author(s)
C Pandian and ST Selvan

abstract
Assessment of reproductive hormones levels viz., estrogen, follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) during breeding and non-breeding seasons were studied for a period of 12 months in four to 12 year-old female ostrich. The mean blood plasma estrogen, FSH and LH in female ostrich were 6.99 pg/ml, 0.48 ng/ml and 2.23 ng/ml, respectively. The effect of the month and season on estrogen, FSH and LH level showed significant (P<0.01) difference. The estrogen (pg/ml), FSH (ng/ml) and LH (ng/ml) levels were found to increase during the northeast monsoon (7.28 ± 0.21, 0.55 ± 0.02 and 2.17 ± 0.10, respectively) and reached peak during winter (8.84 ± 0.26, 0.58 ± 0.02 and 2.52 ± 0.11, respectively), followed by summer (7.02 ± 0.25, 0.44±0.02 and 2.48 ± 0.08, respectively) and then maintained at baseline level during southwest monsoon (5.82 ± 0.16, 0.40 ± 0.01 and 1.94 ± 0.04, respectively).