Evidence that refractoriness to long and short daylengths regulates seasonal reproductive transitions in Mediterranean goats

Contents Two experiments were performed to assess the role of refractoriness to long and short daylengths in the timing of seasonal reproductive transitions in Mediterranean Malagueña goats. In the first experiment, intact adult does were either maintained under natural photoperiod conditions (NP; n = 5) or exposed to a constant long day photoperiod (LD - 16 h light/day; n = 5) from June to December 2005. In the second experiment, does were maintained either under NP conditions (n = 5) or received a series of subcutaneous melatonin implants (MI) from December 2005 to June 2006 to mimic a short day signal (n = 5). In both experiments, ovulatory activity was assayed by determining progesterone concentrations in blood samples collected twice per week. The onset of seasonal ovulatory activity did not differ (p > 0.05) between the LD and NP does (3 October ±5 days and 23 September ±3 days respectively). The simulated short days did not modify (p > 0.05) the timing of the end of ovulatory activity. The MI does become anoestrus at the same time (1 March ±9 days) as their NP counterparts (23 February ±8 days). These results indicate that, in Malagueña does, the onset and offset of anoestrus are not driven by photoperiod changes but appear to be the result of long and short day refractoriness respectively. An endogenous circannual rhythm may therefore be involved in regulating seasonal reproductive changes in these animals. © 2010 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Gómez-Brunet, A., Santiago Moreno, Julián, Toledano Díaz, Adolfo, López Sebastián, Antonio
Format:	artículo biblioteca
Language:	English
Published:	Wiley 2010
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12792/1787 http://hdl.handle.net/10261/292208
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