Ewe-lamb bonding behaviours at birth are affected by maternal undernutrition in pregnancy

CM Dwyer*, Alistair Lawrence, SC Bishop, M Lewis

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract / Description of output

Maternal undernutrition in pregnancy results in low birth-weights and impaired postnatal survival in sheep. Largely anecdotal evidence suggests that the expression of appropriate maternal and neonate behaviours may also be disrupted by undernutrition. In the present study, we investigated the effect of a moderate (35 %) reduction in ewe nutritional intake in pregnancy on the expression of ewe-lamb bonding behaviours in primiparous Scottish Blackface ewes. Low-intake (L) ewes had significantly higher plasma progesterone than high-intake (H) ewes from mid-gestation onwards (e.g. plasma progesterone at 20 weeks (ng/ml): H 15.72, L 22.38, SED 1.80, P

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)123-136
Number of pages14
JournalBritish Journal of Nutrition
Volume89
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2003

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • food restriction
  • pregnancy
  • maternal behaviour
  • neonate behaviour
  • SCOTTISH BLACKFACE SHEEP
  • VAGINOCERVICAL STIMULATION
  • COLOSTRUM PRODUCTION
  • METABOLIC CHANGES
  • UDDER DEVELOPMENT
  • PERINATAL-PERIOD
  • MULTIPAROUS EWES
  • FETAL GROWTH
  • NEWBORN LAMB
  • DAIRY SHEEP

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