Effect of age, month and season on testosterone levels in farm raised ostrich (Struthio camelus)

A study was carried out to assess the effect of age, month and season on blood and seminal plasma teststerone of individual ostrich aged four to nine years for a period of 12 months in tropical climate of India. The birds were grouped into two categories viz., four to six and seven to nine years-old. Highly significant (P<0.01) differences were observed in blood plasma testosterone level in individual birds with a mean value of 9.17 ± 0.28 ng/ml. Similarly, seminal plasma testosterone level also showed significant difference (P<0.05) among individual birds and the mean value was 7.26 ± 0.31 ng/ml. Between age groups (four to six and seven to nine year-old ostrich), there was no significance difference in the levels of blood plasma (9.28 ± 0.71 vs. 9.10 ± 0.29 ng/ml) and in seminal plasma testosterone (7.21±0.29 vs. 7.28 ± 0.54 ng/ml). The blood plasma and seminal plasma testosterone levels showed highly significant differences (P<0.01) among seasons.