Forum for Science, Industry and Business
Sponsored by:     Siemens  n-tv 
Search our Site:

Topic (optional):

 

Home Reports Studies and Analyses Content

Diet prior to pregnancy determines sheep’s gender

next article
09.06.2008

Maternal diet influences the chances of having male or female offspring. Research published today in BioMed Central’s open access journal Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology has demonstrated that ewes fed a diet enriched with polyunsaturated fats for one month prior to conception have a significantly higher chance of giving birth to male offspring.

 

This study was carried out by a team of researchers from the Division of Animal Sciences at the University of Missouri and led by R Michael Roberts. Roberts explains how diet at the time of conception is the most important factor when it comes to influencing the sex of the offspring “Our study ruled out body condition, ewe weight, previous births, time of breeding, and likely dominance as reasons for the gender skewing. Rather, it was the composition of the diet consumed in the time period around conception that was responsible for this sex-ratio effect”.


Polyunsaturated fats are essential nutrients. It is believed that the dietary ratio between omega-3 and omega-6 fats has important biological effects, especially in terms of inflammation, immunity and central nervous system signalling. The omega-6 fats used in this study were protected from digestion by naturally occurring rumen bacteria to ensure that they would be absorbed through the intestines of the sheep.

In animal social groups where a small number of dominant males mate with a large number of females, it has been theorised that having male offspring would be of genetic advantage to a very healthy, well fed female, while females consuming a poorer diet would have greater genetic success by giving birth to female offspring. According to Roberts “Although this theory is attractive, former observations have often been contradictory, leading some to dismiss its relevance. This is the first experimental study in controlled conditions showing that supplementing maternal diet, in this case by increasing omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid intake, can skew the sex ratio towards males in a farm species.”

These findings will be important to the livestock industry. As Roberts points out “Increasing the amount of fat in feed during the breeding period could provide a means of controlling the sex ratio of offspring born to a herd or flock.”

Graeme Baldwin | Source: alphagalileo
Further information: www.rbej.com/home/
www.biomedcentral.com

next article

More articles from Studies and Analyses:

nachricht Fat around the middle increases the risk of dementia
23.11.2009 | University of Gothenburg

nachricht Why can't some people give up cocaine?
23.11.2009 | FECYT - Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology

All articles from Studies and Analyses >>>

B2B Search

Product / Service
Company / Organisation

Latest News

UCSB physicists move 1 step closer to quantum computing

23.11.2009 | Physics and Astronomy

Fat around the middle increases the risk of dementia

23.11.2009 | Studies and Analyses

New discovery about the formation of new brain cells

23.11.2009 | Health and Medicine

VideoLinks

Event News

Multidisciplinary meeting on Urological Cancers aims to benefit cancer patients

20.11.2009 | Event News

'Golden Age' for clinical psychology in Northern Ireland

20.11.2009 | Event News

New Perspectives in Marine Anti-Fouling Research

11.11.2009 | Event News