@article{Salem_Rekik_Hamouda_Lassoued_2010, title={Live Weight Changes and Their Relationship with the Ovarian Status of Maiden Fat-Tailed Barbarine Ewes}, volume={15}, url={https://journals.squ.edu.om/index.php/jams/article/view/696}, abstractNote={<div><span style="color: #000000; font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: large;">The current study assessed the effect of the pattern of live weight change on the ovarian </span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: large;">function of maiden Barbarine ewes </span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: large;">at approximately 1 year of age. For this purpose, a total of 171 weaned ewe lambs (mean live weight  </span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: large;">± s.d. 34.7±3.07 kg and mean age </span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: large;">± SD 196±10 days at weaning) were selected for the experiment. Adjustment of live weight variation  </span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: large;">was used. Based on the slope of the curve, animals were grouped into three classes LWCI (n=46),  </span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: large;">LWCII (n=91) and LWCIII (n=34) with live weight loss being highest in LWCI and lowest in LWCIII.  </span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: large;">Following laparoscopy at 13 months of age, the proportion of ewe lambs found cycling in LWCIII  </span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: large;">(85.3%) was higher in comparison to animals in LWCI (43.4%; P<0.001) and tended to be superior to </span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: large;">those in LWCII (61.5%; P<0.05). Following synchronisation with progestagen of the females found </span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: large;">cycling, levels of plasma IGF-I concentrations between 6 and 42 hrs after removal of sponges were </span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: large;">not significantly different between the three classes of live weight, and respectively averaged </span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: large;">94.2, 90.8 and 89.8 µg/l for LWCI, LWCII and LWCIII females. Levels of estradiol were also not </span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: large;">significantly different between the three groups (0.73, 0.70 and 0.67 pg/ml for LWCI, LWCII and </span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: large;">LWCIII ewe lambs, respectively). It was concluded that, in low input systems of semi-arid and arid </span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: large;">Tunisia, mating ewe lambs at the approximate age of 1 year is likely to lead to depressed </span><span style="font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: large;">reproductive performance particularly when the summer live weight-loss is elevated.</span></div><div><span style="color: #000000; font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: large;"> </span></div>}, journal={Journal of Agricultural and Marine Sciences [JAMS]}, author={Salem, Imēne Ben and Rekik, Mourad and Hamouda, Mohammed Ben and Lassoued, Narjess}, year={2010}, month={Jan.}, pages={41–46} }