Effect of dried corn distillers’ grains with solubles and soybean meal supplements on physiological indicators and reproductive performance of ewes

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of adding dried distillers' grains with solubles (DDGS) to the nutritional regimens of ewes at different time periods on reproductive traits, serum hormones and serum metabolites. In Experiment 1, 100 ewes were divided into 4 groups (n = 25) according to diet. The four diets were grass hay (H) alone (group H), H with barley (group H + B), H with DDGS for the whole feeding period (27 d) (group H + DDGS) or H and DDGS for 5 d (d 8-12 of oestrus cycle) (group H + DDGS5). Serum progesterone concentrations were affected by oestrus cycle (p < 0.001), but not by dietary treatments. However, feeding H + DDGS caused significant increases in serum insulin, leptin and growth hormone concentrations (p < 0.05). In Experiment 2, 30 ewes were divided into 2 groups (n = 15), receiving DDGS or soybean meal (SBM) during the prepartum period. Diets had no significant effect on weights of dams or lambs at birth; however, the weaning weights of lambs born from ewes of group DDGS were significantly higher (p < 0.05). Moreover, serum glucose, blood urea nitrogen, triglyceride and beta hydroxybutyric acid (BHBA) concentrations during the prepartum period were affected by dietary treatments and by time (p < 0.001). During the prepartum period, BHBA concentrations of ewes fed SBM were higher, while BHBA levels decreased during the last weeks of pregnancy regardless of diet. Lamb serum immunoglobulin G concentrations increased from 1 h to 24 h after birth (p < 0.001). Colostrum of ewes fed SBM had higher fat-free dry matter (DM) and protein contents in comparison to colostrum of ewes fed DDGS (p < 0.05). In conclusion, DDGS can be included as protein source in pregnancy rations up to 15% of DM to obtain reproductive performance outcomes equal to or exceeding those obtained with SBM.

Effect of feeding of sorghum stover based complete feed blocks containing guar meal as protein supplement on reproductive efficiency, hormone profile and antioxidant status in Deccani ewes

“…Further it was also observed that there was no significant (P>0.05) difference in progesterone concentration among the ewes fed conventional diet (S1) and complete feed blocks (S2 and S3). These results are in agreement with previous studies [ 21 , 22 , 36 ], who reported that there was no effect on progesterone profile by replacement of conventional protein supplements with unconventional protein supplements like detoxified castor seed meal or DDGS or Nigella Sativa meal.…”

“…The inclusion of guar meal had no adverse effect (P>0.05) on fortnightly body weights in ewes and similar body weights were observed in all three treatments without any significant difference. Similar to current findings, no effect (P>0.05) on live weight was observed with corn gluten meal (CGM) in beef cows [ 20 ] or dried distillers’ grains with solubles (DDGS) in ewes [ 21 ]. On contrast to the present findings, higher weight gains were reported by Abdalla et al .…”

“…Erdogan et al . (2018) [ 21 ] observed no significant effect on inclusion of DDGS in diets on reproduction performance in ewes compared to those fed soyabean meal. In agreement with the present findings, Silva et al .…”

“…Erdogan et al . (2018) [ 21 ] also reported that, ewe nutrition had no significant effect on lamb weight at birth, when the ewes supplemented with soyabean meal and DDGS. On the other hand, Kennedy et al .…”