Identification of a historic horse ecotype analyzing speech content in central Brazil

Abstract

This study represents a first attempt to rescue germplasm of a traditional domestic equine cited in early Iberian and South American literature as Curraleiro horse. As an effort to identify and possibly characterize this type of horse we accessed traditional knowledge in strategic rural areas. Most areas were configured by hinterland settlements founded by runaway slave communities from the sixteenth century. Twenty interviews were conducted and analyzed using classical Speech Content Analysis. As a result, five response categories were recognized: 1) Identification and location of Curraleiro horses; 2) Characterization of Curraleiro horses; 3) Historical aspects; 4) Curraleiro horse conservation prospects and 5) Sanitary and productive aspects of Curraleiro horse breeding. We concluded that although scarce, the Curraleiro horse, cited in literature, still exists and showed phenotypical features which allow fine discrimination from any officially recognized breed in Brazil. Our findings may open the door for the recognition of a genuine animal resource which could play a role in rural development for specific regions and traditional communities. Speech Content Analysis was effective for in loco identification and characterization of rare traditional livestock. Thus, we encourage the usage of this tool as an alternative to subsidize identification and genetic conservation programs worldwide.

October-2020

“…This problem could be solved by creating According to our models, production activity profitability is quite comparable to the profitability of existing peasant farms specializing in other fields. The average peasant farm in the study region should have an area of arable land per farm of about 80 hectares, of the use of horses in other areas [7,8,12,13]. Thus, serious attention is paid to the issues of genetics management, nutrition, technology, veterinary medicine, breeding, and ecology [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22].…”

“…Around the world, there is a transition from traditional agriculture with a high proportion of manual labor to industrial agriculture, making it necessary to diversify agricultural enterprises and create new opportunities to preserve livelihoods in the country [29], including through the development of horse breeding. Horse breeding was used successfully in Brazil to preserve rural areas and traditional rural communities [8].…”

“…This unprofitability needs to be improved, but modern authors focus on technological, veterinary, and zootechnical aspects of the horse breeding industry [7,8]. Improving economic efficiency, kumis and horse meat production, cost accounting, and herd reproduction are not fully covered.…”

Supporting Supply-Chain Actors and Bovine Traceability Systems: Case Study in Mato Grosso Do Sul – Brazil

“…written by the interviewees in the open questions of the first round followed a manual clipping procedure (Bardin, 2004). This tool has been incorporated into other fields of knowledge, such as Animal Sciences and Agribusiness (Solano et al, 2011;Gordo et al, 2013;Silva et al, 2013;Silva et al, 2019).…”

Qualitative Characters of Indigenous Sheep in Central Brazil: Putting Phenotype into Perspective

“…Prior to the morphologic evaluation, data from researchers, herd managers, and employees related to the conservation units were surveyed (Figure 1) using speech content analysis [23,24]. Because researchers were familiar with Pantaneiro sheep, this experience was used to check if any interesting feature could be added to the list of 11 morphologic variables.…”