Resumen

DE LAS HERAS-TORRES, Jesús G et al. Factors affecting the constants of the growth curve of calves in a dual purpose system in the tropics of Mexico. Rev. Cient. (Maracaibo) [online]. 2008, vol.18, n.4, pp.393-397. ISSN 0798-2259.

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of some environmental factors on the constants of the growth curve of crossbred calves in a dual-purpose system in the humid tropic of Mexico. Calves were: ¾ European (Holstein, Simmental, Brown Swiss) ¼ Zebu, as their mothers. The calves help to the let down of milk during milking and drunk the residual milk for 30 minutes (restricted suckling) and were maintained in a Star grass paddock having access to an energetic-proteical supplement (1 kg/calf/day). Three hundredth and sixty-one (190 males and 171 females) were weighed (4.678 weights) at birth and thereafter every 28 days until weaning. The linear and quadratic constants for each animal growth were analyzed through general linear models. Year and season of birth had significant effects (P<0.05) on the linear and quadratic regression coefficients, sex of the calf on the quadratic coefficient and parity number on the linear coefficient. Under cattle dual-purpose systems in the tropics, bio-climatic factors during the seasons of the year bring about conditions, which result in different daily weight gain of the calves. Milk consumption had an important effect in the rate of weight body gain. Feed supplementation to the calf might reduce the importance of the milk effect mainly in the last part of the rearing period.

Palabras clave : Dual-purpose calves; growth; Mexico; humid tropic.