EFFECT OF FLUSHING OF EWES ON BODY WEIGHT, OESTROUS RESPONSE AND CONCEPTION RATE 1 Shafiullah Stanzaki, Ashok Kumar , Amit Kumar and G.N. Purohit* Department of Veterinary Gynaecology and Obstetrics College of Veterinary and Animal Science Rajasthan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Bikaner- 334 001, Rajasthan 1 Arid Region Campus (ICAR-Central Sheep and Wool Research Institute) Bikaner- 334 001, Rajasthan *E-mail address: gnpobs@gmail.com Manuscript received on 11.08.2021, accepted on 05.09.2021 DOI: 10.5958/0973-9718.2022.00025.3 Key words: Body weight, Conception, Ewes, Flushing, Oestrous response Indian Journal of Small Ruminants Indian Journal of Small Ruminants 2022, 28(1): 218-220 218 utritional level including both feed intake and Namount of body energy stores is one of the most significant factors influencing reproductive performance of sheep (Sejian et al., 2010). Nutritional supplementation or feed prior to mating has been reported to increase ovulation and lambing rates and overall reproductive efficiency in sheep especially in low-input system prevailing in arid, semi-arid, and hilly regions of the country (Naqvi et al., 2013). Flushing is thus a well-known management programme to enhance reproductive efficiency of sheep during breeding season (Farrag, 2019). However, the relationships between live weight, feeding and body fat reserves in sheep are complex and in many cases difficult to clarify. As a result, the short- and medium- term reproductive results may be contradictory or specific to a particular breed or farming conditions. The present study examined the effects of short-term supplementary feeding (flushing) on body weight, oestrus and conception rates of low body condition score (BCS) in Marwari ewes. Thirty-nine low body condition score (BCS, 2.2- 2.5) Marwari ewes (2 to 6 yr) maintained at Arid Region Campus (ICAR-Central Sheep and Wool Research Institute), Bikaner (Rajasthan) were randomly divided into three groups. The BCS was measured on a 1 to 5 scale as per Kenyon et al. (2014). The ewes were maintained on grazing (control, C), grazing + 300 g concentrate supplementation (21 days) (CS) and grazing + 200 g concentrate and 150 g multi-nutrient mixture supplementation (CMS)( 21 days) before the breeding season (August-September, 2020). All the ewes were oestrus synchronized by intravaginal progesterone (0.35 g) impregnated sponges for 12 days followed by IM administration of 200 IU of eCG (Inj. Folligon, Intervet) on the day of sponge withdrawal (Naqvi et al., 2013; Sharma and Purohit, 2009). Ewes were weighed before and after flushing and their BCS were also recorded. Ewes were mated with fertile rams twice when detected in oestrus by an apron wearing ram paraded 12 hourly after the sponge removal. Pregnancy diagnosis was performed by sector trans-rectal ultrasonography (3.5 MHz, Aloka Prosound, Tokyo). The oestrous response and conception rates were calculated. The data were analyzed by one way analysis of variance and means were compared by Duncan's new multiple range test (Snedecor and Cochran, 1994). There was significant (p<0.05) increase in body weight of ewes provided supplementary feeding (Table 1); however, the BCS improved only marginally from 2.22 to 2.25 in control, 2.23 to 2.27 in