Effect of n-3 PUFA rich fish oil supplementation during late gestation on kidding, uterine involution and resumption offollicular activityin goat.

Abstract

We have shown that dietary supplementation of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (n-3 PUFA) rich fish oil (FO) around the breeding time improved the utero-ovarian functions in the goat.Here, we investigated the effect of FO supplementation during the periparturient period on serum n-3 PUFA, prostaglandin F2α metabolite (PGFM), placental expulsion, uterine involution, resumption of estrus and neonatal vigour.Rohilkhandi goat in advanced gestation (n=16) were divided into two equal groups. Onegroup wassupplemented with FO containing 26% n-3 long chain PUFA at the rate of 156 mg per kgbody weight,while the control group wasfed isocaloric palm oil (PO) from -3 to +3 week of kidding.Dietary FO increased serum concentration of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) by 7.3and 6.6 fold, respectively after 6 weeks of supplementation. Goats in FO groupexpelled the fetal membranes 99.1 min earlier (P<0.01) than those of PO group. Further, dietary FO significantly decreased the serum PGFM on day 7 postpartum. However, no difference was found on uterine involution, which was completeby day 20 postpartum in either group. Resumption of follicular activity by day 5 postpartum was 87.5% in the FO as compared to 25% in the PO group (P<0.05). Similarly, occurrence of behavioral estrus by day 90 postpartum was 57.1% in goats of the FO group while none of does wasin the PO group (P<0.01) expressed estrus. It was concluded that feeding FO rich diet during -3 to +3 weeks of kidding decreased the PGFM till day 7 postpartum, hastened the expulsion of fetal membranes and reduced the time from kidding to first postpartum estrus in Rohilkhandi does.