The colostrum composition of sheep fed with high-energy diets supplemented with chromium

Abstract The ewe’s colostrum is an essential food for newborns because it helps them to improve their immune system in addition to providing nutrients for a few days after birth. It also increases the survival of the newborn in the first weeks of life, given that the ovine has a higher mortality rate in the initial 15 days of life. The rate of mortality can be reduced by providing sufficient good-quality colostrum at the right time. This study aimed to evaluate whether energy nutrition and chromium supplementation, during pregnancy and lactation, can alter sheep health parameters, colostrum quality parameters, birth and weaning weights, and mortality rate until lamb weaning time. Blood metabolites were analyzed to evaluate the influence of dietary energy on sheep health. The quality parameters of colostrum studied were immunoglobulin and antioxidants. The experiment was performed with 32 sheep, at the end of gestation (last 50 days) and lactation (60 days), in a completely randomized block design and distributed in three treatments: a diet with 2.24 Mcal of metabolizable energy (ME)/kg DM with corn starch (CTL), a diet with 2.46 Mcal of ME/kg DM with corn starch (ST), or a diet with 2.46 Mcal of ME/ kg DM with corn starch and chromium propionate (ST + Cr). Samples of blood and colostrum were collected before the parturition. There were no differences (P >  0.05) in dry matter intake (DMI), and blood levels of calcium, phosphorus, non-esterified fatty acids, β-hydroxybutyrate, and insulin. A difference was found for the blood glucose in which the CTL group had a lower (P  0.05) in the blood concentrations of total protein, immunoglobulin G and M, lysozyme, lactoperoxidase, ceruloplasmin, superoxide dismutase (SOD), ferric reducing ability of plasma (FRAP), oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC), latent iron-binding capacity (LIBC), total iron-binding capacity (TIBC), iron, lactotransferrin, and the lactotransferrin saturation index. The ST+CR diet provided the highest level of glutathione peroxidase (P