Autores
Fábio Luís Henrique, Cristiane Gonçalves Titto, Henrique Barbosa Hooper, Ana Luisa da Silva Longo, Lina Fernanda Polido Rodriguez, Thays Mayra da Cunha Leme, Jéssica Cristina Veronezi, Evaldo Antonio Lencioni Titto, Adroaldo Jose Zanella, Alfredo Manuel Franco Pereira
Gestational stress in sheep and lambs at birth
Resumo
The stress in
animals is linked with possible unusual changes
that reduce the individual
welfare. These changes generally
related to the environment or to animal
physiology cause imbalance in
the biological reactions as a defense
by releasing certain substances,
including cortisol. There are few
studies which indicate that there is
heritable consequences promoted by cortisol generated
by stress during pregnancy on the first hours of life
of the lamb and the gestational phase (days of gestation) in which stress was promoted also interferes with it. Thus, the aim of
this study was to evaluate during the delivery time the cortisol levels of lambs and sheep subjected
to stress in different weeks of
pregnancy and the effect on the birth weight of the lambs. The study was
approved by Ethics Committee of FZEA/USP (13.1.2109.74.8). Forty crossbred Santa Ines ewes, multiparous,
with an average age of 5 years and 60 kg of body weight (BW), grazing on Coast-cross were used
(Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers.) on rotated system, with
free access to shade, water and
mineral supplementation. All
experimental ewes were artificially
inseminated with semen from White Dorper breed. During
gestation, the ewes were divided
into three groups on a completely
randomized design: CG - control group of 15 animals that were not subjected to stress; GI - intermediate group
of 12 animals that suffered stress at 70 days of
gestation; GF - final group, consisting of 13 animals undergoing stress at 120 days of gestation. The groups were challenged
underwent intravenous application of 0.8 μg.kg-1 of LPS (lipopolysaccharide E. coli) - outer cell membrane of
gram-negative bacteria, diluted
in saline solution - simulating an immune stressor
for this evaluation. Shortly after birth, after the first feeding of colostrum, ewe and
lamb were contained to the blood sample to be taken from the jugular vein for cortisol analysis, followed by birth weight
measurement. An analysis of variance with multiple comparisons of means by Tukey test at 5% was
performed. No
significant differences (P>0.05) for cortisol levels of ewes were found soon
after birth in the three treatments. The
mean
serum cortisol found
for the three treatments was 32 mg/ml, which is considered high for the species. Similarly, cortisol levels of the lambs,
moments after birth, did not significantly
vary (P>0.05)
regardless of the stress suffered by their mothers during gestation stages. There
was also no correlation between
cortisol of mothers and their
children in the postpartum (P>0.05). In relation to birth weight, the animals of
GI (P 0.03)
and GC (P=0.06) had higher averages
when compared to lambs of GF, with values of
3.694 (± 0.2), 3.56 (± 0.17) and 3.077 (± 0.19) kg respectively, showing a greater effect of stress in the final third of pregnancy on birth weight. The stress
in different gestational weeks
in ewe did not affect cortisol levels at birth, but the birth weight
of lambs.
Estresse gestacional em ovelhas e cordeiros no momento do parto
Abstract
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