AbstractTwelve 6-month-old growing female goats and sheep were used in this study. Blood samples were obtained in the morning before goats and sheep were given food and then at 2-h intervals for 24 h (part I). This procedure was repeated 2 weeks later (part II). Concentrations of osteocalcin (OC), activities of total (tAP) and bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (bAP), degradation products of C-terminal telopeptide of type-I collagen (CrossLaps™ CL), and carboxyterminal telopeptide of type-I collagen (ICTP) were measured in serum.In both parts of the study, all bone marker concentrations were significantly higher in goats than in sheep. The OC concentrations in goats increased in the late afternoon/evening and decreased thereafter to reach values similar to those obtained at the beginning. The ICTP concentrations in goats slowly decreased until 14:00 h, increased, and decreased again. The concentrations in sheep decreased continuously but not significantly, towards the morning sampling. The CL concentrations increased in both sheep and goats during the night but at 06:00 h started to decrease to levels found at the beginning of testing. The bAP activities decreased in goats from 20:00 to 22:00 h. Changes in the concentrations of bone markers were mainly observed in goats of this study. As documented for bone resorption and formation in other species, circadian rhythms were evident for concentrations of ICTP, CL, bAP and OC. The present study indicates that growing goats may have a physiologically higher bone turn-over than growing sheep, because the bone marker concentrations were always higher.
