Twelve weeks before mating, 234 Awasi ewes aged 2.5 to 8.5 years were allocated to a 3 by 3 design, with 3 body condition scores, 1.5 (C1), 2.0 (C2) and 2.5 (3), at 5 weeks before mating, and 3 levels of nutrition, 0.5 maintenance (L1), maintenance (L2) and 3 times maintenance (L3) in the 5 weeks before mating. From weeks 12 to 5 before mating, the ewes were fed above or below maintenance until they achieved their designated body condition. Only data from 69 slaughtered ewes and 113 lambed ewes, that were mated at the second oestrus after synchronisation, were analysed. The main condition scores at five weeks before mating were 1.51, 1.96 and 2.46 for treatments C1, C2 and C3 respectively, and at mating 1.62, 2.03 and 2.60 for treatments L1, L2 and L3, respectively. The main numbers of corpus lutea in slaughtered ewes were 1.07, 1.30 and 1.38 for treatments C1, C2 and C3 (P less than 0.05), and 0.85, 1.29 and 1.48 for L1, L2 and L3 (P less than 0.01). Combining data of the slaughtered and lambed ewes (n equal to 182) indicated significant effects of both initial body condition (P less than 0.05) and of feeding level (P less than 0.01), with means of 0.90, 1.04 and 1.17 for C1, C2 and C3, and of 0.87, 1.06 and 1.15 for L1, L2 and L3, respectively.