Variation in cow body condition score during the final third of gestation and its effects on progeny performance

• Autor(a) principal: Klein, John Lenon
• Data de Publicação: 2024
• Outros Autores: Adams, Sander Martinho, Alves Filho, Dari Celestino, Machado, Diego Soares, Maidana, Fabiana Moro, Brondani, Ivan Luis, Cocco, Joziane Michelon, Pizzuti, Luiz Ângelo Damian, Teixeira, Odilene de Souza, Volpatto, Rodrigo Soares
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Semina. Ciências Agrárias (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://ojs.uel.br/revistas/uel/index.php/semagrarias/article/view/48427
• topic: Feedlot; Fetal programming; Marbling; Meat quality; Residual food intake.; Confinamento; Consumo alimentar residual; Marmoreio; Programação fetal; Qualidade de carne.

Maternal nutrition during gestation has recently been associated with fetal formation and the productive potential of progeny in adult life. One efficient way to evaluate the nutritional status of the pregnant cow is by considering its body condition score (BCS). Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of the BCS variation of the cow during gestation on the performance and post-slaughter characteristics of the progeny. Progenies were divided according to the performance of the cows: LOST, cows that lost 0.20 BCS points; KEPT, cows that maintained BCS; WON, cows that gained 0.23 BCS points in the final third of pregnancy. The experimental design used was completely randomized with three treatments. WON cows had higher weight and BCS at calving compared to LOST cows. The performance of the progeny was not influenced by the variation in the ECC of the cow during gestation (P>0.05). During feedlot finishing, LOST steers tended (P = 0.1013) to have higher dry matter intake than KEPT and WON (10.10 vs 9.75 and 9.24 kg day-1, respectively). WON steers were more efficient for RFI (Residual Feed Intake) and more productive for RWG (Residual Weight Gain) compared to LOST animals. Likewise, WON progeny tended to have greater subcutaneous fat deposition (P = 0.0826) and marbling (P = 0.0961) than LOST and KEPT steers. In this way, the accumulation of maternal body score during pregnancy demonstrates fulfilling the requirements for fetal growth, which favors the development and formation of superior animals.