Estudos de características produtivas e medidas morfométricas de ovino de raça Santa Inês, usadas como critério de seleção.

Abstract

This work aimed to make a study of the influence of factors affecting production characteristics and morphometric measurements of sheep Santa Inês, agricultural exhibition participants and estimate correlation coefficients between the features, this information is paramount to be used as a possible selection criteria, thus improving the breed and increase animal production. Were analyzed, weight characteristics, weight gain and morphometric measurements (body length, rear height, previous height, chest circumference and scrotal circumference) of 137 sheep Santa Ines, of these, 106 females and 31 males, all born in period 2006-2009, with ages ranging from 4 to 36 months, coming from 24 farms. Made was a variance analysis using the Maximum Likelihood method Restricted hair PROC MIXED procedure of the Statistical Analysis System (SAS), 2006 (Version 9.3). The Pearson correlation coefficients between traits were estimated by CORR of SAS procedure. Analysis of the data demonstrated a significant difference (P <0.01) for the effect of gender in all characteristics. The month of birth did not influence in any of the evaluated characteristics, except daily gain weight of the animal (P <0.05). The effect of the farm was significant (P <0.05) for weight characteristics, daily weight gain and feed length. The year of birth weight significantly affect the characteristics (P <0.01), length (P <0.01), posterior height (P <0.05) and anterior height (P <0.01). There was a significant difference for the effect of age on weight characteristics, daily weight gain and length and previous animal height. The girth characteristics and scrotal circumference had no influence on any of the analyzed sources of variation. Genetic correlations between the weight of the animals and studied morphometric measurements and correlations of each other measures were all positive moderate to high. The girth was the most correlated measured with animal's weight. The daily weight gain was negatively correlated with all studied traits. The weight and weight gain are more subject to the influence of environmental factors. Therefore, all these features analyzed in this work can be used as an aid in determining the sheep Santa Inês selection criteria.