title: Performance, clinical chemistry, and carcass responses of finishing lambs to recombinant bovine somatotropin and bovine placental lactogen.
abstract: Bovine placental lactogen (PL) is a partial somatotropin agonist in the cow and decreases urea nitrogen, indicating increased nitrogen retention. In the present study, the somatogenic effects of bovine PL (bPL; 4 and 8 mg/d) were compared with those of bovine somatotropin (bST; 4 and 8 mg/d) in finishing lambs. Measures of comparison included growth performance, carcass composition, and growth-related clinical chemistry traits. Although feed efficiency during the first 3 wk of treatment with bPL was improved by 14% (P < .05), feed efficiency for the full 6-wk treatment period did not differ from that of control lambs. Responsiveness to bPL may have been attenuated by high titer antibodies present after 2 wk of treatment. However, bPL also did not influence growth-related clinical chemistry traits during short-term (7 d) treatment, strongly suggesting that bPL was ineffective in finishing lambs at the doses tested. In contrast, bST improved 6-wk feed efficiency by an average of 17% (P < .05) and decreased feed intake by an average of 12% (P < .05). In addition, measures of carcass composition including longissimus muscle area, specific gravity of the rack, kidney and pelvic fat, and fat thickness demonstrated that bST, but not bPL, treatment decreased carcass fatness and increased carcass leanness. Treatment with bST, but not with bPL, affected IGF-I, insulin, glucose, and urea nitrogen in a dose-related manner. Thus, daily injections of bPL did not affect either performance or carcass quality, whereas performance and carcass responses of finishing lambs to bST were consistent with those reported by others.
authors.affiliation: Animal Sciences Division, Monsanto Company, St. Louis, MO 63198.
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: McLaughlin
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Byatt
authors.forename: H B
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Hedrick
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Veenhuizen
authors.forename: D F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Curran
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Hintz
authors.forename: G F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Hartnell
authors.forename: T R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Kasser
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Collier
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Baile
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development; D000818:Animals; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis; D001806:Blood Urea Nitrogen; D001823:Body Composition / Q000187:drug effects; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004435:Eating / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D013006:Growth Hormone / Q000097:blood / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007328:Insulin / Q000097:blood; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / Q000032:analysis; D008297:Male; D008460:Meat / Q000592:standards; D024510:Muscle Development; D009132:Muscles / Q000187:drug effects; D010928:Placental Lactogen / Q000097:blood / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011897:Random Allocation; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology; D012756:Sheep / Q000097:blood / Q000254:growth & development*; D015430:Weight Gain / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D007328:Insulin; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I; D013006:Growth Hormone; D010928:Placental Lactogen