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Gender, caponization and exogenous estrogen effects on lipids, bone and blood characteristics in T aiwan country chickens
Author(s) -
Chen Shih Yi,
Li Tsung Yu,
Tsai Chih Heng,
Lo Dan Yuan,
Chen Kuo Lung
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
animal science journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.606
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1740-0929
pISSN - 1344-3941
DOI - 10.1111/asj.12147
Subject(s) - estrogen , abdominal fat , castration , medicine , endocrinology , bone ash , tibia , body weight , hormone , surgery , calcium
This study investigated gender, caponization and exogenous estrogen effects on lipids, bone and blood characteristics in T aiwan country chickens. Thirty male chickens were caponized at 8 weeks (capons); 15 capons were injected with estrogen (5 mg/bird estradiol 3‐benzoate) every 2 weeks from 8 to 28 weeks, and 15 sham‐operated male (shams) chickens and 15 females were selected for this trial. The results showed that the shams had lower relative abdominal and chest subcutaneous fat than females ( P < 0.05). The estrogen‐treated capons had greater relative abdominal and chest subcutaneous fat than shams and capons ( P < 0.05), which might result from higher blood very low‐density lipoproteins and triacylglycerol concentrations ( P < 0.05). Caponization could dramatically increase relative abdominal fat (506%; P < 0.05). The shams had higher tibia weight and biomechanical properties, such as maximum bone strength and bending moment values than the capons ( P < 0.05). Tibia biomechanical properties were reduced by estrogen treatment ( P < 0.05). The females obtained the lowest biomechanical value in all treatments ( P < 0.05). Histological examination revealed cavity formation in the cortical bone of estrogen‐treated capons and female chickens, which suggested that estrogen reduced bone biomechanical properties by destroying its structural integrity.