. Insemination was done 48 hours after CIDR removal. Supplementation of fat resulted in higher levels of blood total serum cholesterol (P 0.01). Groups with Sunflower oil in flushing diet had higher blood glucose levels than others (P<0.01). Blood sera concentrations of insulin and estrogen were higher in sunflower oil supplemented group than others (P<0.05). Fat supplementation of flushing diets resulted in lambs with greater birth weight (P<0.05). The number of offspring and twining birth was higher in the sunflower oil treatment (P<0.01). Results indicated that, using sunflower oil in flushing diet increased metabolites and hormones related to reproduction and subsequently improved offspring number and twining.