The effects of supplementing eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahenaenoic acid during late gestation on lamb metabolism and performance

COLEMAN, D.N.; A E RELLING; K. C. RIVERA-ACEVEDO

Congreso; ASAS, 2017 Midwest ASAS ADSA meeting; 2017

Fatty acids are involved in the regulation of many physiological pathways and can have lifelong impacts on offspringdevelopment and metabolism via maternal supplementation. Therefore, our objective was to investigate the impactof supplementing ewes with a diet enriched in omega-3fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahenaenoic acid (DHA) during late gestation on lamb metabolismand performance. Eighty-four gestating ewes were blockedby conception date into group pens with 3 animals per penand randomly assigned to a diet enriched with MUFA (EnerGII) or the PUFA (STRATA G113) EPA and DHA during thelast 50 d of gestation. With a biohydrogenation rate of 50%,the target dose of EPA and DHA supplemented was 18 mg/kg of metabolic BW (BW0.75), with total fat supplementationon MUFA and PUFA being fed at the same percent of thediet. After lambing, ewes and lambs were placed on pastureuntil weaning at 60 d of age. Lambs born from these eweswere weighed and bled at Day 0, 30, and 60. Plasma glucose, NEFA, and insulin were measured using colorimetricassays, and ADG was calculated. An immunoassay was testedto measure the metabolic hormone adropin, measuring parallel displacement and recovery. For insulin and adropin, onlythe Day 60 plasma samples were used. Data were analyzedas a randomized complete block design with repeated measurements (SAS 9.4; SAS Inst. Inc., Cary, NC). Lambs bornform ewes supplemented with MUFA or PUFA did not havedifferent BW (15.8 kg for MUFA and 16.4 kg for PUFA; P =0.22), ADG (0.32 kg/d for MUFA and 0.34 kg/d for PUFA;P = 0.21), or plasma glucose (93.68 mg/dL for MUFA and96.47 mg/dL for PUFA; P = 0.50) and NEFA (514.68 mg/dLfor MUFA and 493.39 mg/dL for PUFA; P = 0.52) and insulin(0.22 ng/mL for MUFA and 0.25 ng/mL for PUFA; P = 0.59)concentrations. Human adropin assays are a valid method tomeasure ovine adropin concentration. This study suggests thatsupplementation of ewes with EPA and DHA compared withMUFA during late gestation does not have any signifiantimpact on their offspring up to weaning. Further laboratoryanalyses will confim whether the dose of EPA and DHA washigh enough to increase concentrations of these fatty acids inewe and lamb plasma. Future research should investigate thepotential effects of supplementing higher doses of EPA andDHA to ewes during late gestation and effects on offspring