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Correlations between heat tolerance and reproductive and reproductive and productive traits in pitangeiras cows

Alvaro de Matos Lemos^I; Raysildo Barbosa Lôbo^II

^ICNP-Gado de Leite, EMBRAPA, 36155 Coronel Pacheco, MG, Brasil. Send correspondence to A.M.L.
^IIDepartamento de Genética, FMRP-USP, 14049 Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brasil

ABSTRACT

The relationship between heat tolerance and reproduction and production characteristics in Pitangueiras cows was studied. The data were collected from the Tres Barras farm herd in Pitangueiras, São Paulo state. Heat tolerance was measured as rectal temperature increase (RTI), which is the increase in rectal temperature from the morning until the afternoon. Reproduction characteristics considered included: age at first calving (AFC), number of services per conception (NSC), days open (DO) and calving interval (CI). Production characteristics included: lactation length (LL), milk yield (MY), fat percentage (F%) and fat yield (FY). Genetic correlation coefficient estimates were obtained by the method of correlation between paternal half sisters. The correlations obtained were: RTI x AFC 0.11, -0.04, -0.02; RTI x NSC -0.29, 0.01, 0.11; RTI x DO 1.02, 0.07, 0.09; RTI x CI 0.09, 0.04, 0.03; RTI x LL 0.56, 0.13, -0.05; RTI x MY 0.18, 0.16, 0.29; RTI x (F% -0.14, 0.13, -0.13; RTI x FY 0.16, 0.15, 0.18. We concluded that selection for heat tolerance in Pitangueiras cows is not recommended for Pitangueiras cows under the conditions of our study.

Keywords: Heat tolerance; Pitangueiras cows.

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