Sheep Nutrition: The Lasting Influence of Early High-Starch Diet*

Jamrogiewicz, Michał; Przybyło, Marcin; Baran, Michał; Ziarko, Sławomir; Gabryś, Daria; Molik, Edyta; Flis, Zuzanna; Świerk, Samanta; Kański, Jarosław; Miltko, Renata; Ortmann, Sylvia; Clauss, Marcus; Górka, Paweł

doi:10.2478/aoas-2025-0059

Figures & Tables

Details of feeding regimen in the first 11 weeks of the study

Body weight over 6 months of study (A) and time spent walking (B), eating solid feed (C), ruminating (D), abnormal behavior (E) and licking of salt lick (F). C = sheep fed milk replacer and mostly hay in first weeks of life; HS = sheep fed milk replacer and mostly mixture of high-starch concentrate in first weeks of life. *Means within the time period differ significantly (P≤0.05)

Body weight and body weight gain of sheep over six months of the study

Item	Group¹		SE	P-value

	C	HS		group	time	group × time
Body weight (kg)
initial	6.15	6.37	0.340	0.65	–	–
start of weaning transition	11.8	12.6	0.72	0.45
weaning	15.5	16.0	0.91	0.69	–	–
end of weaning transition	16.2	18.2	0.85	0.11	–	–
end of six months	26.4	27.9	1.15	0.39	–	–
mean over six months	17.8	19.5	0.84	0.16	<0.01	<0.01
Average daily gain (g/day)²
before weaning transition	202	221	25.8	0.61	<0.01	0.33
during weaning transition	156	199	17.0	0.08	<0.01	<0.01
after weaning transition	97.4	92.3	13.0	0.78	<0.01	0.13
mean over six months	126	133	7.78	0.48	<0.01	<0.01

Rumen fermentation parameters on the last day of stage 4 – rams

Item	Group¹		SE	P-value

	C	HS
Reticuloruminal pH	5.98	5.80	0.033	<0.01
Reticuloruminal SCFA² (mmol/L)	139	143	5.4	0.65
acetate (%)	61.4	61.4	1.00	0.97
propionate (%)	24.9	25.2	1.44	0.90
butyrate (%)	11.4	11.5	0.77	0.93
valerate (%)	1.29	1.14	0.061	0.04
isobutyrate (%)	0.47	0.38	0.029	0.02
isovalerate (%)	0.53	0.38	0.031	0.01
Reticuloruminal NH3-N (mg %)	22.4	21.1	1.50	0.39

Rumen fermentation parameters on the last day of stage 4 – ewes

Item	Group¹		SE	P-value

	C	HS
Reticuloruminal pH	5.60	5.73	0.225	0.52
Reticuloruminal SCFA² (mmol/L)	123	125	4.5	0.83
acetate (%)	61.8	61.3	1.73	0.78
propionate (%)	25.0	24.4	1.33	0.74
butyrate (%)	11.4	12.2	1.11	0.60
valerate (%)	1.26	1.17	0.931	0.75
isobutyrate (%)	0.41	0.35	0.058	0.27
isovalerate (%)	0.35	0.37	0.105	0.78
Reticuloruminal NH₃-N (mg %)	15.1	19.7	4.23	0.29

Duration of standing, standing with rumination, lying, lying with rumination, sleeping, hay intake, concentrate intake and drinking of water by sheep in stage 21

Item	Group²		SE	P-value

	C	HS
Standing (min/day)	30.8	10.8	5.69	0.01
Standing with rumination (min/day)	8.62	8.79	2.656	0.96
Lying (min/day)	353	357	17.7	0.86
Lying with rumination (min/day)	111	198	28.1	0.04
Rumination (total time; min/day)	123	209	29.4	0.03
Walking (min/day)	43.2	75.5	7.15	<0.01
Abnormal behavior (min/day)	2.07	1.00	0.502	0.19
Hay intake (min/day)	401	375	13.8	0.20
Concentrate intake (min/day)	31.9	27.7	2.35	0.23
Drinking of water (min/day)	4.24	4.94	0.512	0.35
Licking of salt lick (min/day)	0.91	5.36	0.755	<0.01

Milk replacer and concentrate intake in stage 1

Item	Group¹		SE	P-value

	C	HS		group	time	group × time
Milk replacer intake (L/day)
week 2 (4× MR² feeding)	1.13	1.16	0.009	0.01	<0.01	0.79
week 3 (4× MR feeding)	1.31	1.26
week 4 (3× MR feeding)	1.37	1.36
week 5 (2× MR feeding)	1.33	1.26
week 6 (1× MR feeding)	0.91	0.81
Milk replacer intake (% BW)
week 2 (4× MR feeding)	13.9	14.6	0.552	0.56	<0.01	0.76
week 3 (4× MR feeding)	13.4	13.0
week 4 (3× MR feeding)	12.2	11.8
week 5 (2× MR feeding)	10.4	9.24
week 6 (1× MR feeding)	6.25	5.26
Concentrate intake³ (kg/day)
week 3 (4× MR feeding)	0.05	0.13*	0.022	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01
week 4 (3× MR feeding)	0.05	0.15*
week 5 (2× MR feeding)	0.09	0.17*
week 6 (1× MR feeding)	0.10	0.25*
week 7 (weaning)	0.10	0.33*
week 8	0.10	0.43*
week 9	0.14	0.49*
week 10	0.15	0.26
Concentrate intake³ (% BW)
week 3 (4× MR feeding)	0.51	1.27*	0.155	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01
week 4 (3× MR feeding)	0.44	1.30*
week 5 (2× MR feeding)	0.76	1.20
week 6 (1× MR feeding)	0.68	1.64*
week 7 (weaning)	0.64	2.04*
week 8	0.65	2.47*
week 9	0.89	2.61*
week 10	0.90	1.30

Body weight, dry matter intake, dry matter digestibility and digesta retention in stage 3 – rams

Item	Group¹		SE	P-value

	C	HS
Body weight (kg)	27.5	29.9	1.32	0.25
DM intake (kg/day)	0.99	1.07	0.057	0.35
DM intake (% BW)	3.60	3.57	0.098	0.81
DM digestibility (%)	50.6	50.0	1.171	0.74
Digesta retention
MRT²_solute-CoGIT³ (h)	27.8	27.8	0.94	0.99
MRT_particle-CrGIT (h)	41.3	41.0	2.13	0.92
MRT_particle-CeGIT (h)	44.9	43.3	1.47	0.47
SF⁴ GIT_Cr/Co⁶	1.49	1.47	0.037	0.81
SF⁵ GIT_Ce/Cr⁶	1.09	1.06	0.021	0.34
MRT_solute-CoRR⁷ (h)	18.9	18.3	1.81	0.82
MRT_particle-CrRR (h)	32.4	31.6	3.00	0.85
MRT_particle-CeRR (h)	36.0	33.9	2.34	0.54
SF RR_Cr/Co⁶	1.71	1.71	0.054	0.99
SF RR_Ce/Cr⁶	1.12	1.08	0.028	0.42
GIT fill (kg DM)	1.33	1.40	0.085	0.58
GIT fill (% BW)	4.83	4.63	0.190	0.50

Plasma glucose, cholesterol and urea and serum β-hydroxybutyric acid and free fatty acids concentrations in sheep in selected time points over 6 months of the study

Item	Group¹		SE	P-value

	C	HS		group	time	group × time

1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Glucose (mg/dL)
month² 1 (MR³ feeding period)	113.8	129.9^*	2.21	0.03	<0.01	<0.01
month 2 (weaning)⁴	89.5	105.9^*
month 4	85.2	79.8
month 6	69.0	65.3^*
Cholesterol (mg/dL)
month 1 (MR feeding period)	67.2	62.3	1.66	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01
month 2 (weaning)	57.3	32.7^*
month 4	55.2	56.0
month 6	49.7	43.1^*
Urea (mg/dL)
month 1 (MR feeding period)	26.9	27.8	2.30	0.90	<0.01	0.15
month 2 (weaning)	27.4	31.4
month 4	33.6	33.6
month 6	39.7	35.6
BHBA⁵ (mmol/L)
month 1 (MR feeding period)	0.22	0.15	0.016	0.60	<0.01	0.23
month 2 (weaning)	0.39	0.37
month 4	0.24	0.27
month 6	0.24	0.25
NEFA6 (mmol/L)
month 1 (MR feeding period)	0.21	0.10^*	0.03	0.97	<0.01	<0.01
month 2 (weaning)	0.21	0.08^*
month 4	0.28	0.67^*
month 6	0.58	0.43^*

Duration of standing, standing with rumination, lying, lying with rumination and sleeping by sheep in stage 1

Item	Group¹		SE	P-value

	C	HS		group	time	group × time
Standing (min/day)
week² 3 (4× MR³ feeding)	23.8	111^*	27.00	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01
week 4 (3× MR feeding)	68.5	67.2
week 5 (2× MR feeding)	43.4	71.9^*
week 6 (1× MR feeding)	60.8	137^*
week 7 (weaning)	28.1	175^*
Standing with rumination (min/day)
week 3 (4× MR feeding)	0.33	0.00	2.571	0.10	<0.01	<0.01
week 4 (3× MR feeding)	8.83	1.27
week 5 (2× MR feeding)	0.67	3.45
week 6 (1× MR feeding)	16.1	1.36^*
week 7 (weaning)	11.8	1.82^*
Lying (min/day)
week 3 (4× MR feeding)	566	639	92.6	0.78	<0.01	0.01
week 4 (3× MR feeding)	583	533
week 5 (2× MR feeding)	731	635
week 6 (1× MR feeding)	448	557
week 7 (weaning)	703	756
Lying with rumination (min/day)
week 3 (4× MR feeding)	99.8	67.0	20.70	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01
week 4 (3× MR feeding)	120	82.6
week 5 (2× MR feeding)	209	57.6^*
week 6 (1× MR feeding)	289	77.4^*
week 7 (weaning)	464	123^*
Sleeping (min/day)
week 3 (4× MR feeding)	328	216	79.79	0.52	<0.01	<0.01
week 4 (3× MR feeding)	253	265
week 5 (2× MR feeding)	170	217
week 6 (1× MR feeding)	341	277
week 7 (weaning)	137	57.3

Duration of milk replacer intake, hay intake, concentrate intake and drinking of water by sheep in stage 1

Item	Group¹		SE	P-value

	C	HS		group	time	group × time
Milk replacer intake (min/day)
week² 3 (4× MR³ feeding)	10.3	11.9	0.36	0.18	<0.01	0.04
week 4 (3× MR feeding)	9.50	7.05^*
week 5 (2× MR feeding)	7.25	6.81
week 6 (1× MR feeding)	4.67	2.55^*
Hay intake (min/day)
week 3 (4× MR feeding)	211	–	8.66	–	<0.01	–
week 4 (3× MR feeding)	249	–
week 5 (2× MR feeding)	266	–
week 6 (1× MR feeding)	371	–
week 7 (weaning)	476	–
Concentrate intake⁴ (min/day)
week 3 (4× MR feeding)	48.7	68.3	11.07	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01
week 4 (3× MR feeding)	37.8	79.9
week 5 (2× MR feeding)	19.8	162^*
week 6 (1× MR feeding)	35.6	179^*
week 7 (weaning)	18.2	211^*
Drinking of water (min/day)
week 3 (4× MR feeding)	3.22	4.85	0.48	0.55	0.32	0.35
week 4 (3× MR feeding)	3.45	4.32
week 5 (2× MR feeding)	3.09	2.27
week 6 (1× MR feeding)	4.30	3.09
week 7 (weaning)	5.94	3.61

Body weight, dry matter intake, dry matter digestibility and digesta retention in stage 3 – ewes

Item	Group¹		SE	P-value

	C	HS
Body weight (kg)	30.4	30.2	3.79	0.97
DM intake (kg/day)	1.16	1.17	0.121	0.95
DM intake (% BW)	3.84	3.92	0.26	0.81
DM digestibility (%)	50.1	49.6	2.04	0.88
Digesta retention
MRT² _solute-CoGIT³ (h)	28.9	26.7	1.78	0.36
MRT_particle-CrGIT (h)	40.5	38.3	1.24	0.24
MRT_particle-CeGIT (h)	46.6	40.6	3.36	0.09
SF⁴ GIT_Cr/Co⁶	1.41	1.44	0.063	0.78
SF⁵ GIT_Ce/Cr⁶	1.14	1.07	0.063	0.30
MRT_solute-CoRR⁷ (h)	20.6	17.4	1.56	0.10
MRT_particle-CrRR (h)	32.4	29.3	1.01	0.07
MRT_particle-CeRR (h)	38.3	31.5	3.19	0.04
SF RR_Cr/Co⁶	1.58	1.66	0.096	0.58
SF RR_Ce/Cr⁶	1.18	1.09	0.077	0.34
GIT fill (kg DM)	1.62	1.47	0.208	0.62
GIT fill (% BW)	5.33	4.81	0.172	0.07

Chemical composition of experimental feeds

Item	Stage 1		Stage 3 and 4

	meadow hay	concentrate mixture¹	meadow hay	barley	wheat bran
DM² (%)	90.5±1.4	91.2±1.3	90.6±0.7	89.2±0.1	89.1±0.1
Ash (%)	7.9±0.4	4.9±0.4	6.9±1.2	3.4±0.2	5.0±0.5
CP³ (% DM)	10.4±0.3	22.1±5.7	9.4±0.3	11.4±0.2	18.0±1.2
NDF⁴ (% DM)	61.4±1.9	24.0±4.2	64.3±2.5	22.9±0.3	38.2±1.6
ADF⁵ (% DM)	36.5±2.2	10.7±1.8	43.6±1.8	11.3±0.8	12.7±1.3
Starch (% DM)	nd⁶	33.7±5.4	nd	40.1±2.4	24.3±0.9
ME⁷ (MJ/kg DM)	8.1±0.2	12.7±0.2	7.7±0.1	12.1±0.1	10.5±1.4

Sheep Nutrition: The Lasting Influence of Early High-Starch Diet*

Figures & Tables

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Figure 3.

Body weight and body weight gain of sheep over six months of the study

Rumen fermentation parameters on the last day of stage 4 – rams

Rumen fermentation parameters on the last day of stage 4 – ewes

Duration of standing, standing with rumination, lying, lying with rumination, sleeping, hay intake, concentrate intake and drinking of water by sheep in stage 21

Milk replacer and concentrate intake in stage 1

Body weight, dry matter intake, dry matter digestibility and digesta retention in stage 3 – rams

Plasma glucose, cholesterol and urea and serum β-hydroxybutyric acid and free fatty acids concentrations in sheep in selected time points over 6 months of the study

Duration of standing, standing with rumination, lying, lying with rumination and sleeping by sheep in stage 1

Duration of milk replacer intake, hay intake, concentrate intake and drinking of water by sheep in stage 1

Body weight, dry matter intake, dry matter digestibility and digesta retention in stage 3 – ewes

Chemical composition of experimental feeds

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