Effect in sheep of dietary concentrate content on secretion of growth hormone, insulin and insulin-like growth factor-I after feeding

This study was designed to examine the effects of the proportion of concentrate in the diet on the secretion of growth hormone (GH), insulin and insulin‐like growth factor‐I (IGF‐I) secretion and the GH‐releasing hormone (GHRH)‐induced GH response in adult sheep fed once daily. Dietary treatments were roughage and concentrate at ratios of 100:0 (0% concentrate diet), 60:40 (40% concentrate diet), and 20:80 (80% concentrate diet) on a dry matter basis. Mean plasma concentrations of GH before daily feeding (10.00–14.00 hours) were 11.4 ± 0.4, 10.1 ± 0.5 and 7.5 ± 0.3 ng/mL on the 0, 40 and 80% concentrate diet treatments, respectively. A significant decrease in plasma GH concentration was observed after daily feeding of any of the dietary treatments and these decreased levels were maintained for 8 h (0%), 12 h (40%) and 12 h (80%), respectively (P < 0.05). Plasma IGF‐I concentrations were significantly decreased 8–12 h and 4–16 h after the end of feeding compared with the prefeeding level in the 40 and 80% concentrate diet treatments, respectively (P < 0.05). GHRH injection brought an abrupt increase in the plasma GH concentrations, reaching a peak 10 min after each injection, but, after the meal, the peak plasma GH values for animals fed 40% (P < 0.05) and 80% (P < 0.01) concentrate diet were lower than that for roughage fed animals. The concentrate content of a diet affects the anterior pituitary function of sheep resulting in reduced baseline concentrations of GH and prolonged GH reduction after feeding once daily.