Supplementation of Antioxidants in Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PUF A) Status of Local Ewes.

Abstract

This research was designed to evaluate the effect of antioxidants in high polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) diets to improve reproductive status of ewes. The experiment used completely randomized design with three treatments and five replicates. The treatments based on ration with and without antioxidant (CON). Different types of antioxidants, natural antioxidant form black tea waste extract (BTWE) and commercial vitamin E synthetic (VES). This research was divided into two phases: namely prenatal (pregnancy) and postnatal (after birth until weaning). Variables observed were dry matter intake (DMI) of ewes, average daily gain (ADG) of ewes and lambs, reproductive performance, blood metabolites of ewes, physiological status of ewes, malondialdehyde, and milk quality. Data were tested using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and the different among treatment means were examined using Duncan Multiple Range Test. Physiological status of ewes were not affected by antioxidant treatments. DMI in prenatal and postnatal were not affected by treatments. ADG of ewes in prenatal were not affected by treatments, whereas in postnatal, both antioxidant treatments (BTWE and VES) had higher ADG on ewes and lambs compared with CON (P<0.05). During pregnant, all treatments had the same number of embryos, whereas in postnatal, litter size in BTWE was higher than CON and lower than VES. The results indicate that percentage loss of embryos in CON was the highest and VES was the lowest. High litter size at VES had caused lower average birth weight (P<0.05) and higher mortality at birth than the other treatments. After weaning, mortality of BTWE was lower than CON and higher than VES. All treatments produced male dominant of lambs, but CON was the most and VES was the least. Both antioxidant treatments resulted in glucose and cholesterol levels higher than CON during the prenatal and postnatal (P<0.05). In prenatal, both antioxidant treatments were not able to reduce level of oxidation in the body of ewes (as: malondialdehyde parameter), whereas in postnatal, both antioxidant treatments were lower compared to CON (P<0.05), so that ewes with antioxidant treatments had lower level stress than control. Both antioxidant treatments had better milk quality than CON (P<0.05). In conclusion, black tea waste extract could be used as antioxidant to replace vitamin E synthetic in high PUFA rations to improve reproductive status of local ewes.