Masood Didarkhah - Assistant Professor, Department of Agriculture, University of Birjand, Birjand, Iran.
mohammad razheh - Veterinarian of Agricultural Products Insurance Fund of Khorasan Razavi Province.Mashhad, Iran

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of different diets on reproductive performance Baluchi ewes, 2 to 3 years old upon lambing. The experimental diets consisted of three different diets containing various proportions of starch and fat. The diets, ensuring ad libitum intake, were fed in two equal portions at 8 am and 4 pm. Feed intake was recorded daily until the end of the synchronization period. In the final week of the experiment, jugular blood was collected in EDTA-containing vacuum tubes at 9:00 a.m. two hours after the morning feeding. Blood samples were centrifuged at 3000 rCM for 15 minutes and plasma stored at -20 degrees Celcius for determination of cholesterol, glucose, urea, non-esterified fatty acids, beta-hydroxybutyrate, triglycerides, LDL, and HDL using commercially available kits (Pars Azmoon, Tehran) and spectrophotometer (ModelA15). Plasma urea concentration was not affected by the diet. Plasma glucose concentrations decreased in the ewes feeding on the lipogenic diet compared with the glucogenic diet; however, no significant difference was found between glucogenic+lipogenic diets and lipogenic or glucogenic diets. Flaxseed supplementation in lipogenic diets significantly increased plasma glucose concentration in ewes (P< 0.05). The results of the present study showed that feeding a glucogenic diet may improve the ovine reproductive performance.

Plasma glucose, Blood samples, Baluchi Ewes