Levels of hormones and cytokines associated with growth in Honamlı and native hair goats

This study was designed to assess alterations of hormone and cytokine levels associated with growth period during puberty in Honamli goats which were identified as a new goat breed and had one of the highest meat production potential among the other goat breeds in Turkey. Honamli goats are originated from native hair goats, so parallel studies of sampling and analyzing were conducted also in native hair goats which have moderate meat production. Blood serum samples of Honamli (n=90) and native hair goats (n=90) were obtained from the pure herds in Korkuteli and Ka districts of Anatolia. Concentrations of growth hormone (GH), myostatin (MSTN), insulin-like growth factor (IGF), growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH), growth hormone releasing peptide (GHRP), leptin, transforming growth factor-betal (TGF-ß1) and vascular endothelial cell growth factor (VEGF) levels were measured by ELISA in each breed in the age groups of 4, 8 and 12 months. The present results indicate interesting correlations among the age groups and all the examined hormone and cytokine parameters exhibited significant (P<0.05 and P