Evaluation of recording intervals to estimate the ingestive behavior of cattle housed in individual pens

Authors

  • J. Aldrighi Instituto de Zootecnia, Centro APTA Bovinos de Corte, Sertãozinho, SP
  • R. H. Branco Instituto de Zootecnia, Centro APTA Bovinos de Corte, Sertãozinho, SP
  • J. N. S. G. Cyrillo Instituto de Zootecnia, Centro APTA Bovinos de Corte, Sertãozinho, SP
  • E. Magnani Instituto de Zootecnia, Centro APTA Bovinos de Corte, Sertãozinho, SP
  • C. F. Nascimento Instituto de Zootecnia, Centro APTA Bovinos de Corte, Sertãozinho, SP
  • M. E. Z. Mercadante Instituto de Zootecnia, Centro APTA Bovinos de Corte, Sertãozinho, SP

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17523/bia.2018.v75.e1412

Keywords:

Beef cattle, meal duration, meal frequency, recording interval

Abstract

 The objective of this study was to compare five-minute recording intervals with four time intervals (10, 15, 20 and 30 minutes) for estimation of eating, ruminating, idling and standing time, as well as meal frequency, of cattle housed in individual pens. Sixty-two weaned Nellore males housed in individual pens for 112 days were used. Ingestive behavior was evaluated every 28 days for 24 h. Direct observations were made using scan sampling and instantaneous sampling at intervals of 5 minutes. The recording intervals were evaluated using error variance, correlations, and adjusted means. For all traits, the residual variance tended to increase with increasing recording interval, except for meal frequency whose residual variance decreased with increasing recording interval. The adjusted means for the ingestive behavior measurements obtained at intervals of 5, 10, 15, 20 and 30 minutes did not differ significantly (P>0.05), except for meal frequency which was lower (P<0.05) in the 30-minute recording interval. The correlations with the 5-minute recording interval were considered high up to the 15-minute interval. However, for longer recording intervals, the correlation with the 5-minute recording interval decreased abruptly, showing that recording intervals longer than 15 minutes are inadequate to estimate ingestive behavior traits of cattle.

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Published

2018-08-31

Issue

Section

PRODUÇÃO DE RUMINANTES

How to Cite

Evaluation of recording intervals to estimate the ingestive behavior of cattle housed in individual pens. (2018). Bulletin of Animal Husbandry, 75. https://doi.org/10.17523/bia.2018.v75.e1412

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