ABSTRACT This study evaluated different crosses for sustainable beef production in the Meio-Norte, Brazil. Thirty-four cattle [seven Curraleiro Pé-duro (CPD), six Nellore (NEL), seven , seven , and seven ] were evaluated on natural pastures in the states of Piauí and Maranhão. The animals were weighed at birth (BW); weaning (WW); 12 (W12), 18 (W18), and 24 months (W24); and slaughter (SW). The morphometric measurements of rump height (RH), withers height (WH), body length (BW), and heart girth (HG) were […]

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to access and characterize single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) located within the HSF1 and HSPA6 candidate genes for adaptability in Angus breed raised in subtropical climate. Samples of DNA from 20 animals representing extreme phenotypes for adaptability traits were obtained. Sequence variations in the candidate genes were described by sequencing target regions. We identified 12 SNP located in the HSF1 gene. Moreover, four of the six SNP found in the HSPA6 gene cause amino […]

In the present work we aimed to compare intake, performance, feed efficiency and carcass traits of cattle from three genetic groups (GG) fed two concentrate levels in the diet. Forty-eight steers (16 Nellore, 16 Nellore-Red Angus and 16 Nellore-Simmental) were used. Twelve steers were slaughtered at the beginning of experiment as a reference group and for the remaining 36 animals, the concentrate mixture of the ration was offered as 1 and 2% of body weight basis in a 3 × […]

The objectives of this study were to evaluate a multibreed heteroskedastic animal model (MAMR) to estimate residual variance heterogeneity due to breed, heterozigosity, sex and contemporary groups (CG) and robustness to outliers. Differences on variance components, heritability and genetic values estimates were evaluated. It was used 4,016 records of post weaning weight gain (PWG) from Brangus foundation herd of Embrapa Pecuária Sul. Data were analyzed by MAMR with four different residual distribution specifications, which were defined by the nature of […]

The objectives of this study were to use a multibreed animal model to verify the presence of heterogeneity of genetic variance between Angus and Nelore breeds, to verify the importance of the variance due to the segregation between these two breeds and to estimate breed additive genetic effects on the dominance and additive × additive epistatic effects. It was used in this study 4,016 records of post weaning weight gain from Brangus breed foundation herd from Embrapa Pecuária Sul, analyzed […]

In three years of research, 223 purebred Nelore and crossbred Canchim × Nelore, Angus × Nelore and Simmental × Nelore calves received either mineral mixture or 3 kg/animal/day of a concentrate, containing 18.8% crude protein and 81.5% total digestible nutrients, on a dry basis, while in a rotational grazing of Cynodon dactylon cv. Coastcross, fertilized pastures. Available forage (kg dry matter/ha) was different for paddocks of cattle receiving mineral mixture (2,961 kg) from those receiving concentrate (3,383 kg). However, forage […]

(Co)variance components were determined for post-weaning traits, and covariances with birth weight (BW) and pre-weaning traits, in Angus cattle using an animal model. Records of weaning and yearling weights of 18,921 animals were used and from these 4,452 had complete evaluations of visual scores at weaning and post-weaning phases. Records of BW were available for 11,788 animals. Heritabilities of post-weaning gain (GP205) and visual scores for conformation (YC), precocity (YP), muscling (YM) and size (YS) were 0.20, 0.19, 0.25, 0.26 […]

Seventy-one animals from two genetic groups, ½ Angus – ½ Nellore (AN) and ½ Simmental ¾ ½ Nellore (SN) with different growth potential, which belonged to the Projeto Cruzamento Embrapa 1 were used. These groups were submitted to seven castration treatments. It was observed that the SN animals delayed 14 more days in feedlot in order to be slaughtered in the same degree of finishing as the AN (131 days versus 117 days, respectively) animals. The other evaluated traits, slaughter […]