Effects of melatonin implantation on cashmere growth, hormone concentrations and cashmere yield in cashmere-perennial-type Liaoning cashmere goats
Chunhui Duan A , Jianhai Xu B , Yu Zhang C , Wei Zhang A E , Yabo Sun D and Zhihai Jia AA State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.
B College of Veterinary Medicine, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.
C Centre for Animal Welfare and Ethics, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld 4343, Australia.
D The Institute of Animal Husbandry of Liaoning Province, Liaoyang City 111000, China.
E Corresponding author. Email: wzhang@cau.edu.cn
Animal Production Science 57(1) 60-64 https://doi.org/10.1071/AN15183
Submitted: 10 April 2015 Accepted: 7 September 2015 Published: 22 January 2016
Abstract
The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of melatonin implants on cashmere growth, the concentrations of plasma melatonin and prolactin and the total cashmere yield in cashmere-perennial-type Liaoning cashmere goats. Twenty female goats were assigned to two treatments (n = 10) including a control and a treatment in which melatonin (2 mg/kg bodyweight) was implanted in March and May, respectively. The experiment lasted for 153 days. Fibre samples were collected in July, August and April the following year (before cashmere harvest). Blood samples were taken monthly from March to August. Cashmere yield was recorded after harvest. In melatonin-treated goats, cashmere length and cashmere growth rate from April to July were significantly increased (P < 0.05), but no influence was observed (P > 0.05) in August. Implantation of melatonin significantly increased plasma melatonin concentrations (P < 0.05) and decreased prolactin concentrations from April to July compared with the control group (P < 0.05), but no difference was observed in August (P > 0.05). Administration of melatonin increased the cashmere yield by 6.2% and the maximum cashmere length by 8.4%, but the differences were not significant (P > 0.05). Moreover, the cashmere fibre diameter was not influenced by melatonin implantation (P > 0.05). The results also indicated that plasma melatonin concentrations were correlated with plasma prolactin in the regulation of cashmere growth. Implantation of melatonin was an effective way to promote cashmere growth, and administration during the cashmere slow-growing period improved cashmere production without changing cashmere fibre diameter in cashmere-perennial-type Liaoning cashmere goats.
Additional keywords: cashmere fibre, melatonin, prolactin.
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