Table 3.
Effect of dietary folic acid supplementation during gestation on intestinal index of newborn lambs.
| Items | Twins | Triplets | Litter size | Diet | p-value | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CON | F16 | F32 | CON | F16 | F32 | Twins | Triplets | CON | F16 | F32 | Litter Size | Diet | I× | |
| Small intestine weight (g) | 118.75 ± 3.09 | 128.93 ± 5.76 | 142.00 ± 7.46 | 106.96 ± 8.33 | 114.98 ± 3.62 | 113.01 ± 5.44 | 127.51 ± 3.22 | 112.54 ± 3.14 | 115.39 ± 3.34 | 121.96 ± 3.65 | 123.55 ± 5.26 | 0.001 | 0.356 | 0.244 |
| Small intestine/live body weight (%) (1) | 3.15 ± 0.07 | 3.31 ± 0.09 | 3.48 ± 0.14 | 3.17 ± 0.17 | 3.45 ± 0.09 | 3.49 ± 0.09 | 3.28 ± 0.06 | 3.41 ± 0.06 | 3.15 ± 0.07 | 3.38 ± 0.07 | 3.48 ± 0.08 | 0.122 | 0.005 | 0.769 |
CON, F16 and F32 mean newborn lambs from ewes fed 0, 16 or 32 mg (kg DM)−1 folic acid in the basal diet, respectively. I×, interaction effects of litter size and folic acid addition. (1) The ratio of small intestine weight to live body weight linearly increased response to folic acid supplementation (p = 0.005).