Table 3.
Serum concentration of TSH, free T3 and total T4 in pregnant Australian Merino ewes reared on natural pasture, and supplemented 30 days prior to lambing with selenium (Se) and iodine (I) or selenium (Se) alone.
| Diet | TSH (μIU/ml) |
FT3 (pg/ml) |
T4 (μg/dl) |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Days prior to lambing | ||||||
| 30 | 0 | 30 | 0 | 30 | 0 | |
| Pasture | 0.057 ± 0.01 | 0.055 ± 0.01 | 2.24 ± 0.13a | 2.80 ± 0.15b | 4.64 ± 0.18 | 4.68 ± 0.21 |
| Pasture + Se + I | 0.055 ± 0.01 | 0.083 ± 0.02 | 2.26 ± 0.24a | 2.86 ± 0.18b | 4.83 ± 0.81 | 4.90 ± 0.25 |
| Pasture + Se | 0.055 ± 0.01 | 0.071 ± 0.01 | 2.25 ± 0.33a | 3.07 ± 0.16b | 4.44 ± 0.35 | 4.91 ± 0.44 |
| Main effects | ||||||
| Diet | ns | ns | ns | |||
| Days | ns | p < 0.001 | ns | |||
Data are mean ± SEM of 10 ewes for each diet. Data were analyzed by repeated measure ANOVA with diet and days prior to or at lambing as main effects and post hoc Tukey-Kramer test (p < 0.05) when differences were significant. ANOVA one way were used to analyze differences between times 0 and 30 days for each diet. a,b, Mean with a different superscript letter means significant difference at p < 0.05 by Tukey-Kramer post hoc test; ns = non significant.