Gonadotrophin assay of cephalic and caudal lobes of anterior pituitary from growing Turkeys

Abstract

Pituitaries from male and female turkeys reared under natural daylight were collected every 2 weeks. Each pituitary was divided into the cephalic and caudal lobe and then homogenised and frozen until assayed. Gonadotrophic activity was determined by the P32 uptake of day‐old chick testes. Significant differences were found associated with the age of the birds, but not with either the sex or the lobe of the gland, nor any of the possible interactions. The peak activity was reached when the birds were 22 weeks of age, and a slight but non‐significant decrease took place until 34 weeks of age when the experiment was terminated. A significant correlation (P≤0.01) between the amount of naturally occurring daylight and anterior pituitary gonadotrophin concentration of 0.86 was found. The interpretation of this correlation is discussed.