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Maternal nutrition during critical gestation periods impacts on offspring in later life; effects of high-starch maternal diet on testicular development in lambs were addressed. Dairy ewes were fed diets providing either 27% (Starch, S) or 11% (Fiber, F) of starch from mating to lambing (∼147 days; S147, F147) or for the last 75 days of gestation (S75, F75). Testes of single male lambs were measured and then sampled for histological and gene expression analyses at selected ages. Testicular dimensions and weight were similar among groups, but the total area of seminiferous tubules increased with age and tended to be higher (p = 0.057) in lambs from starch- than fiber-fed ewes. Sertoli and germ cells number increased with age, but was not influenced by maternal diet. Transcript abundances of androgen receptor (AR), insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1), and hydroxysteroid (17-beta) dehydrogenase 3 (HSD17B3) was similar between S147 and F147 lambs (p > 0.1). Abundance of luteinizing hormone/choriogonadotropin receptor (LHCGR) and steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (STAR) was higher in young vs older lambs, whereas insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2) levels increased with age. The expression of vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA), Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH), IGF1, follicle stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR), and insulin-like growth factor 2 receptor (IGF2R) was not influenced by maternal diet or lamb age (p > 0.1). In conclusion, a high-starch maternal diet did not influence gene expression, but may have affected testicular structure in infant offspring, as seen by an increase in the total area of seminiferous tubules.

Individual dry matter intake (DMI) is a relevant factor for evaluating feed efficiency in livestock. However, the measurement of this trait on a large scale is difficult and expensive. DMI, as well as other phenotypes, can be predicted from milk spectra. The aim of this work was to predict DMI from the milk spectra of 24 lactating Sarda dairy sheep ewes. Three models (Principal Component Regression, Partial Least Squares Regression, and Stepwise Regression) were iteratively applied to three validation schemes: records, ewes, and days. DMI was moderately correlated with the wavenumbers of the milk spectra: the largest correlations (around ±0.30) were observed at ~1100–1330 cm−1 and ~2800–3000 cm−1. The average correlations between real and predicted DMI were 0.33 (validation on records), 0.32 (validation on ewes), and 0.23 (validation on days). The results of this preliminary study, even if based on a small number of animals, demonstrate that DMI can be routinely estimated from the milk spectra.

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