discussion
Growth hormone (GH) plays a vital role in post-natal growth and general metabolism including for lactation. Thus it is not surprising if GH has been the most intensive object of studies in ruminant animals to associate mutation of GH with the productive traits.
There is currently no published literature describing the direct relationship between the growth rate and growth hormone concentration as predicting the performance of subsequent growth and reproductive traits in Egyptian Baladi calves. The present results indicated that the high group was the best group concerning the values of average daily gain (ADG) associated with concentrations of serum GH in both male and female calves compared with moderate and low groups. These results were supported by Oberbauer (2016) who reported that the level of GH had effects either direct or mediated through the induction of IGF-1 to regulate growth rate through its effects on adipose, bone, and muscle. Growth hormone has myriad effects on adipose tissue metabolism (Houseknecht et al., 2000). On the other hand, Torrentera et al. (2009) indicated that the correlations between plasma IGF-1 and ADG or body weight were consistently positive (0.47 and 0.48). Krasnopiorova et al. (2012) indicated that GH has wide physiological activities, which include the regulation of growth, gluconeogenesis, lipolysis, and the enhancement of amino acid incorporation into muscle protein.
The data showed that serum GH concentrations regardless of sex declined with advancing age throughout the different groups of study. This decreasing of GH with increasing age may be due to many causes according to Chapman et al. (1997) who concluded that GH secretion declines with increasing age due to many mechanisms, alone or in combination, include reduced GHRH secretion or action, reduced somatotroph numbers or function and increased sensitivity to the negative feedback effects of IGF-1. A reduction with aging in the level of GH in the pituitary per unit of body weight has also been observed in cattle (Trenkle, 1970b). The present results are in agreement with Nazaimoon et al. (1993) who indicated that in both sexes showed age-dependent changes in fasting GH levels (P < 0.001) the levels decreased in older human of male and female.
The obtained results showed that the levels of GH from 6-18 months old (Table 3) were gradual decreased compared with the same group at 3 months old (Table 2). These results are compatible with those obtained by Trenkle (1970a) who reported that animals less than 3 months old had higher levels of the GH than older cattle.
Males consistently had higher levels of GH than females when comparing to the same group (Tables 2 & 3). These results are in harmony with Trenkle (1970b) who indicated that plasma GH levels were higher (P < 0.05) in the bulls as compared with the heifers. Also, Suwiti1 et al. (2017) found that male cattle have an average GH level higher than from female cattle. However, Nazaimoon et al. (1993) found that there were sex differences in GH levels to be only significant in the pre-pubertal children, being higher in girls than in boys (P < 0.05).
Data obtained declared that the H group within the same-sex achieved the highest level of GH followed by the M group, while the L group recorded the lowest values. The superiority of the H group either in male or female calves in GH levels in different ages from 6-18 months makes them also excel in body weight and ADG as shown in Figure 1 and Table 4. These results may explain the positive relationship between the GH level and body weight or ADG. The mean volume of GH distribution in serum cattle in the present study ranged from 4.72 to 5.44% in males and 4.72 to 5.24% in females of body weight, which similar to volumes of 3.6 to 4.1% of body weight in cattle as reported by Reynolds (1953). Similar results were obtained by Trenkle (1970c) who indicated that the volume of distribution of GH in plasma cattle ranged from 2.6 to 5.6% of body weight. Many effects of GH secretion on body weight development and ADG as found by Oberbauer (2016) who reported that elevated GH postnatal has significant effects on bone, muscle, and adipose tissues. Additionally, GH exerts stimulatory effects on linear growth rates with transient elevation of GH increasing bone growth rate. At the cellular level, GH accelerates bone growth. Furthermore, Marett et al. (2014) referred to many known effects of growth hormone to promote lipid mobilization, hepatic glucose production. Aytac et al. (2015) informed that GH directly or indirectly plays an important role in tissue growth and fat metabolism. However, Curi, et al. (2006) reported that the GH gene polymorphism closely associated with growth and slaughter weight in crossbred cattle.
A positive relation was found between body weight and body dimensions. This relation was confirmed by Gilbert et al. (1993) who reported that there was a close correlation between body weight and body dimensions. Also, Van Marle-Köster et al. (2000) described body measurements as selection criteria for growth in cattle. Most of the main body measurements used to predict the weight of cattle are similar to the body measurements used in this study: heart girth, wither height, hip width, body length and hip height using equations proposed by Heinrichs et al. (1992) and Reis et al. (2008).
The differences (P < 0.01) in DM, TDN, and CP among experimental groups (L, M, and H) were affected by both ADG and GH levels. Results indicated that the H group within the same-sex achieved remarkable superiority in the DM, TDN and CP intake followed by M group, while L group recorded the lowest values, and the superiority of H group may be due to the higher content of GH associated with high ADG. Also, for the same reason, male groups increased in their consumption than females. Silverstein et al. (1999) suggested that GH stimulates feed intake indirectly through metabolic changes such as increased utilization of nutrients that feedback on hypothalamic centers regulating energy balance. Also, Matty, (1986) reported that GH enhances growth by stimulating appetite and improving feed and protein conversion. In addition, Silverstein et al. (2000) indicated that the mechanism of rbGH action in promoting growth may include stimulation of appetite and an increase in the level of IGF-I.
The present results showed that feed conversion values of DM, TDN and CP /kg gain were reduced by increasing GH and ADG levels in H group compared to other groups (M and L). Such results are expected, as it was reported that the level of GH and ADG increased in the male and female calves, feed conversion values decreased (i.e. gain to the best). Al-Husseini et al. (2014) referred that GH was used to improve growth, feed efficiency and to increase returns from grain feeding. The growth hormone improved feed conversion ratio and growth rates of cattle by modifying protein turnover rates in the body (Café et al., 2010).
Serum protein profile, glucose, and cholesterol levels were significant (P < 0.01) increased in H group that elevated in ADG and GH levels either, in male or female calves. This superiority in H group may be related to high GH levels affect serum total protein compared to L and M groups. The growth hormone level plays an important role in some physiological processes, contributes to improving feed conversion rate, and also increases protein synthesis (Gao et al., 2006). Also, increased total protein in H group may be due to the higher CP intake (Tables 5 & 6) and increasing metabolic rate due to elevated thyroid hormones. Collier et al. (1984) reported that the pituitary thyroid axis is an important physiological factor controlling metabolic processes. In addition, H group had the highest level of GH, which supports secretion of thyroid hormones as indicated by Lapierre et al. (1990) who reported that thyroid hormones synergize with GH to promote growth. This result may be attributed to the increases in voluntary feed intake as DM and TDN (Tables 5 & 6). In addition, GH plays an important role in regulating whole-body energy utilization and well-lipolytic action (Lee et al., 2006). Furthermore, Brian et al. (2004) showed that GH had the mechanism to act on an increase in growth rate, feed consumption, and whole-body fat deposition. Moreover, Renaville et al. (2002) reported that GH synthesized in the pituitary gland and acts directly on liver and adipose tissue to regulate gluconeogenesis, proteosynthesis, lipogenesis, lipolysis, and insulin secretion by binding to growth hormone receptor (GHR). Meanwhile, the existence of the axis between GH and IGF-1 has played a vital role in the regulation of metabolism and GHR combines with GH to stimulate a series of metabolic activities by producing IGF-1 in the target tissues, especially in liver (Yang et al., 2019).
Improvement of the reproductive performance of calves may be due to elevating ADG and GH levels of H group, which fed on the higher levels of DM, TDN and CP (Tables 5 & 6) and improved feed conversion (Tables 7 & 8) to be more efficient utilize for growth. Renaville et al. (2002) reported that GH synthesized in the pituitary gland and acts directly on the liver and adipose tissue to regulate gluconeogenesis and IGF-1 secretion. Results obtained were in harmony with those recorded by El-Banna et al. (2004) who indicated that level of nutrition has no significant effect on some reproductive traits of Baladi heifers and in the meantime has a significant effect on some other reproductive ones. On the other hand, El-Ashry et al. (2008) concluded that animals fed on the low level were significantly oldest at puberty, 1st estrous and conception than those fed high levels. Increasing energy and protein intake were reported to have a positive correlation with body condition and reproduction of bovine (Peters and Ball, 1995). Increasing glucose level (Figure 3) may improve the reproductive efficiency through coordinating the biological activity of gonadotropin hormones (Hafez, 1993). Glucose is known to have a direct effect on the hypothalamus, which causes the release of GnRH, which in turn causes LH release from the pituitary (Wade and Jones, 2004). In addition, glucose elicits increases in circulating insulin and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), which has positive effects on follicular growth (John and Shields, 2013). Also, Peters and Ball (1995) found that increase blood serum glucose cause an increase in serum IGF-1. This may be a possible hormonal mechanism by which nutritional effects might be recognized centrally. Furthermore, IGF-1 has an effect on the rate of increase in the bioactivity of LH and to augment FSH-stimulated induction of LH receptors and subsequent progesterone synthesis.
Conclusion
This study supports the hypothesis that blood serum GH plays a role in growth performance and fertility in Egyptian male or female calves. Therefore, data of ADG associated with GH concentration may be a useful aid in selecting strategies for improving growth efficiency and reproductive performance.
References
Al-Husseini, W.; Gondro, C.; Quinn, K.; Café, L.M.; Herd, R.M.; Gibson, J.P.; Greenwood, P.L.; and Chen, Y. (2014): Hormonal growth implants affect feed efficiency and expression of residual feed intake-associated genes in beef cattle.Animal Production Science, 54, 550–556.
Aytac, A.K.; Bilal, A.K. and Davut, B. (2015): Determination of the alui polymorphism effect of bovine growth hormone gene on carcass traits in Zavot cattle with analysis of covariance. Turk. J. Vet. Anim. Sci., 39: 16-22.
Brian, C.P.; Brian, C.S. and Brian, G.B. (2004): Effects of bovine growth hormone (PosilacR) on growth performance, body composition, and IGFBPs in two strains of channel catfish. www.elsevier.com/locate/aqua-online. 232, 651–663.
Café, L.M.; Mclntyre, B.L.; Robinson, D.; Geesink, G.H.; Barendse, W. and Greenwood, P.L. (2010): Production and processing studies on calpain-system gene markers for tenderness in Brahman cattle: 1. Growth, efficiency, temperament, and carcass characteristics. Journal of Animal Science 88, 3047–3058.
Chapman, I.M.; Hartman, M.L.; Pezzoli, S.S.; Harrell, F.E.; JR.; Hintz, R.L.; Alberti, K.G. M.M. and Thorner, M.O. (1997): Effect of Aging on the Sensitivity of Growth Hormone Secretion to Insulin-Like Growth Factor-I Negative Feedback. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. Vol. 82, No. 9, 2996-3004.
Collier, R.; McNamara, J.; Wallace, C. and Dehff, M. (1984): A review of endocrine regulation of metabolize during lactation, J. Anim. Sci., 59: 498.
Connor, E.E.; Barao, S.M.; Douglass, L.W.; Zinn, S.A. and Dahl, G.E. (1999): Predicting Bull Growth Performance and Carcass Composition from Growth Hormone Response to Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone. J. Anim. Sci. 1999. 77: 2736–2741.
Curi, R.A.; Palmieri, D.A.; Suguisawa, L.; De Oliveira, H.N.; Silveira, A.C. and Lopes, C.R. (2006): Growth and carcass traits associated with GH1/Alu I and POU1F1/Hinf I gene polymorphisms in Zebu and crossbred beef cattle. Genet. Mol. Biol. 29(1): 56-61.
Duncan, D.B. (1955): Multiple ranges and multiple F. Test. Biometrics, 11: 1. Editor 22.0 License Authorization Wizard, Chicago, USA.
El-Ashry, M.A.; Shahin, G.F.; Monayer, T.I. and Mehany, S.B. (2008): Effect of feeding different concentrate: corn silage ratio on body weight and age at conception of buffalo heifers. Egyptian J. Nutrition and Feeds. 11 (2): 277.
El-Banna, M.K; Ibrahim, S.A.; Shabrawy, H.M. and Enas R. El-Sedfy (2004): Relationships among plan of nutrition, weight gain, age at puberty and reproductive performance in Baladi Heifers. J. Agric. Sci. Mansoura Univ., 29: 1091.
Gao, X.; Xu, X.R.; Ren, H.Y.; Zhang, Y.H.; Xv, S.Z. (2006): The effects of the GH, IGF-I and IGFIBP-3 gene on growth and development traits of nanyang cattle in different growth period. Hereditas 28, 927–932.
Gilbert, R.P.; Bailey, D.R.C. and Shannon, N.H. (1993): Linear body measurements of cattle before and after 20 years of selection for post weaning gain when fed two different diets. J Anim Sci 71, 1712-20.
Habeeb, A.A.M.; EL-Masry, K.A. and ATTA, M.A.A. (2014): Growth Traits of Purebred and Crossbred Bovine Calves During Winter and Summer Seasons. 4th Int. Con. Rad. Res. Appl. Sci., Taba, Egypt, P. 1-10.
Habeeb, A.A.M.; ATTA, M.A.A.; El-Tarabany, A.A. and Gad, A.E. (2017): Improving Live and Dry Body Weight Gain of Bovine Native Calves during Hot Summer Season of Egypt using Genetic Crossing Process. Journal of Animal Husbandry and Dairy Science.Vol. 1, Iss. 1, 28-37.
Hafez, E.S.E. (1993): Reproduction in farm animals. 6th ED. PP. 20-55 (ED). Hafez, E. S. E. and Pibiger, philedlphia, PA. USA.
Heinrichs, A.J.; Rogers, G.W. and Cooper, J.B. (1992): Predicting body weight and wither height in Holstein heifers using body measurements. Journal of Dairy Science, 75(12): 3576-3581.
Houseknecht, K.L.; Portocarrero; C.P.;Ji, S.; Lemenager, R. and Spurlock, M.E. (2000): Growth hormone regulates leptin gene expression in bovine adipose tissue: correlation with adipose IGF-1 expression. Journal of Endocrinology, 164(1): 51-7.
John, P.M. and Shields, S.L. (2013): Reproduction during lactation of dairy cattle: Integrating nutritional aspects of reproductive control in a systems research approach. Animal Frontiers vol. 3(4): 76.
Krasnopiorova, N.; Baltrėnaitė, L.; Miceikien, I. and Janušauskas, K. (2012): Growth hormone gene polymorphism and its influence on milk traits in cattle bred in lithuania. Vet. Med. Zoot., 58(80): 42-46.
Lapierre, H.; Petitclerc D.; Pelletier G.; Delorme, L.; Dubreuil, P.; Morisset, J.; Gaudreau, P.; Couture, Y. and Brazeau, P. (1990): Effect of growth hormone releasing factor and (or) thyrotropin releasing hormone factor on hormone concentration and milk production in dairy cows. Can. J. Anim. Sci., 70:175.
Lee, H.G.; Hong, Z.S.; Kim, M.K.; Kang, S.K.; Xu, C.X.; Cho, J.S.; Seo, K.S.; Roh, S.G. and Choi, Y.J. (2006): The response of plasma leptin and feed intake to growth hormone administration in Holstein calves with different planes of nutrition.Can. J. Anim. Sci. Downloaded from pubs.aic.ca by TOHOKU UNIVERSITY on 08/20/14.
Marett, L.C.; Auldist, M.J.; Wales, W.J.; Macmillan, K.L.; Di Giacomo, K. and Leury, B.J. (2014): Evaluation of growth hormone response to insulin-induced hypoglycaemia in dairy cattle during a 670-day lactation.Animal Production Science, 54, 1323–1327.
Matty, A.J. (1986): Nutrition, hormones and growth. Fish Physiol. Biochem. 2, 141–150.
MOA (2007): Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, Economic Affairs Sector, Study of Statistics for Animal, Poultry and Fish Wealth for year, 2006, p. 1-22.
Nazaimoon, W.M.W.; Ng, M.L.; Osman, A.; Tan, T.T.; Wu, L.L. and Khalid, B.A.K. (1993): Effect of Gender and Age on Fasting Serum Growth Hormone Levels in Normal Subiects. Med J Malaysia Vol 48 No 3, 297-302.
NRC (2001): Nutrient Requirements of Dairy cattle 7th ed. Natl. Research Council, Acad. Press, Washington, DC. USA.
Oberbauer, A.M. (2016): Developmental programming: The role of growth hormone. J. Anim. Sci. Biotechnol., 6(8): 1-7.
Oguro, M.; Ishikawa, H.; Ohtsuka, H.; Hoshi, F. and Kawamura, S. (2003): Clinical evaluation of growth hormone secretion in cattle using insulin tolerance test. The Journal of Veterinary Medical Science 65, 809–812. doi: 10.12 92/jvms.65.809.
Peters, A.R. and Ball, P.J.H. (1995): The postpartum period. Reproduction in cattle 2nd (Ed) PP. 145.
Reis, G.L.; Albuquerque; F.H.M.A.R.; Valente, B.D.; Martins, G.A.; Teodoro, R.L.; Ferreira, M.B.D. and Madalena, F.E. (2008): Predição do peso vivo a partir de medidas corporais em animais mestiços Holandês/Gir. Ciência Rural, 38(3), 778-783.
Renaville, R.; Hammadi, M. and Portetelle, D. (2002): Role of the somatotropic axis in the mammalian metabolism. Domest. Anim. Endocrinol., 23, 351–360.
Reynolds, M. (1953): Plasma and blood volume in the cow using the T-1824 hematocrit method. Amer. J. Physiol. 173: 421.
Silverstein, J.T.; Shearer, K.D.; Dickhoff, W.W. and Plisetskaya, E.M. (1999): Regulation of nutrient intake and energy balance in salmon. Aquaculture 177, 161–169.
Silverstein, J.T.; Wolters, W.R.; Shimizu, M. and Dickhoff, W.W. (2000): Bovine growth hormone treatment of channel catfish: strain and temperature effects on growth, plasma IGF-I levels, feed intake and efficiency and body composition. Aquaculture 190, 77–88.
SPSS (2013): Statistical package for social sciences, IBM®SPSS Statistics Data
Suwiti1, N.K.; Besung, I.N.K. and Mahardika, G.N. (2017): Factors influencing growth hormone levels of Bali cattle in Bali, Nusa Penida, and Sumbawa Islands, Indonesi. www. veterinaryworld.org/Vol.10/October-2017/14. pdf,1250-1254).
Torrentera, N.; Cerda, R.; Cervantes, M.; Garces, P. and Sauer, W. (2009): Relationship between blood plasma IGF-1 and GH concentrations and growth of Holstein steers. Asociación Latinoamericana de Producción Animal. Vol. 17, Núm. 1, 2: 37-41.
Trenkle, A. (1970a): Growth hormone secretion in cattle and sheep. Journal Paper No. 5-6595 of the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station, Ames, 242-256. https:// meatscience.org/growth-hormone-secretion-in-cattle and-sh.
Trenkle, A. (1970b): Solid –phase radioimmunoassay for sheep growth hormone. Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. 133: 1018.
Trenkle, A. (1970c): Growth hormone secretion rates in cattle. Journal of Animal Science vol. 32, no. I, 115- 118.
Van Marle-Köster, E.; Mostert, B.E. and Van der-Westhuizen, J. (2000): Body measurements as selection criteria for growth in South African Hereford cattle. Arch Tierz 43, 5-15.
Wade, G.N. and Jones, J.E. (2004): Neuroendocrinology of nutritional infertility. Am. J. Physiol. Regul. Integr. Comp. Physiol. 287: R1277–R1296.
Yang, C.; Zhang, J.; Ahmad, A.A.; Bao, P.; Guo, X.; Long, R.; Ding, X. and Yan, P. (2019): Dietary Energy Levels Affect Growth Performance through Growth Hormone and Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1 in Yak (Bos grunniens). Animals, 9, 39; doi: 10.3390/ ani9020039.
Zahed, S.M.; El-Gaafarawy, A.M. and Aboul-Ela, M.B. (2001): Reproductive performance of a herd of Egyptian Baladi cattle. J. Agric. Sci. Mansoura Univ., 26: 5361.
أجريت هذه الدراسة لتحديد ما إذا کان معدل النمو المرتبط بترکيز هرمون النمو أداة مُفيده أم لا للتنبؤ بأداء النمو اللاحق والصفات التناسلية في العجول البلدي المصرية. لهذا الغرض ، تم استخدام واحد وثلاثين عجل (16 ذکر و 15 أنثى) في هذه الدراسة. تم تقسيم العجول من نفس الجنس (ذکور أو إناث) من الولادة وحتى اليوم التسعين من العمر إلى ثلاث مجموعات (منخفضة ، متوسطة وعالية) وفقًا لمتوسط الزيادة اليومية فى وزن الجسم مع ترکيز هرمون النمو على النحو التالي: المجموعة المنخفضة ، والتي سجلت أقل من 500 جم ، 350 جم کمتوسط زيادة يومية في وزن الجسم مع أقل من 18 ، 15 نانوجرام/مللى فى ترکيز هرمون النمو لکلا من العجول والعجلات، على التوالي. أما المجموعة المتوسطة فقد سجلت 500 - 650 جم ، 350 - 550 جم کمتوسط زيادة يومية في وزن الجسم مع 18-20 ، 15-17 نانوجرام/مللى فى ترکيز هرمون النمو لکلا من العجول والعجلات، على التوالي. فى حين المجموعة العالية سجلت أکبر من 650 جم ، 550 جم کمتوسط زيادة يومية في وزن الجسم مع أکبر من 20 ، اکبر من 17 نانوجرام/مللى فى ترکيز هرمون النمو لکلا من العجول والعجلات، على التوالي.