Growth performance and body composition of mature female sheep implanted with trenbolone acetate

Abstract

The effect of the anabolic steroid trenbolone acetate (TEA) on growth and body composition was studied in Scottish Blackface mature female sheep weighing 45 kg. The sheep were blocked by weight and randomly allocated to be untreated controls (C) or subcutaneously implanted with 20 (Tl), 40 (T2) or 60 (T3) mg TBA 60 days before slaughter. The sheep were offered to appetite a loose-mix diet which contained an estimated 11 M] metabolizable energy and 120 g crude protein per kg dry matter. Live-weight gain and food intake, on average, were not significantly affected by the hormonal treatment which significantly reduced gut fill and significantly increased empty body and chilled carcass weights. Of the carcass tissues which were dissected only weights of total lean and intermuscular fat were significantly increased following TBA implantation. The relative development of fat, lean and bone in the carcass in the hormonally treated compared with control sheep was not significantly altered. The only effects on weights of organs and body parts associated with TBA implantation were increases in fat deposition in omental and perinephric and retroperitoneal depots. There was some evidence of an increasing response to TBA treatment with increasing dose level for weights of chilled carcass, carcass lean and the ratio of subcutaneous fat to intermuscular fat.

Response of castrated male sheep to oestrogenic and androgenic compounds implanted alone or in combination

“…The present results suggest that the growth promoting and nutrient repartitioning response in castrated male sheep may be less than that recorded in mature female sheep (Sulieman et al, 1992) and in castrated male cattle (Galbraith and Topps, 1981).…”

A note on the concentrations of steroidal residues in tissues of mature female sheep implanted with trenbolone acetate

“…The importance of the subject for animal production has been well recognized (e.g. Sulieman, Galbraith and Topps (1992) described recently the growth response of mature female sheep implanted with trenbolone acetate, which included increases in empty body weight, carcass weight and weights of dissected lean and intermuscular fat. Recent studies aimed at providing information on anabolic response, mode of action and tissue residues include those of Sulieman, Galbraith and Topps (1988) who presented data on growth characteristics of wether lambs implanted with the androgenic steroid, trenbolone acetate (TBA) combined with the naturally occurring oestrogen, oestradiol-17p (OE).…”

“…A detailed description of husbandry conditions may be obtained by reference to Sulieman et al (1992). Briefly, 32 healthy Blackface female sheep individually housed and weighing 45 kg on average were used.…”