Influence of season of birth and sex on wight gain in Nelore calves in tropical systems
Abstract
The productive performance of beef cattle is influenced by the interaction of genetic and environmental factors. The aim was to evaluate the impact of seasonality, sex and birth weight on the weight development of 483 Nelore cattle. A five-year retrospective longitudinal survey was carried out, analyzing the data using ANOVA, Tukey's test, Pearson's correlation and Random Forest. The results indicated that calves born in the rainy season had higher birth weights, regardless of gender. Sexual dimorphism was more expressive in weaning weight and yearling weight during the rainy season, where males were significantly heavier. Weaning weight, rather than birth weight, was consolidated as the main predictor of subsequent performance, with strong positive correlations with yearling and yearling weights. The analysis of relative importance confirmed that environmental influence (period) is more critical in the early stages, while sex becomes progressively more decisive. It is concluded that management should aim to optimize weaning weight, as this is the most robust indicator of future performance in production systems in tropical regions.
Keywords: cattle; growth; sexual dimorphism; interaction; weight.
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