Abstract: 16 adult Small Tail Han ewes，with body weight of 53 kg，were randomly divided into 4 groups （n＝4），the roughage-type ground diet （GD）（group 1） or pellet diet （PD）（group 2）（67% cornstalk），and the concentrate-type GD （group 3） or PD （group 4）（50% cornstalk） were fed from the 50th day of pregnancy.Two digestion-metabolism experiments at the 60 to 76 and 120 to 136 d of pregnancy were carried to study the effect of feeding PDs on the intake，digestion and metabolism of pregnant ewes.The results showed that under the conditions of roughage-type ration （RTR） and concentrate-type ration （CTR），the DM voluntary intake of ewes was increased by 44.8%（P＜0.01） and 46.0%（P＜0.01） at early pregnant stage （EPS），respectively，and 58.7%（P＜0.01） and 58.5% （P＜0.01） at later pregnant stage （LPS），respectively.The apparent digestibility of DM was decreased by 6.2%（P＞0.05） and 6.0% （P＞0.05） at EPS，respectively，and 8.0%（P＞0.05） and 1.6%（P＞0.05） at LPS，respectively. The apparent digestibility of CP was decreased by 13.9%（P>0.05） and 2.3%（P＞0.05） at EPS，respectively，and 4.8%（P＞0.05） and 3.9% （P＞0.05） at LPS，respectively. The apparent digestibility of energy was decreased by 2.9%（P＞0.05） and 5.7%（P<0.05） at EPS，respectively，and 0.5%（P＞0.05） and 8.2%（P＜0.01） at LPS，respectively.However，under the conditions of RTR and CTR，by feeding PD the digested amount of DM of ewes was increased by 19.7%（P＜^R0.05） and 37.0%（P＜0.01） at EPS，respectively，and 65.8% （P＜0.01） and 46.3%（P＜0.01） at LPS，respectively.The digested CP amount of ewes was increased by 31.2%（P＜0.01） and 30.4% （P＜0.05） at EPS，respectively，and 60.1% （P＜0.01） and 56.4% （P＜0.01） at LPS，respectively. The amount of digestible energy was increased by 54.6%（P＜0.01） and 36.8%（P＜0.01） at EPS，respectively，and 105.2%（P＜0.01） and 63.8% （P＜0.01） at LPS，respectively. Under the conditions of RTR and CTR，by feeding PD the nitrogen retention of ewes was increased by 74.5%（P＜0.01） and 44.7%（P＜0.05） at EPS，respectively，and 101.1%（P＜0.01） and 73.4%（P＜0.01） at LPS，respectively. The birth weight of lamb was increased by 26.3%（P＜0.05） and 34.8%（P＜0.01），respectively. It was concluded that by feeding PD the voluntary intake of pregnant ewes could be increased. The digestibility of diet had the tendency to decrease，but the digested amount was increased very significantly. By feeding PD the nitrogen retention of ewes and the birth weight of lamb were increased.Therefore，feeding PD was an effective way for increasing nutrient supply to pregnant ewes.

Key words:

pellet；diet；ewe；intake；digestionmso-bidi-font-family: 宋体" lang="EN-US">