The reproductive and productive behaviour of Santa Inês ewes were evaluated as a function of supplementation in different stages of pregnancy, where NS = pasture during the day and cassava bagasse during the night over the breeding season and pregnancy, S46 = NS plus supplement (soybean hulls) from the 46th day after the beginning of the breeding season until the birth and S100 = NS plus supplement (soybean hulls) from the 100th day after the beginning of the breeding season until the birth. Ninety-Four Santa Inês ewes were utilized, mating by five Santa Inês and five Dorset ram. The treatment did not affect ewe weight on the 84 days after the beginning of the supplementation (EW 4), weight of the ewe at the weaning (WEW), pregnancy incidence (0 or 1) at the final third part of it (PREG), birth rate (BIRTH), natality rate (NR) and prolificity (PROLI), being the averages of 49.54 kg; 0.82; 0.71; 0.88 and 1.26 respectively. Ewes supplementation, sex and genetic group of the lamb did not influence the birth weight (LWB), by the age of 30 days (LW30) and by the 60 days (LW60). The averages were, respectively, 3.47 kg; 8.26 kg and 12.42 kg. The type of birth affected the LWB and the LW30. There was no difference for the total weight of the lambs at birth (TWB), total weight of the lambs after 30 days (TW30) and total weight of the lambs after 60 days (TW60) between the treatments, inside each type of birth and among the genetic groups. The supplementation stages of the ewe, the genetic group of the lamb and the type of birth did not influence the death rate, from the birth until the age of 30 and 60 days. The reproductive performance of the supplementeds ewes in the pregnancy period using 0.5% of live weight, with soybean hulls, was not modified.
growth; prolificity; sheep; soybean hulls; supplementation
