Maternal Supply of Fatty Acids during Late Gestation on Offspring's Growth, Metabolism, and Carcass Characteristics in Sheep

Effects of prenatal fish oil supplementation on the development and performance of female kids after weaning

This study was performed to determine the influence of fish oil, an omega-3 fatty acids source, supplemented to diets of goats throughout all stages of gestation on the growth and milk production of weaned female kids. Eighty German Fawn (75%) x Hair (25%) crossbred goats were randomly assigned to treatment (fish oil, FiO group) and control (Rumen protected fat, RPF group) groups during the first half of pregnancy. Subsequently, the FiO group was further allocated into FiO-FiO and FiO-RPF subgroups and RPF group was further divided into RPF-FiO and RPF-RPF subgroups containing 20 goats in each during the second half of pregnancy. The growth and feed intake of 41 female kids (aged 75.1 ± 6.73 days, with a mean live weight of 11.6 ± 3.00 kg) were recorded for a 98 day post-weaning, In the continuation of the study, live weight changes, milk yield and composition of young female goats from mating to the second month of lactation and the growth of female kids until weaning were studied for a total of 210 days. Maternal nutrition slightly influenced the live weight gain of female kids over a 98-day investigation period (p = 0.070). When growth performance was considered, a higher feed conversion efficiency of female offspring was determined in RPF-FiO (5.52) treatment group compare to female kids in other treatment groups (p = 0.086). However, the maternal feeding system significantly affected live weight in the RPF-FiO treatment group during the mating period (P = 0.054). Concerning the feed intake, maternal nutrition significantly affected the feed intake of female kids (p < 0.01) with the highest feed consumption in the FiO-RPF group. The findings of this study have shown that fish oil enriched diet given to goats during gestation improved daily live weight changes and total live weight gain of female kids despite the initial disadvantage after weaning. At mating time, the live weight of young female goats in the RPF-FiO treatment group, which exhibited the highest feed conversion ratio during the 98-day study, was higher than the remaining treatment groups. Maternal nutrition had no effect on milk yield or milk components in young goats during lactation. Young female goats born to dams in the FiO-RPF group showed better performance than the other groups regarding live weight performance of their offspring on 56th day postpartum.

Foetal programming in sheep: Reproductive and productive implications

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of pregnant ewe nutrition on the performance of offspring in terms of meat, wool production, and reproduction. Foetal programming in sheep has focused on several aspects related to foetal growth, postnatal production, behaviour, and immunological performance. Currently, significant efforts are being made to understand the endocrine, metabolic, and epigenetic mechanisms involved in offspring development. Current studies have not only evaluated the foetal period, despite the pre-conception parental nutrition has demonstrated an effect on the foetal, embryonic, and pre-implantation periods and can generate permanent effects in the foetal and postnatal phases. The performance of offspring is the result of interactions between the genome, epigenome, and environmental interventions during conception. Several factors influence the expression of phenotypic characteristics in progenies; however, this study focused on presenting data on the effect of pregnant ewe nutrition alone on foetal growth and the productive aspects of their offspring.

Transcriptomic analysis of sheep hypothalamus discloses regulatory genes potentially involved in sex-dependent differences in body weight of progeny born to dams supplemented with omega-3 fatty acids or methionine during late-gestation

Fetal programming research conducted in sheep has reported sexually dimorphic responses on growth of the progeny born to in-utero methionine or omega-3 fatty acids supplementation. However, the biological mechanism behind the nutrient by sex interaction as a source of variation in offspring body weight is still unknown. A high-throughput RNA sequencing data of hypothalamus samples from 17 lambs were used in the current study to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between males and females born to dams supplemented with different nutrients during late-gestation. Ewes received a basal diet without omega-3 fatty acids or methionine supplementation as the control (CONT); omega-3 fatty acids supplementation (FAS), or methionine supplementation (METS). A list of regulated genes was generated. Data were compared as CONT vs. FAS and CONT vs. METS. For CONT vs. METS, a treatment by sex interaction was found (adjusted P-value < 0.05) on 121 DEGs (112 upregulated and 9 downregulated) on female lambs born to METS compared with METS males. Importantly, with the sex interaction term, more than 100 genes were upregulated in female lamb's hypothalamuses born to METS. Gene Ontology (GO) and Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) were performed using the DEGs from female lambs. Terms under biological process (related to morphogenesis, organism, and tissue development), cellular component (related to chromatin, extracellular components), and molecular function (involved in chromatin structure and transcription and factors linked to binding DNA) were presented (adjusted P-value < 0.05) for GO. For the IPA, the top-scoring network was developmental disorder, endocrine system development and function, and organ morphology. Only a few differences were observed in the comparison between the interaction of sex and treatment for the CONT vs. FAS comparison. The markedly increased number of DEGs substantially involved in developmental and growth processes indicates the extent to which maternal methionine supplementation causes the sexually dimorphic effects observed in the offspring.

Fish oil supplementation as an omega-3 fatty acid source during gestation: effects on the performance of weaned male goat kids

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of fish oil supplementation, as an omega-3 fatty acids source, to ration of does in the different periods of pregnancy on the fattening performance of kids after weaning. Eighty German Fawn × Hair crossbred does were randomly divided into two groups; half were given fish oil in the first half of pregnancy (FO group), while the other half were given saturated fat (PF (control) group). Then, the goats in the FO and PF groups were randomly divided into two subgroups, and half of the goats were fed fish oil during the second half of pregnancy (FO-FO and FO-PF groups), while the other half was fed saturated fat (PF-FO and PF-PF groups). Thus, study groups of kids were formed according to the nutrition program of the does described above. Forty-seven male kids (84.6 ± 2.44 days old; 14.5 ± 3.09 kg live weight, mean ± standard deviation) were fed for 56 days after weaning, and their weight, feed consumption, serum biochemical parameters, carcass performance, and meat quality characteristics were evaluated. Maternal nutrition significantly affected live weight gain and serum AST, glucose, total protein, and globulin concentrations (P ≤ 0.050). The live weight gain of kids in the PF-PF and PF-FO groups was higher than that in the FO-FO and FO-PF groups. Maternal nutrition tended to affect the hot and cold carcass weights of male kids (P = 0.078 and P = 0.084, respectively). In conclusion, fish oil supplementation during gestation could negatively affect the fattening performance of kids after weaning, especially the daily live weight gain, although it tended to positively affect hot and cold carcass weights.

Effects of polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation on plasma and follicular fluid resolvin D1 concentration and mRNA abundance in granulosa cells in ewes

The aim of this experiment was to evaluate the effect of increasing dietary omega-3 (n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) supplementation on plasma and follicular fluid resolvin D1 (RvD1) concentration and the mRNA expression of genes related to RvD1 production, inflammatory response, oxidative stress, hormone receptors and production, and free fatty acid receptors in the granulosa cells of ewes. Dorset × Hampshire ewes (n = 24) aged 2 to 4 yr and with an initial body weight (BW) of 84.08 ± 13.18 kg were blocked by body condition score (BCS) and BW, and randomly assigned to 12 pens. Each pen within each block was randomly assigned to one of three treatments: 1) diet without fatty acid supplementation (control), 2) diet with 0.5% n-3 PUFA supplementation (PUFA0.5), and 3) diet with 1% n-3 PUFA supplementation (PUFA1). BW, BCS, and blood samples were obtained on day 1 and every 21 d for 3 mo. Ewes were then synchronized, superstimulated, and ovariectomized. Antral follicles were aspirated to evaluate RvD1 concentration in follicular fluid, and granulosa cells were used to determine mRNA abundance. Data were analyzed as a randomized complete block design using a mixed model (MIXED or GLIMMIX with log as a link function when data presented a nonnormal distribution). A polynomial effect of treatments was used to analyze RvD1 concentration and mRNA expression when there was no interaction. In addition, the correlation between plasma and follicular fluid RvD1 concentration was evaluated. We found no differences in BW (P = 0.28) and BCS (P = 0.29) between treatments. The concentration of RvD1 in plasma and follicular fluid linearly increased (P = 0.03) and tended to increase (P = 0.06) concomitantly to increasing PUFA supplementation. Plasma and follicular fluid RvD1 concentrations were positively correlated (r = 0.61; P < 0.01). The abundance of GPX1 and GPR32 mRNA tended to increase linearly with increasing PUFA supplementation (P = 0.06). In addition, PUFA supplementation linearly decreased and tended to decrease IL-1β and COX-2 mRNA abundance (P = 0.01 and P = 0.06, respectively). In conclusion, the correlation between plasma and follicular fluid RvD1 concentration indicates a relationship between both compartments. Also, the decrease of IL-1β and the increase of GPX1 mRNA abundance after PUFA supplementation could have beneficial effects on follicle development.

Effects of maternal dietary fatty acids during mid-gestation on growth, glucose metabolism, carcass characteristics, and meat quality of lamb progeny that were fed differing levels of dry matter of intake

This experiment evaluated growth, glucose metabolism, carcass characteristics, and meat quality of market lambs that were offered ad libitum or restricted (85% of ad libitum) feed intake following two different maternal fatty acid (FA) supplementations while in-utero. Ewes received either a diet supplemented with polyunsaturated FA or saturated/monounsaturated FA during mid- to late-gestation. Following weaning, progeny wethers were fed either ad libitum or a restricted level of feed intake. Ewe FA supplementation did not affect (P ≥ 0.11) growth, meat quality, nor plasma glucose or insulin concentrations of the progeny. Carcass body fat and yield grade of the progeny were affected (P = 0.01) by maternal FA supplementation and restricted feed intake. In summary, maternal FA supplementation did not affect progeny growth, while feed restriction during finishing did not affect meat quality. The interaction between maternal FA supplementation and finishing strategy for body fat accretion indicates that metabolism and the supply of FA during gestation may warrant further investigation.

Maternal supply of a source of omega-3 fatty acids and methionine during late gestation on the offspring's growth, metabolism, carcass characteristic, and liver's mRNA expression in sheep

The objective of the present experiment was to evaluate the effect of maternal supplementation with fatty acids (FAs) and methionine (Met) during late gestation on offspring growth, energy metabolism, plasma resolvin (RvD1) concentration, carcass characteristics, and hepatic mRNA expression. Ewes (5 pens/treatment; 3 ewes/pen) blocked by body weight (BW) were assigned to one of four treatments from day 100 of gestation until lambing. The treatments were: basal diet (NS) without FAs or Met supplementation; FA supplementation (FS; 1.01 % of Ca salts, containing n-3 FA); Met supplementation (MS; 0.1 % of rumen-protected methionine); and FS and MS (FS-MS). At birth (day 0), ewes and lambs were placed in a common pen. On day 60, lambs were weaned, sorted by sex, blocked by BW, and placed on a common finishing diet for 54 d (FP). A lamb per pen was used for a glucose tolerance test (GTT) after the FP. Carcass characteristics were recorded on day 56. Lamb data were analyzed as a randomized complete block design with a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial arrangement, with repeated measurements when needed (SAS 9.4). At weaning, lambs born to MS- or FS-fed ewes were heavier than lambs born from FS-MS ewes (FS × MS × Time; P = 0.02). A marginal significant FS × MS interaction (P = 0.09) was also observed on RvD1; lambs born to ewes in the NS and FS-MS treatments showed a lower RvD1 plasma concentration when compared with lambs born to FS- or MS-fed ewes. Lambs born to dams fed FA showed an increase (P = 0.05) in liver COX-2 mRNA relative expression. Lambs born to ewes supplemented with Met showed an increase (P = 0.03) in liver FABP4 mRNA expression. An FS × MS × Time interaction (P = 0.07) was observed in plasma glucose during the GTT; lambs born from FS-fed ewes showed lower plasma glucose concentration than lambs born to Met-supplemented ewes at 2 min after bolus administration. During the GTT, a marginal significant effect (P = 0.06) was observed for the lamb average insulin concentration due to maternal Met supplementation during late gestation, where these lambs had the lowest plasma concentration. Contrary to our hypothesis, the interaction of FA and Met supplementation during late gestation did not show a greater positive effect on offspring postnatal growth and metabolism. However, the individual supplementation of each nutrient has an effect on offspring development with a concomitant change in markers involved in the inflammatory response and energy metabolism.

Role of Long Chain Fatty Acids in Developmental Programming in Ruminants

Simple Summary

The objective of the current review is to provide a broad perspective on developmental program aspects of dietary n-3 FA supplementation in ruminants during pre-conception, conception, pregnancy, early life, including its effects on production, lipid metabolism, and health of the offspring. Offspring growth and metabolism could change depending on the FA profile and the stage of gestation when the dam is supplemented. Despite this extended review we are highlighting areas that we consider that there is a lack of information.

Abstract

Nutrition plays a critical role in developmental programs. These effects can be during gametogenesis, gestation, or early life. Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) are essential for normal physiological functioning and for the health of humans and all domestic species. Recent studies have demonstrated the importance of n-3 PUFA in ruminant diets during gestation and its effects on pre-and postnatal offspring growth and health indices. In addition, different types of fatty acids have different metabolic functions, which affects the developmental program differently depending on when they are supplemented. This review provides a broad perspective of the effect of fatty acid supplementation on the developmental program in ruminants, highlighting the areas of a developmental program that are better known and the areas that more research may be needed.