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Changes in plasma LH concentrations were followed in chickens of both sexes from hatch to sexual maturity using a radioimmunoassay. Mean levels of LH were lower in the females than in the males at all stages of development. These levels rose rapidly in both sexes during the first week after hatch to maxima of 6·5 ± 1·2 (S.E.M.) ng/ml (n = 6) in the males and 4·6 ± 0·6 ng/ml (n = 6) in the females. Thereafter levels of the hormone in the circulation stabilized in the males but fell over a period of 1 or 2 weeks in the females to 2·5–3 ng/ml.

Plasma LH levels started to rise steeply in both sexes when they were between 16 and 19 weeks old at the same time as there was an increase in the rate of comb growth. Afterwards in six of the males studied in detail the mean plasma LH level rose significantly (P < 0·01) over a period of 5–8 weeks from 8·1 ± 1·2 to 13·2 ± 1·9 ng/ml. In a parallel study on six females the rate of LH secretion increased for approximately 3 weeks and then decreased for about the same period forming a prepubertal LH peak. The first eggs were laid between 22 and 25 weeks of age when mean plasma LH levels had fallen to about 1·8 ng/ml. The mean plasma LH level in these hens when they were laying (1·8 ± 0·3 ng/ml) was significantly lower (P < 0·01) than when they were sexually immature (2·7 ± 0·3 ng/ml). The duration of the period of rapid comb growth in each bird was closely related in the males to the time during which prepubertal LH levels were rising rapidly, and in the females to the duration of the prepubertal LH peak.

Differences in mean plasma LH concentrations in individual birds of either sex before the onset of puberty appeared to be related to subsequent reproductive performance.

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