Investigation of the effects of pre-shearing vitamin c and humic aci?d treatment ın reducing shearing stress in sheep

This study was conducted to examine the effects of Vitamin C and Humic Acid on shearing stress in 45 heads of 16 months aged Pirlak ewes with an average weight of 35 kg at Afyon Kocatepe University Animal Research and Application Center. Randomly selected three experimental groups each compromising 15 ewes were constituted. All the groups were exposed to the same care and ambient conditions during the whole study. As daily applications, 10 cc normal saline was given to the control group while 10 cc of 20% Vitamin C was given to Vit C group and 10 cc of 15% Humic acid was given to Humic acid group orally via syringes once in the mornings through 15 days. On the shearing day, all groups received the same solutions for the last time. Physiological stress parameters such as rectal temperature, pulse and respiration figures were measured and recorded in randomly selected animals from all groups before shearing. Similarly, blood samples were taken from jugular vein to determine the biochemical stress parameters such as GSH, MDA, Cortisol, NEFA and TAS. After shearing, ewes were rested for 20 minutes and same parameters were measured once more and recorded. The results obtained in this study showed that shearing process caused both physiologic and metabolic stress in all ewes since pulse and respiration rates as well as cortisol and NEFA levels increased significantly (P<0,001). According to the results, the highest change was seen in cortisol levels with 170,50 % while the lowest rate was determined in rectal temperature with 0,301% after shearing process. The sudden increase in blood NEFA level just after shearing indicated an intense fat mobilisation during shearing in ewes. Vitamin C played a preventative role in fat mobilisation due to the shearing stress. As a result, while supplementation of Humic Acid and Vitamin C into the diet result in some metabolic changes on shearing stress, the effect of Vitamin C in preventing fat mobilisation related to shearing stress was efficient. This effect of Vitamin C on fat metabolism should be studied in detail with new researches. Key Words: Vitamin C, Humic Acid, Shearing Stress, Sheep, Pirlak