Investigation of relationship between vitamin D status and reproductive fitness in Scottish hill sheep.

There is a growing interest in the influence of vitamin D on ovine non-skeletal health. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between pre-mating vitamin D status, as assessed by serum concentrations of 25-Hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D; comprising D and D] and subsequent reproductive performance of genetically unimproved Scottish Blackface (UBF), genetically improved Scottish Blackface (IBF) and Lleyn ewes kept under Scottish hill conditions. 25-Hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) and 25-Hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations were determined in serum samples harvested in November from ewes grazed outdoors.

Effects of cobalt/vitamin B12 status in ewes on ovum development and lamb viability at birth.

Scottish Blackface ewes from cobalt-deficient farmland were fed a diet containing 0.06 mg cobalt per kg dry matter from approximately 30 days before embryo recovery/transfer until lambing. Ewes remained untreated (-Co; n = 82) or were given an intraruminal cobalt-containing bolus to compensate for the dietary deficit (+Co; n = 82).

Assessment of a sequential extraction procedure for perturbed lead-contaminated samples with and without phosphorus amendments.

Sequential extraction procedures are used to determine the solid-phase association in which elements of interest exist in soil and sediment matrixes. Foundational work by Tessier et al. (Tessier, A.