Composição corporal e parâmetros de desenvolvimento de potros da raça quarto de milha

Abstract

The objective of this work was to determine the morphometric parameters and body composition to monitoring the development of Quarter Horse foals, in the Brazilian Northeast, from birth to 24 months of life. In this study 51 foals were monitored monthly and the following body measurements were taken: withers height (WH), croup height (CH), cannon bone circumference (CBC), chest perimeter (CP), body weight, in addition to ultrasonographic evaluation of rump fat thickness (RFT). With the RFT data, Fat-Free Mass (FFM), Fat Percentage (FP) and Fat Mass (FM) were determined. The results demonstrated that the parameters analyzed changed significantly during the study period between age groups (P<0.05). At 24 months the foals reached 98% of the height at the withers, the cannon bone circumference 88%, the croup height reached 101%, the chest perimeter 94%, and finally 84.93% of the weight expected into adulthood. The average daily gain (ADG) in the 1st month was 1.428 kg/day, the foals practically doubled their weight in this phase, with 6 months the ADG was 0.686 kg/day, at 12 months 0.370 kg /day, 0.321 kg/day at 18 months and 0.201 kg/day at 24 months. In conclusion, developing foals show high weight gain and their morphometric measurements increase in a constant and linear way, demonstrating the importance of monitoring their development from birth in order to avoid yield losses in their adulthood.