Increasing Doses of DHA and EPA on Fetal Programming, Effect on Performance and Plasma Metabolites of Finishing Lambs

A E RELLING; K NICKLES ; D N COLEMAN

Congreso; 2018 ASAS ADSA Midwest Meeting; 2018

wline">Feeding omega-3 (n-3) long chain fatty acids (LCFA)during late gestation may have fetal programmingeffects on the fetus, which will have lifelong impacts ondevelopment and production. The present study is thefiishing trial of a fetal programming study. The objectives were to determine the effects of supplementingewes with different doses of the n-3 LCFA eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) onlamb performance and metabolism. Ewes (n=72) wereblocked by BW and allotted to pens (8 per treatment)with 3 ewes per pen. Ewes were supplemented with anEPA and DHA source (Strata G112) at concentrationsof 0, 1 or 2% of DM during the last 50d of gestation.At lambing, all ewes were penned together and offeredthe same diet. After weaning at 60d of age, lambs wereblocked by BW and sex and fed for 56d. All lambs werefed the same pellet diet (61% ground corn, 24% soyhulls,11% soybean meal, 1.4% of Ca salt of palm oil and2.6% of a mixed mineral vitamin), and were weighedand bled every 14 days until the end of the trial. Drymatter intake and refusals were weighed daily. Datawere analyzed as a randomized complete block designwith repeated measurements (SAS 9.4). Polynomialcontrast (linear-L and quadratic-Q) was used for meanseparation. There was no time by treatment interaction (P>0.17) for any variable. Feeding pregnant ewesan increased amount of EPA and DHA increased BW(L, P=0.01), ADG (L, P=0.04; Q, P=0.01), DMI (Q,P≤0.01) and plasma glucose concentration (L, P=0.04)but did not affect G: F nor plasma NEFA concentration (P≥0.53) (Table  1). Therefore, increasing supplementation of EPA and DHA in pregnant ewes hasan impact on offspring performance increasing DMI,ADG and BW.