Maternal lysine, methionine and choline supplementation in twin-bearing Merino ewes during mid-to-late gestation does not alter pregnancy outcomes or progeny growth and survival

Abstract

High twin lamb mortality in Merino sheep is a major cost for the Australian wool and sheep meat industry. Most lambs die within three days of birth due to low birthweight and/or complications arising during parturition. Maternal arginine supplementation can potentially increase birthweight by improving utero-placental haemodynamics; but availability and cost of rumen-protected arginine are barriers. Therefore, we sought to increase circulating concentrations of arginine, lamb birthweight and survival by supplementing twin-bearing Merino ewes with lysine, methionine and choline from day 80 of gestation (dG 80) to parturition. Each day, ewes were individually fed a supplement (barley, pea, pollard and molasses) with addition of either 14 g lysine, 7 g methionine and 7 g choline (amino acid; AA; n = 48); or no amino acids (control; CTL; n = 48). Supplementation did not alter circulating amino acid profiles in ewes at dG 120. Parturition difficulty of ewes and meconium staining of lambs did not differ between AA and CTL groups. Rectal temperatures during the first 24 h of life and serum IgG concentrations (indicative of colostrum intake) at 24 h after birth were similar in lambs born to AA and CTL ewes. AA supplementation did not alter lamb weights from birth to weaning (~three months of age), or lamb survival to weaning (CTL: 75%; AA: 84.8%, P > 0.05). The lack of response to maternal supplementation with this combination of rumen-protected lysine, methionine and choline suggests that alternate strategies are needed to increase maternal arginine abundance and twin lamb survival.