Influence of nutritional level during pre-natal and early post-natal life on adult fleece and body characters

Abstract

The effect of high and lox- levels of feed intake during pregnancy in ewes, and from birth to 4 months of age in their lambs, on adult body weight and wool production has been studied. As compared with the corresponding high intake groups, lambs from the low intake ewes were 34% smaller at birth and 9% smaller at maturity. They also had c. 15% fewer wool follicles per sheep, and produced c. 8.5% less wool as adults. Low levels of feed intake between birth and 4 months resulted in a slower growth rate and a reduction (c. 10%) in mature body weight. The maturation of the follicle population was delayed by a low feed intake in this period but no permanent reduction in numbers was observed. The post-natal low intake group produced c. 12% less wool as adults, owing to a smaller (c. 10.5%) fibre weight. The major effect on wool growth potential of low levels of nutrient supply during pre-natal life was a restriction of body size and total number of follicles, while restriction of nutrient intake during early post-natal life reduced the capacity of the individual follicles to produce fibre.