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In growing lambs, can body weight be predicted from the dorsal area?
Miguel Ángel Gastelum-Delgado1, Roberto Carlos Barrientos-Medina2, Darwin Nicolas Arcos-Álvarez3
1División Académica de Ciencias Agropecuarias, Carretera Villahermosa-Teapa, km 25, R/A. La Huasteca 2, Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco, Sección, Centro, Tabasco, México. C.P, Tabasco, Villahermosa 86280, México.
Predicting lamb body weight (BW) is crucial for herd management. This study developed a quadratic model using dorsal area (DA) to estimate BW in growing lambs, offering a practical tool for farm efficiency.
Area of Science:
- Animal Science
- Agricultural Engineering
- Quantitative Biology
Background:
- Accurate body weight (BW) assessment is vital for evaluating herd performance and production efficiency.
- Developing non-invasive methods for BW prediction can improve livestock management practices.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and evaluate equation models for predicting body weight (BW) in growing lambs.
- To assess the efficacy of dorsal area (DA) as a predictor of BW in lambs.
Main Methods:
- Measured BW, hip width (HW), thoracic width (TW), and body length (BL) in 275 growing lambs.
- Calculated dorsal area (DA) using geometric formulas based on HW, TW, and BL.
- Constructed linear and non-linear regression models, evaluating them with AIC, BIC, R², MSE, and RMSE.
- Performed internal cross-validation (k-folds) to assess model predictive accuracy using RMSEP, R², and MAE.
Main Results:
- A quadratic model incorporating DA was selected for BW prediction: BW = -8.47 + 0.06 × DA - 2.29 × DA².
- This model demonstrated the lowest MSE, RMSE, and AIC values.
- The quadratic fit yielded the highest coefficient of determination (R² = 0.67) for the BW-DA relationship.
Conclusions:
- The quadratic model using dorsal area (DA) provides a reasonably accurate method for predicting body weight (BW) in growing lambs.
- Dorsal area shows potential as a moderate predictor of BW, aiding in efficient farm management.
- This approach can contribute to improved livestock property management through easier BW estimation.
