THIS STUDY aimed to determine the changes in the hormonal and biochemical profile of pregnant dromedary camels to provide a baseline data under Egyptian climatic conditions. Blood samples were collected from15 pregnant she-camels aged 8-11 years old just postconception and thereafter monthly during gestation period and during periparturient period (at days 15, 7,4and 1prepartum,at parturition and at days 1, 4, 7 and 15 postpartum).Progesterone level increased significantly (P<0.05) after conception and during the1 st and the 2 nd trimester of pregnancy then declined significantly (P<0.05) during the 3 rd trimester. Meanwhile its level decreased significantly (P<0.05) during periparturient period. Cortisol level significantly (P<0.05) increased at the 3 rd trimester and continued increasing significantly during prepartum period with a maximum level on the day of parturition after that it was markedly decreased during the few days postpartum to day 15 postpartum. Thyroid hormones levels were significant (P<0.05) decreased in their levels from early to late gestation then increased significantly (P<0.05) from day of parturition to day 15 postpartum. Total protein and albumin were significantly low (P<0.05) in the 2 nd and the 3 rd trimesters than the first one with no significance alterations in globulin levels. Total antioxidant, glutathione and ascorbic acid levels were lower in the 3 rd trimester than others, whereas the levels were relatively low in prepartum than 15 days postpartum. Malondialdehyde concentration was significantly increased (P<0.05) during late pregnancy period as a result of the physiological stress of pregnancy

Pregnant Agamy does were used in this experiment to evaluate the effects of Vitamin C (Vit C) supplementation as antioxidant agent to improve the performance of dairy goats during the evidence of oxidative stress (OS) in peri-parturient period. The does under experiment (n = 16) were assigned randomly into control and supplemented groups (n = 8 / group). The control group fed control diet without supplement and the supplemented group fed control diet plus Vit C 75mg/kg of body weight. Dietary supplementation began approximately one month before the expected kidding date till two months post-kidding. Compared to the control does, it was noticed that Vit C supplementation significantly increased (P<0.05) the conception rate (62.5 % vs. 25 %), the weaning weight (WW) (7.21 vs. 5.00 kg) as well as the average daily gain rate (DGR) (53.94 vs. 34.85 g/d) in the kids of the Vit C supplemented group. Vit C supplementation significantly (P<0.05) increased serum level of T 3 from day 45 to day 60 and of T 4 from day 30 to day 60 postkidding. Meanwhile, serum cortisol level was significantly decreased (P<0.05) from day 30 to day 60 post-kidding in the Vit C supplemented group. Also, there was a significant increase (P<0.05) in serum total antioxidant capacity (TAC) from day 15 post-kidding and glutathione peroxidase (GPX) from day 30 post-kidding till the end of the experiment in the Vit C supplemented group as compared with the control one. Meanwhile, there was a significantly decrease (P<0.05) in serum Malondialdehyde (MDA) level from day 45 post-kidding and nitric oxide (NO) level from day 15 post-kidding till the end of the experiment. Concerning the effect of Vit C supplementation on milk quality, it was found that Vit C supplementation significantly (P<0.05) improved most of milk components especially fat, lactose, milk urea level (MUL), total solids (TS) and solid not fat (SNF); meanwhile there was a non-significant increase in protein % all over the experiment period. Moreover, both somatic cell counts (SCC) and the infection rates represented by the total bacterial count (TBC) were significantly (P<0.05) decreased in the Vit C supplemented group when compared with the control one. It was concluded that Vit C supplementation in dairy does around the peri-parturient period can improve the unfavorable effects of OS; this reflected on their milk quality and post-kidding conception rate and enhancement of growth rate as well as weaning weight of their kids.

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