MUÑOZ, Mário Fernando Cerón.; SILVA, Ana Mary da.; MELLO, Sílvio de Paula.; ALENCAR, Maurício Mello de.; QUEIROZ, Sandra Aidar de.; CRUZ, Geraldo Maria da.
Abstract:
The d>bjective of this study was to evaluate birth weight (BW), weaning weight (WW) and average
daily gain from birth to weaning (ADG) of Blonde d'Aquitaine (B) x Nellore (N) crossbred calves. The calves, 114
B + 3/4 N, 3/8 B + 5/8 N, 3/4 B + 114 N e 7/8 B + 1/8 N, were sired by Blonde d'Aquitaine and Nellore bulls mated to
Y2 B + Y2 Nand 3/4 B + 114 N cows. The observations were analyzed by the least squares method with a model that
included the effects of year and month of birth, sex, age of cow, genetic group of sire (GGS), genetic group of
dam (GGD) and GGS x GGD. Even though the interaction was significant for all three traits, the 3/4 B + 114 N
cows produced heavier calves at birth and lighter calves at weaning independently of GGS. The effects of GGS
can not be attributed to the breed of sire due to the occurrence of preferential matings. The least square means
for BW, WW and ADG were, respectively, 30.9:t 0.1, 189.4:t 1.1 and 0.660:t 0.004 (114 B + 3/4 N), 32.2:t 0,2'-
183.2:t 1.4 and 0.629:t 0.006 (3/8 B + 518 N), 34.0:t 0.1, 208.2:t 0.7 and 0.726:t 0.003 (3/4 B + 114 N), and 36.0
:t 0.2, 198.0 :t 1.5 and 0.675 :t 0.006(7/8 B + 1/8 N).