Ferulic acid supplementation for 40 days in hair ewe lambs experiencing seasonal heat stress: short-term effects on physiological responses, growth, metabolism, and hematological profile.

Free ferulic acid (FA) is a natural compound with antioxidant properties which mitigates the negative effects of cold stress in sheep; however, its impact on thermoregulatory responses in heat-stressed sheep has not been defined. The objective was to evaluate the effects of FA supplementation on physiological responses, serum analyte concentrations, and the hematological profile of heat-stressed hair ewe lambs. Twenty-two Dorper × Katahdin ewe lambs (initial body weight = 23.5 ± 2.8 kg and age = 4 months) were housed in individual pens for 40 days and assigned under a randomized complete block design to the following treatments (n = 11): basal diet with 0 (control) or 250 mg of FA/kg of feed. The FA × sampling day interaction only affected serum concentration of some metabolic hormones; particularly on day 20 of the trial, FA increased (P < 0.01) insulins and the insulin to glucose ratio while decreased (P = 0.05) thyroxine. Overall, supplemental FA did not affect rectal temperature, respiratory rate, most body surface temperatures, feedlot performance, and serum concentrations of metabolites, electrolytes, triiodothyronine, and cortisol. In addition, FA only tended to decrease (P ≥ 0.09) erythrocyte count and plaquetocrit and to increase (P = 0.08) mean corpuscular volume. In conclusion, FA supplementation did not improve the growth nor thermoregulatory capacity of heat-stressed hair ewe lambs. Still, it partially modulated the metabolism to reinforce some energetic adaptive mechanisms when the ambient temperature was ≥ 35 °C.