Desempenho e comportamento reprodutivo de ovinos deslanados.

Abstract

In the Northeast region, sheep farming plays an important and fundamental role in the development of the region, further strengthening sheep farming, which is a traditional and remarkable activity not only in this region, but also in the entire national region. Reproductive efficiency is one of the main pillars for the success of sheep farming, being responsible for the population growth of the herd, for the propagation of genes of zootechnical interest and increasingly skillful responses on the part of the animals. Obtaining all information about reproductive performance, as well as knowing the actions inherent to the sexual behavior of the sheep, are extremely important factors for obtaining good zootechnical indexes and the very increase in the reproductive efficiency of a given herd. In reproduction, the reproductive behavior of children and males plays an important role, affecting both the success of mating and the survival of the role. Therefore, knowledge of the behavior patterns of the breeds is necessary to define a management model more appropriate to their exploitation. In this sense, objective was to evaluate the performance and reproductive behavior of ovines without wool. The work was carried out at the Experimental Station Benjamin Maranhão (6 ° S, 35 ° W, 188 m altitude). 35 Dorper females, 35 Santa Inês females and 6 adult breeders were used, 3 for each genotype, all with previous sexual experience. Reproductive performance was assessed using zootechnical indexes. Behavioral records were performed from 07:00 to 10:00 h and from 14:00 to 17:00 h, using focal animal sampling. The averages of the sum of the score of the variables in each treatment were compared using the Friedman's chisquare test. The reproductive indices were expressed as a percentage, through descriptive analysis. There was a pregnancy rate of 97.1 and 85.7% for the Dorper and Santa Inês ewes, and the opposite for the fertility rate at birth of 85.2 and 96.7% for the Santa Inês and Dorper ewes, respectively. The sexual behaviors most evidenced by the animals of the Santa Inês genotype were: sniffing the female's urogenital region, Flehmen's reflex, urinating, sniffing urine, vocalization, tongue exposure, courting with paws, heading, chasing and riding for the reproductive sexual conduct, and Flehmen's reflex, swinging the tail, lifting the tail and accepting breeding with the breeding behavior of females, these behavioral behaviors differed statistically (P <0.05) depending on the genetic group. Females and Santa Inês breeders showed greater sexual activity in relation to the Dorper group. In conclusion, the animals of the Santa Inês breed showed greater sexual activity in relation to the animals of the Dorper herd, being evidenced by the expressiveness of the behavioral behaviors of this genotype during the natural breeding regime. Despite the genotype Santa Inês is more sexually active than the Dorper herd, they had similar reproductive performance. In addition to high zootechnical indexes in both genotypes.