Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T14:42:58.973Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The effect of daylength on the growth of lambs 2. Blood concentrations of growth hormone, prolactin, insulin and thyroxine, and the effect of feeding

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

J. M. Forbes
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Physiology and Nutrition, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT
P. M. Driver
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Physiology and Nutrition, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT
Wendy B. Brown
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Physiology and Nutrition, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT
C. G. Scanes
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Physiology and Nutrition, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT
I. C. Hart
Affiliation:
National Institute for Research in Dairying, Shinfield, Reading RG2 9AT
Get access

Abstract

1. The levels of four hormones which might be involved in the control of growth have been measured in the blood of lambs kept in 16 or 8 h daylengths for 4 months in each of two experiments. Under the conditions of these experiments long daylength stimulated growth.

2. Prolactin concentration was significantly increased by long day-length and by ad libitum feeding, compared with short daylength and restricted feeding, respectively.

3. Growth hormone, insulin and thyroxine concentrations were unaffected by daylength. Ad libitum feeding caused lower growth hormone and higher insulin concentrations than restricted feeding, and growth hormone levels fell after the morning feed.

4. Of the hormones measured, prolactin is most worthy of further study as a possible mediator of the effects of long daylength on growth.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1979

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bassett, J. M. 1975. Dietary and gastro-intestinal control of regulating carbohydrate metabolism in ruminants. In Digestion and Metabolism in the Ruminant (ed. McDonald, I. W. and Warner, A. C. I.), pp. 383398. University of New England Press, Armidale.Google Scholar
Blair, T. 1975. Hormonal influences on metabolism and milk secretion in small ruminants. Ph.D. Thesis, Univ. Leeds.Google Scholar
Blom, A. K., Halse, K. and Hove, K. 1976. Growth hormone, insulin and sugar in the blood plasma of bulls. Interrelated diurnal variations. Acta endocr., Copnh. 82: 758766.Google ScholarPubMed
Bourne, R. A. and Tucker, H. A. 1975. Serum prolactin and LH responses to photo-period in bull calves. Endocrinology 97: 473475.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buttle, H. L. 1974. Seasonal variations of prolactin in plasma of male goats. J. Reprod. Fert. 37: 9599.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Daughaday, W. H. 1971. Regulation of skeletal growth by sulfation factor. Adv. internal Med. 17: 237263.Google ScholarPubMed
Draper, S. A., Haynes, N. B., Falconer, I. R. and Lamming, G. E. 1969. Thyroid function as measured by 131iodine release rate, weight and RNA/DNA in growing lambs, and its relation to growth rate. Anim. Prod. 11: 399407.Google Scholar
Driver, P. M., Forbes, J. M. and Scanes, C. G. 1979. Hormones, feeding and temperature in the sheep following cerebroventricular injections of neurotransmitters and carbachol. J. Physiol, Lond. 290: 399411.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Forbes, J. M., Driver, P. M., El Shahat, A. A., Boaz, T. G. and Scanes, C. G. 1975. The effect of daylength and level of feeding on serum prolactin in growing lambs. J. Endocr. 64: 549554.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Forbes, J. M., El Shahat, A. A., Jones, R., Duncan, J. G. S. and Boaz, T. G. 1979. The effect of daylength on the growth of lambs. 1. Comparisons of sex, level of feeding, shearing and breed of sire. Anitn. Prod. 29: 3342.Google Scholar
Henderson, H. E. 1958. The effect of environmental temperature and light on thyroid activity and certain metabolic measures in sheep. Ph.D. Thesis, Michigan St. Univ.Google Scholar
Hoersch, T. M., Reineke, E. P. and Henneman, H. A. 1961. Effect of artificial light and ambient temperature on the thyroid secretion rate and other metabolic measures in sheep. J. Anim. Sci. 20: 358362.Google Scholar
Horrobin, D. F. 1973. Prolactin: Physiology and Clinical Significance. Medical and Technical Publishing, Lancaster.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lamming, G. E., Moseley, S. R. and McNeilly, J. R. 1974. Prolactin release in the sheep. J. Reprod. Fert. 40: 151168.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MacHlin, L. J., Takahashi, Y., Horino, M., Hertelendy, F., Gordon, R. S. and Kipnis, D. 1968. Regulation of growth hormone secretion in non-primate species. In Growth Hormone (ed. Pecile, A. and Muller, E. E.), pp. 292305.Google Scholar
McAtee, J. W. and Trenkle, A. 1971. Effects of feeding, fasting, glucose or arginine on plasma prolactin levels in the bovine. Endocrinology 89: 730734.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nie, N. H., Hull, C. H., Jenkins, J. G., Steinbrenner, K. and Bent, D. A. 1975. Statistics Package for the Social Sciences. McGraw Hill, New York.Google Scholar
Panksepp, J. 1975. Metabolic hormones and regulation of feeding: A reply to Woods, Decke and Vasselli. Psychol. Rev. 83: 158164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pelletier, J. 1973. Evidence for photoperiodic control of prolactin release in rams. J. Reprod. Fert. 35: 143147.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pollock, A. M. 1975. Seasonal changes in appetite and sexual condition in red deer stags maintained on a six-month photoperiod. J. Physiol., Land. 244: 95P96P (Abstr.).Google Scholar
Ratcliffe, W. A., Challand, G. S. and Ratcliffe, J. G. 1974. A critical evaluation of separation methods in radioimmunoassays for total triiodothyronine and thyroxine in concentrated plasma. Ann. clin. Biochem. 11: 224229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ratcliffe, W. A., Ratcliffe, J. G., McBride, A. D., Harland, W. A. and Randall, T. W. 1974. Radioimmunoassay of thyroxine in unextracted human serum. Clin. Endocr. 3: 481488.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ravault, J. P. 1976. Prolactin in the ram: seasonal variations in the concentration of blood plasma from birth until three years old. Ada endocr. Copnh. 83: 720725.Google ScholarPubMed
Swan, H. 1976. The physiological interrelationship of reproduction, lactation and nutrition in the cow. In Principles of Cattle Production (ed. Swan, H. and Broster, W. H.), pp. 85102. Butterworth, London.Google Scholar
Tindal, J. S., Knaggs, G. S., Hart, I. C. and Blake, L. A. 1978. Release of growth hormone in lactating and non-lactating goats in relation to behaviour, stages of sleep, electroencephalographs, environmental stimuli and levels of prolactin, insulin, glucose and free fatty acids in the circulation. J. Endocr. 76: 333346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trenkle, A. 1971. Influence of blood glucose levels on growth hormone secretion in sheep. Proc. Soc. exp. Biol. Med. 136: 5155.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Trenkle, A. 1972. Radioimmunoassay of plasma hormones: review of plasma insulin in ruminants. J. Dairy Sci. 55: 12001211.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Trenkle, A. 1976. Estimates of the kinetic parameters of growth hormone metabolism in fed and fasted calves and sheep. J. Anitn. Sci. 43: 10351043.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van wyk, J. J., Underwood, L. E., Hintz, R. L., Clemmons, D. R., Voina, S. J. and Weaver, R. P. 1974. The somatomedins: a family of insulin-like hormones under growth hormone control. Recent Prog. Harm. Res. 30: 259318.Google Scholar
Woods, S. C., Decke, E. and Vasselli, R. J. 1974. Metabolic hormones and regulation of body weight. Psychol. Rev. 81: 2643.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed