Individual variability in trajectories of key plasma biomarkers involved in body reserves dynamics in meat ewes
Résumé
The mobilization and accretion of body reserves (BR) constitute one of the key mechanisms in ruminants for resilience and adaptation. A better understanding of inter-individual variability for candidate proxies of such mechanism is required before their use in breeding strategies. Primiparous and multiparous ewes were monitored during successive productive cycles in two contrasting farming systems (FS, indoor vs extensive) at five key physiological stages (Mating; mid-Pregnancy; 2 weeks Pre-Lambing; 3 weeks Post-Lambing; Weaning) for plasma biomarkers (NEFA, non-esterified fatty acids; BHB, β-hydroxybutyrate; T3, Triiodothyronine; INS, insulin). Unsupervised cluster analysis was done to investigate the variability in BR biomarkers trajectories. Overall mean trajectories for biomarkers followed BR dynamics throughout cycles and were mainly characterized by increases and decreases in NEFA, BHB, T3 and INS levels during BR mobilization and accretion phases, respectively. For each biomarker, two to three clusters of ewes were found depending on the parity and/or the FS. Trajectories between clusters differed in the levels and/or the shape. One of the major discrepancies between clusters was levels and/or time point when peaks of biomarkers were observed during BR mobilization. Higher individual variability in biomarkers was thus particularly observed around lambing. Genetic contribution in such variability for BR biomarkers was also investigated before considering these traits for breeding purpose. [Funding with H2020 iSAGE project 679302].