Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Animal Reproduction Science journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/anireprosci Ovarian follicular development, hormonal and metabolic profile in prepubertal ewe lambs with moderate dietary restriction and lipid supplementation Felipe Barbosa Junqueira a , José Camisão de Souza a , João Pedro Araújo Campos a , Letícia Rodrigues Faria a , Débora Regina da Silva b , Ivan Júnior Ascari a , Renato Ribeiro de Lima c , Iraídes Ferreira Furusho-Garcia a , Guilherme de Paula Nogueira d , Nadja Gomes Alves a, ⁎ a Department of Animal Sciences, Federal University of Lavras – UFLA, Lavras, MG, Brazil b Department of Veterinary Medicine, Federal University of Lavras – UFLA, Lavras, MG, Brazil c Department of Statistics, Federal University of Lavras - UFLA, Lavras, MG, Brazil d Department of Veterinary Medicine, Laboratory of Endocrinology – UNESP, Araçatuba, SP, Brazil ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Roasted soybean Insulin Cholesterol Progesterone Ovulation ABSTRACT To evaluate the effects of moderate dietary restriction and lipid supplementation on ovarian follicular development, hormonal and metabolic profile, thirty-five prepuberal ewe lambs were blocked by body weight and randomly assigned to treatments: ALeUS (control) - un- supplemented-diet ad libitum (3.5% ether extract, n = 9); R-US - intake restricted to 85% of the ALeUS diet (n = 9); AL-LS - lipid-supplemented-diet ad libitum (9.8% ether extract, n = 8); R-LS - intake restricted to 85% of the ALeLS diet (n = 9), from 95 ± 8 days of age until estrus or 7 months of age. Lipid supplementation did not reduce dry matter intake. Daily weight gain was greater in lambs fed ad libitum. Plasma glucose was greater in the ReLS treatment group, while serum insulin was less with lipid supplementation. There was a treatment by age interaction on total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and triglyceride serum concentrations. Estrus was detected in 43% of the animals and the overall ovulation rate was 60%. The number of follicles, diameter of the largest follicle, body weight, age and serum progesterone at puberty did not differ among treatment groups. The mean diameter of the largest follicle was greater in lambs having than in those not having ovulations and increased with age in both groups. There was an interaction between the effects of occurrence of ovulation and age on the number of follicles between 3 and 5 mm and > 5 mm. Lipid supplementation and dietary restriction altered the metabolic profile in ewe lambs with no concomitant changes in values for reproductive variables. 1. Introduction Puberty in ewe lambs is mainly determined by body weight and photoperiod (Foster et al., 1985). In the tropics, the growth rate and body weight are more important for attainment of puberty, irrespective of the season of birth, compared with effects on puberty https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anireprosci.2019.03.020 Received 22 September 2018; Received in revised form 15 March 2019; Accepted 28 March 2019 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Department of Animal Science, Federal University of Lavras, PO Box 3037, Zip Code: 37200 -000, Lavras, Minas Gerais, Brazil. E-mail address: nadja@ufla.br (N.G. Alves). Animal Reproduction Science 204 (2019) 152–164 Available online 29 March 2019 0378-4320/ © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. T