The purpose of the study is to assess the effect of feeding chicory silage in combination with selenium yeast on the immune system, metabolism, and oxidative stress on ewes during the transition from pregnancy to lactation.
We use 45 pregnant ewes individually kept in pens and randomly assigned to receive grass silage or chicory silage from 30 days prior expected parturition until 30 days post-partum. Half of the ewes fed with chicory silage and 1/3 of the ewes fed with grass silage are also receiving 3.6 mg/d of Se-yeast (DiaMune generously provided by Diamond V). One-third of the ewes fed with grass silage are injected with BO-SE® two weeks prior lambing. In ewes the following parameters are measured:
- Body weight and BCS
- Water consumption and daily feed intake
- Complete hematology
- Granulocytes phagocytosis, oxidative burst, and migration
- Level of Se and glutathione peroxidase activity in whole blood
- Metabolic, immune, oxidative, and liver function profiling in plasma
- Milk yield using a weight-suckling-weight system and milk components, including fatty acid profiling
Lambs are also followed to assess the performance, the immune system, and the level of Se in whole blood.
Publications.
Conference abstracts
- Ford, H.R., M. Bionaz, S. Ates, D. Hasan, J. Klopfenstein, S. Park, T. Quinones, C. Pearce, K. Ness, M. Aleman Torres. 2021. Effect of chicory silage and Se-yeast on peripartum ewes: immune status via complete blood cell count. J. Anim. Sci. (ASAS Conference 2021)
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Ford, H.R., M. Bionaz, S. Ates, J. Klopfenstein, D. Hasan, G. Puerto-Hernandez, J. VanDerZanden, M. Ibarra, C. Dougherty, S. Heney. 2021. Effect of Chicory Silage and Se-yeast on Peripartum Ewes: Performance Data. J. Anim. Sci. (ASAS Conference 2021)
Funding Source
Agriculture Research Foundation (see Agricultural Research Foundation | | Oregon State University)