Comportamento materno-filial de ovelhas da raça Texel de diferentes categorias

Abstract

The filial maternal relationship is one of the most important traits for ewes, and is related to the trait of maternal ability and the mother's experience. The objective of this work was to evaluate the maternal-filial behavior of ewes according to the category. Ten sheep of the Texel breed, with an average body weight of 55 kg, were selected, divided into two groups: Group of primiparous and Multiparous group. The experimental period comprised the months of May, June (ewe selection) and July and August (evaluations). The experimental design was completely randomized with five replications of each experimental group, each sheep being considered an experimental unit. The evaluated variables were the maternal behavior score test, attitudes of the ewe right after parturition, type of parturition and birth weight and development of the lambs. Attitude data were qualitatively evaluated, while maternal behavior score (ECM) and body weight data were submitted to analysis of variance (ANOVA) and means compared by Tukey's test (5%), using the AGROESTAT program ®. The maternal ability of the ewes seems to be related to the selection for this trait, not having been influenced by the animal category. The average total weight of lambs at 60 days of age was 24.3 kg, not being influenced by maternal category. [resumo fornecido pelo autor]