The plasma progesterone concentration on Day 7 was not different between
the groups. However, on Day 19, the plasma progesterone concentration was greater
(P < 0.0001) in the sunflower group (5.8 0.4 ng/mL) than that in the control group
(3.5 0.4 ng/mL). A greater (P < 0.05) cholesterol concentration was observed in the
sunflower group than that in the control group on Days 7 (306.0 11.6 vs. 277.1 11.9 mg/
dL, respectively) and 19 (260.5 8.0 vs. 232.0 8.0 mg/dL, respectively). The pregnancy
rate was greater (P ¼ 0.01) in the sunflower-treated heifers (55.7%) than that in controltreated
heifers (36.9%). Results indicate that sunflower seed supplementation increases
the circulating cholesterol concentrations and potentially impacts the pregnancy rate in
suckled beef cattle subjected to TAI or TET.