Influence of Body Condition on Milk Production and Metabolic Profile in Assaf Sheep

Subject Areas : Camel

M. Simeonov ¹ , D.L. Harmon ² , I. Stoicheva ³

1 - AgriculturResearch Agricultural Institute, Stara Zagora, 6000, Agricultural Academy, Sofia, Bulgariaal Institute
2 - Department of Animal and Food Science, University of Kentucky, Lexington, USA
3 - Research Institute of Forage Crops, Pleven, 5800, Agricultural Academy, Sofia, Bulgaria

Received: 2022-11-23 Accepted : 2023-02-25 Published : 2023-09-01

Keywords: Milk, body condition score, body weight, Lactation, metabolic energy,

Abstract :

The aim of the study was to monitor the relationship between body condition score (BCS) and body weight (BW) on milk productivity and metabolic profile in sheep of the Assaf breed during the first months of lactation. The experiment was conducted from January 2020 to April 2020 with 378 ewes aged 3 and 4 years (second and third lactation). The influence of BCS and BW on milk yield and dry matter (DM) and metabolizable energy (ME) intake was established. Animals with BCS < 3 had significantly higher average daily millk (ADM) consumed more DM and ME (P<0.01) and had a higher negative energy efficiensy (-17.53%), compared to animals with BCS above 4.1. The sheep weighing 71 to 75 kg have a higher ADM, compared to animals weighing less than 71 kg and more than 76 kg, but also had a higher negative energy efficiency (-20.35%), despite the fact that they consumed significantly more DM and ME (P<0.01). It was found that the expenditure of ME for lactation was higher, the higher the milk yield of the animals (R2=0.9734). When combining the ME requirement for maintenance (MEm), Mcal and the ME requirement for gain (MEg), when ADG was positive the total MEred, Mcal, was highly related with the milk yield of the animals (R2=0.6519). The direct effect of milk yield on average daily gain shows a high correlation between the milk yield and average daily gain (R2=0.8747), which had an impact on body energy loss/gain, with the correlation between mean daily milk yield and body energy los/gain (BEL/g) being significant (R2=0.6309).

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