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Thirty lactating ewes were used to evaluate the effect of superovulation on milk production. Twelve ewes had been injected, prior to mating, with 700 IU of pregnant mare serum gonadotropin; 18 ewes were injected with saline as a control. Thirteen ewes (nine control and four superovulated ewes) were fed at low plane of nutrition; the other ewes (nine control and eight superovulated ewes) were fed at high plane of nutrition. Superovulated ewes, fed at both low and high planes of nutrition, had dramatically higher milk yields (59%), and their milk composition was not changed. Plane of nutrition increased milk lactose and P contents without significant effect on milk production. The increased milk yields in the superovulated ewes were accompanied by increases in dry matter, gross energy intakes, and gross efficiency of milk synthesis. At the end of lactation, superovulated ewes had higher mammary dry fat-free tissue, total DNA, and total RNA. The results demonstrated that superovulation prior to mating dramatically increased milk production and efficiency regardless of plane of nutrition. Increased milk production and efficiency in the superovulated ewes were due to the increased mammary secretory cell numbers and their synthetic activities presumably through the increased endogenous hormonal stimulation of mammary growth and development during pregnancy.

The study was conducted to evaluate the duration of road transportation during 4, 8 and 12 hours on body weight loss, hematological and biochemical responses of sheep. Twenty-four male Javanese thin tailed sheep were separated into transported group (T4, T8 and T12) and non-transported group (NT4, NT8 and NT12). Transportation (T) groups were transported for 4, 8 and 12 h in the same open pick up with 0.28 m2/head of loading density. Body weight, haematological and biochemical blood profiles were determined. The results showed that increasing of transportation duration significantly increased (P

The objective of this study was to evaluate the use of mineral soap, organic mineral and roasted soybean supplementations to improve productivity in ruminant animals. Thirty two Garut Sheep (initial body weight 22.38 ± 3.56 kg) were assigned into a randomized block design with eight treatments. Body weight was used as a block (4 blocks). Eight rations evaluated in this trial were FO: basal diet + fish oil, CO: basal diet + corn oil, CaFO: basal diet + calcium soap of fish oil, CaCO: basal diet + calcium soap of corn oil, ZnFO: basal diet + zinc soap of fish oil, ZnCO: basal diet + zinc soap of corn oil, RS: basal diet + roasted soybeans, MM: basal diet + mineral mix. The experimental diets were fed for 8 weeks. The result of the experiment showed that calcium soap improved animal growth better than did zinc soap. Daily gains of sheep fed FO (99 g/d), CaFO (114 g/d), CaCO (103 g/d), RS (105 g/d), and MM (103 g/d), diets were higher (P