Vol. 8, Issue 5, Part C (2023)

Phytoestrogens are naturally occurring heterogenous group of herbal substances that are parts of plant’s defence mechanism. Legume beans like soybeans are a good source of these phytoestrogens and are nonsteroidal with a spatial conformation similar to oestradiol 17 β. Under the influence of gonadotropins, granulosa cells of chicken ovarian follicles synthesise progesterone, which primarily diffuses into theca cells and gets converted to testosterone and oestrogen. Therefore, phytoestrogens can act either as oestrogen agonists or antagonists depending on endogenous oestrogen levels and exert various effects on the physiology of mammals.

This work had been assigned to assess the influence of dietary soy based is flavones on the level of plasma oestradiol 17β and progesterone in Gramasree layer chicken. At the end of the experimental period of 56 days, the plasma oestradiol concentration was found to be significantly higher (p<0.05) in birds fed a standard layer diet without soybean supplementation (304.41±1.01 pg/mL) and it was significantly lower (86.09±1.82 pg/mL) in birds fed with is flavone enriched diet. The progesterone concentration was not significantly different among the treatment groups and ranged between 1.92±0.06 to 1.98±0.03 ng/mL.