Resumen de Evaluation of herbal choline in productive performance and blood metabolites of ewes
José Alfredo Martínez Aispuro, Maria Teresa Sánchez Torres, José L. Cordero Mora, J. Luis Figueroa Velasco, Israel Martínez Cruz, Marco Antonio Ayala Monter, Germán D. Mendoza Martínez
Objective: To evaluate the effect of different levels of protected herbal choline (CHP) on productive performance, carcass characteristics, and serum metabolites in ewes.
Design/Methodology/Approach: Fifty-two Hampshire × Suffolk ewes (29.95 ± 3.90 kg of initial live weight, PV) were randomly assigned to one within four treatments: 0, 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9% choline kg-1 dry matter (MS). The experimental design was complete randomized, in order to detect linear or quadratic trends.
Results: No treatment effects were detected in the production variables, GD and AML with the addition of protected herbal choline in the diet (p>0.05). CHP linearly increased the concentration of cholesterol, glucose, albumins, globulins, total proteins (p≤0.05) and phosphatidylcholine (p≤0.10). The triglyceride concentration had a quadratic response (p≤0.05) to the addition of CHP.
Study limitations/Implications: The level of choline supplementation in sheep depends on whether the source is herbal or synthetic.
Findings/Conclusions: The addition of CHP in ewe diets raised the concentration of phosphatidylcholine, modified the concentration of protein and lipid metabolites. However, no improvements in production were found.
