Testosterone and adiposity in the chicken: The effect of breed and sex

Abstract

The leaning role, previously suggested for testosterone in chickens, was tested in males and females of fatty and lean breeds. The breeds used were the White Leghorn (WL), of which the male is very lean, and the White Giant (WG) and the White Cornish × White Rock (WCWR), in which both sexes accumulate fat. Castration of WL males induced adiposity and replacement therapy with testosterone propionate (TP) reduced the fat to normal. However, in males of the fatty breeds, neither castration nor TP administration had any effect on adiposity. Similarily, long-term supplementation of a high dose of TP had no effect on the level of adiposity in females of both the heavy and the light breeds. Thus, the leaning effect found for testosterone in the WL male is not a general phenomenon in chickens but rather a specific response of the WL male.