Respostas fisiológicas e comportamentais de caprinos em pastagem nativa no semi-arido paraibano.

Abstract

The experiment was carried out at experimental farm of Federal University of Campina Grande (UFCG), Patos, Paraiba, Brazil. The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of environment on the physiological, blood and behavior responses of Boer goats crossbreeds finished in native pasture under different supplementation levels. Twenty-four Boer goats crossbreeds , non emasculated with 120 days old and an initial live body weight of 15.52 Kg, were used for evaluation of physiologic and blood responses and for evaluation and to evaluate of the look for water and shade. The animals were properly identified. The treatments were randomly assigned to the animals according to a completely random design with 4 treatments (0.0, 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5% of live body weight on Dry matter) and six replications (goats). The environmental parameters were determined. In relation to the environmental and physiologic parameters a significant effect was observed, with larger temperature on the afternoon period. There wasn’t effect of treatments to blood parameters. Considering the look for water, there was effect in function of the time. Already in the search for shade effect wasn’t verified, nor for treatments nor for time. The different supplementation levels don't presented significant effect on the blood and physiological parameters of Boer goats crossbreed in the Brazilian semi-arid. The supplementation doesn't alter the frequency of search of water for Boer goats crossbreed finished in native pasture, but these animals looked for more the water in the month of June. Independently of the feeding supplementation level and of the time, the largest search for water happened in the morning.