Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T01:12:18.334Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A note on the variability of hormone concentrations in twice-weekly blood samples taken from heifer calves during the first 110 days of life

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

I. C. Hart ,
S. V. Morant  and
J. H. B. Roy
I. C. Hart
Affiliation:
National Institute for Research in Dairying, Shinfield, Reading RG2 9AT
S. V. Morant
Affiliation:
National Institute for Research in Dairying, Shinfield, Reading RG2 9AT
J. H. B. Roy
Affiliation:
National Institute for Research in Dairying, Shinfield, Reading RG2 9AT
Get access

Abstract

To assess the variability of hormone values obtained from calves at an early age, plasma concentrations of prolactin, growth hormone, insulin and thyroxine were measured in blood samples taken twice-weekly from seven heifers maintained under commercial conditions during their first 110 days of life. With the possible exception of thyroxine, there was considerable variation in the concentration of each hormone in each animal throughout the period of sampling, thus indicating that twice-weekly sampling was inadequate for investigating differences in hormonal concentrations between cattle of different production potential. Although there were trends in the pattern of plasma hormone concentrations as the calves progressed from the pre-ruminant to ruminant states, few of the changes during the pre-weaning, weaning and post-weaning periods were consistent between animals.

Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 32 , Issue 2 , April 1981 , pp. 215 - 217
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1981

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 hormones regulating carbohydrate metabolism in ruminants. In Digestion and Metabolism in the Ruminant (ed. McDonald, I. W. and Warner, A. C. I.) pp. 383–398. University of New England Publishing Unit, Armidale.Google Scholar
Forbes, J. M., Driver, P. M., Brown, Wendy B., Scanes, C. G. and Hart, I. C. 1979. The effect of daylength on the growth of lambs. 2. Blood concentrations of growth hormone, prolactin, insulin and thyroxine, and the effect of feeding. Anim. Prod. 29: 43–51.Google Scholar
Hart, I. C. 1973. Basal levels of prolactin in goat blood measured throughout a 24-h period by a rapid double antibody-solid phase radioimmunoassay. J. Dairy Res. 40: 235–245.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hart, I. C., Flux, D. S., Andrews, P. and McNeilly, A. S. 1975. Radioimmunoassay for ovine and caprine growth hormone: its application to the measurement of basal circulating levels of growth hormone in the goat. Horm. Metab. Res. 7: 35–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joakimsen, O., Steenberg, K., Lien, H. and Theodorsen, L. 1971. Genetic relationship between thyroxine degradation and fat-corrected milk yield in cattle. Acta Agric. scand. 21: 121–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, M. D., Dedios, O. and Lippincott, A. C. 1976. Environmental stress, TRH and lactation effects on plasma GH in cattle. In IAEA/FAO Symp. nucl. Techs Anim. Prod. Health, pp. 555–562.Google Scholar
Osmond, T. J., Carr, W. R., Hinks, C. J. M., Land, R. B. and Hill, W. G. 1981. Physiological attributes as possible selection criteria for milk production. 2. Plasma insulin, tri-iodothyronine and thyroxine in bulls. Anim. Prod. 32: 159–163.Google Scholar
Schams, D. and Reinhardt, V. 1974. Influence of the season on plasma prolactin level in cattle from birth to maturity. Horm. Res. 5: 217–226.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tindal, J. S., Knaggs, G. S., Hart, I. C. and BLAKE, LAURA. A. 1978. Release of growth hormone in lactating and non-lactating goats in relation to behaviour, stages of sleep, electroencephalograms, environmental stimuli and levels of prolactin, insulin, glucose and free fatty acids in the circulation. J. Endocr. 76: 333–346.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed