Changes in ovarian function of female turkeys photostimulated at 18, 24 or 30 weeks of age and fed ad libitum or restricted until point of lay

Paul M Hocking, D. Waddington, M A Walker

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

1. Females from a medium body weight strain of turkeys were fed ad libitum or restricted to 0.6 of ad libitum-fed body weight at sexual maturity and were photostimulated at 18, 24 or 30 weeks of age. Ovarian follicular structure was assessed in 8 birds from both rearing treatments at photostimulation, after photostimulation for 6 or 12 weeks and at 55 weeks of age. 2. The patterns of small white follicles and of larger yellow follicles were similar in restricted and in ad libitum-fed turkeys for birds in lay at the same age, regardless of the time elapsed since photostimulation. 3. Among birds in lay the number of normal yellow follicles and the proportion of multiple yellow follicles declined with age. A relatively low proportion of restricted birds photostimulated at 18 and 24 weeks were in lay after 12 weeks of photostimulation. 4. For birds in lay the number of white follicles 1.4 to less than 1.8 mm in diameter increased and the number greater than 1.8 mm declined with age. There was a corresponding increase in the rates of atresia in follicles 1.8 to less than 5.0 mm in diameter.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)639-47
Number of pages9
JournalBritish Poultry Science
Volume33
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 1992

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • Age Factors
  • Animals
  • Body Weight
  • Female
  • Follicular Atresia
  • Food Deprivation/physiology
  • Ovarian Follicle/anatomy & histology
  • Ovary/physiology
  • Oviposition
  • Photic Stimulation
  • Sexual Maturation
  • Turkeys/physiology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Changes in ovarian function of female turkeys photostimulated at 18, 24 or 30 weeks of age and fed ad libitum or restricted until point of lay'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this