ASSOCIAÇÃO ENTRE EFICIÊNCIA ALIMENTAR E PRECOCIDADE SEXUAL EM FÊMEAS DA RAÇA NELORE.

Abstract: The aimed of this study was to evaluate the relationship between feed efficiency and sexual precocity traits in Nellore heifers. The reproductive and feed efficiency data of 151 Nellore females were used, from which were collected: RFI, dry matter intake (DMI), feed conversion (FC), feed efficiency (FE), uterine tract score (UTS) and early pregnancy (GEST), as a binary trait. Correlation analysis and analysis of variance between the linear traits (RFI, DMI, FC, FE) was performed. For the threshold traits (UTS and GEST), the correlation coefficient was obtained considering coefficient of determination? square root of an adjusted logistic regression model. To verify the association between these traits and the RFI classifications, a Chi-square test was performed. The correlation between DMI and feed efficiency traits, demonstrate that RFI, FC and FE can be used as an indicator of the animals that presented lower consumption. Among feed efficiency and sexual precocity traits, low and no significant correlations were observed. For UTS and GEST, a low magnitude correlation was observed. Among RFI classes, significant differences (P <0.05) were observed for DMI and FC. For sexual precocity traits and RFI classes, https://proceedings.science/p/105322no significant difference was observed. Selection for feed efficiency does not influence the performance for sexual precocity in Nellore females