Progesterone Level of Lactating Ewes Influenced by Parity Order, Type of Lambing and Lambs Sex

Postpartum (pp) Progesterone (p4) level essential to discover resumption of corpus luteum, which is important for ewes’ efficiency. As known level of progesterone influences by several factors breed, physiological condition, season, nutrition, suckling and parity, the present study was conducted to estimate progesterone level in lambing and postpartum period, first rise of hormone, and study the effect of parity order, type of lambing, and offspring sex on postpartum progesterone among Turkish Awassi ewes. Method: 24 pregnant ewes at the last month of gestation in first and fourth parties were used in this study. All ewes submitted to same management condition. Blood samples were collected every two weeks, started at two weeks before lambing until weaning time to estimate progesterone level by radioimmunoassay (RIA) method. Results: there are no significant differences in P4 at lambing between 1st and 4th parity, while the first elevation of p4 was in 4th parity at 4wks after lambing. Lambing type affects significantly in the 1st parity. There is no effect to offspring sex on the p4 level. Conclusion: there is no effect of parity in the lambing p4 level, but influence positively on the level of postpartum p4 (the highest level of p4 in4th parity at 4 wks. postpartum). Lambing type affects postpartum p4 level but there is no effect to offspring sex on postpartum p4.