The Effect of Sex on the Development of the Pig

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Abstract
The sexual development of boars of lines of inbred swine was studied by the assay of urinary 17-ketosteroids at various ages and by the measurement of the rate of testicular growth and seminiferous development. Differences among lines were found in the amt. of [male] hormones (17-ketosteroids) excreted in the urine and in the rate of increase in the wt. of testes, numbers of spermatogonial cells, and numbers of primary spermatocytes. Differences were also found in the diams. of the interstitial cells. Sexual desire of boars, as a line characteristic, was found to have considerable relationship to the excretion of 17-ketosteroids by the line. The various lines were found to illustrate the independent occurrence of factors usually associated with sexual development: age of appearance of ranting, degree of sex drive, development of secondary sex characteristics, and growth of seminiferous elements. Possible causes of these line differences were discussed.

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