Biometric measurements of Santa Inês meat sheep reared on Brachiaria brizantha pastures in Northeast Brazil

This study was undertaken to examine biometric measurements during the growth phase of male and female Santa Inês sheep reared in Brachiaria brizantha pastures in northeastern Brazil. The experiment involved 24 castrated males and 24 females at an initial age of 90 days, with an average body weight...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	PloS one Vol. 14; no. 7; p. e0219343
Main Authors:	Silva Souza, Joelma da, do Santos Difante, Gelson, Neto, João Virgínio Emerenciano, Lana, Ângela Maria Quintão, da Silva Roberto, Francisca Fernanda, Ribeiro, Pedro Henrique Cavalcante
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States Public Library of Science 30-07-2019 Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects:	Age Animal sciences Animals Biology and Life Sciences Biometrics Body length Body Weight Brachiaria Brachiaria brizantha Brazil Correlation analysis Cultivars Design of experiments Experimental design Farms Female Females Grasses Kruskal-Wallis test Leg Male Males Meat Medicine and Health Sciences Ovis aries Pasture Precipitation Rain Regression Analysis Research and Analysis Methods Sheep Sheep - anatomy & histology Social Sciences Temperature Variance analysis Zoology Brazil Rio Grande do Norte Brazil
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	This study was undertaken to examine biometric measurements during the growth phase of male and female Santa Inês sheep reared in Brachiaria brizantha pastures in northeastern Brazil. The experiment involved 24 castrated males and 24 females at an initial age of 90 days, with an average body weight of 19.04 ± 0.96 kg. Treatments consisted of the effect of four cultivars (Marandu, Xaraés, Piatã and Paiaguás) and two sexes. Six animals were used per treatment, in a randomized-block experimental design. The following characteristics were evaluated: abdominal circumference (AC), body condition score (BCS), body length (BL), body weight (BW), body capacity 1 (BC1), body capacity 2 (BC2), chest width (CW), heart girth (HG), leg circumference (LC), leg length (LL), rump height (RH), rump width (RW) and withers height (WH). Data were subjected to descriptive analysis, Pearson's correlation, ANOVA and Tukey's, Kruskal Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests. Univariate and multiple regressions were applied to estimate BW with a maximum error level of 5%. Significant differences were observed for the biometric measurements between sexes and cultivars (p<0.05). Body weight was highly correlated (>70%) with AC, WH, CG, RW, BC1 and BC2. The male sheep grazed on cultivars Piatã showed the best values for BW (40.43 kg), HG, RW, WH, LL, LC (102.46; 20.8; 65.23; 60.44; 42.54 cm respectively) and BC1 (4.25 kg/cm). Females grazed on cultivar Marandu had higher values for RW, CW, LL (17.26; 20.1; 75.98 cm respectively), BC1 (6.03 kg/cm) and BC2 (0.422 kg/cm). The equations that best estimated live weight were BC1 and HG. In male and female Santa Inês sheep, biometric parameters grow differently depending on the cultivar where they are grazed during the growth phase. Cultivars Marandu and Piatã are the most recommended for sheep production, as they provided the best performance and body development in those animals.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
ISSN:	1932-6203 1932-6203
DOI:	10.1371/journal.pone.0219343