Effect of Testosterone Enanthate Injection and Castration on some Productive Traits of Karadi Lambs

Volume 16 , Issue 1 , October 2014 , Pages 219-230

Authors

¹ Department of Animal Resources, College of Agriculture, University of Baghdad

² Department of Animal production, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Sulaimani

This study was conducted to investigate the influence of testosterone enanthate

injection on some productive characteristics of Karadi lambs. This experiment was

carried out at the Sheep Farm, belong to the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University

of Sulaimani, Bakrajo. Thirty six Karadi ram lambs, aged 3-4 months and average live

weight of 28.7±3.8 kg were randomly divided into three equal groups. Six ram lambs from

each group were castrated using elastrator and rubber ring, two weeks before beginning

of the experiment. First group was left as control group without treatment (T1). The

second group (T2) was injected weekly with 200 mg of testosterone enanthate (TE)/ram

lamb. The third group (T3) was injected with 400 mg TE/ram lamb weekly until the

termination of the experiment. The TE injections as anabolic agent were given weekly to

each treated lamb to investigate its effect on some productive and physiological traits as

well as their residual effect, over the period from 18th May to 30th August 2010. Lambs

were fed as (3%) of live body weight. The allowance was readjusted at weekly intervals

according to live weight. Live body weight (LBW)(Kg), live weight gain(LWG)(%),

average daily gain (ADG) (gm/day), dry matter intake (DMI)(gm/day) and feed

conversion ratio (FCR)(gm DMI/gm gain) were determined. Results indicated that ADG

of intact lambs in the control group, low and high level of TE groups, were higher than

the castrated lambs at 4 months of age. The castrated lambs in T2 had higher ADG at 4,

5, 6, 7 and 8 months of age as compared with castrated lambs in T1 and T3 groups.

Higher DMI was recorded for the intact lambs of the control, low and high level of TE in

comparison with castrated lambs. Results revealed that castrated lambs of the control

group had higher FCR at 4,5,6 and 8 months of age as compared to intact lambs (4.06 vs.

3.46, 6.56 vs. 6.41 , 6.96 vs. 5.85 and 5.96 vs. 5.27 gm DMI /gm gain), while the FCR

increased in the intact lambs treated with 200 mg TE as compared to castrated lambs at

4,5,6 and 8 months of age (4.00 vs. 3.69, 4.94 vs. 3.93, 5.62 vs. 4.14 and 6.47 vs. 5.44 gm

DMI/gm gain), respectively. We concluded that castrated lambs treated with 200 mg TE

have higher ADG as compared with other experimental groups.

Statistics