Sexual behavior of 'morada nova' breeding sheep under semi-intensive rearing during the mating season in the brazilian semiarid

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the sexual behavior of 'Morada Nova' breeding sheep reared in the Brazilian semi-arid during dry and rainy seasons in a semi-intensive system. The behavioral data were gathered from 4 rams and 114 ewes, among which 55 during the rainy season and the other 59 females in the dry season. The behavioral observations were conducted from 6 am to 5 pm, during both periods. The observations were carried out continuously and split into 'event' (execution frequency) and 'state' (execution time). During the rainy season, the breeding sheep showed the most efficient sexual behavior, with a shorter reaction time (RT) and less frequent mount attempts (MA), being of 122 sec and 2.97, respectively. However, throughout the dry period, some sexual behaviors such as sniffing the urogenital of females (SUF), penis exposure (EXP), head tossing (HT), and courting of females (FC) became more frequent, mainly in the afternoon, as with the flehmen response (FR). Male courting behavior was more evident in the rainy season during the end of the day, remaining less active during the dry period. Sexual behavior intensity in 'Morada Nova' sheep varies throughout the day, especially in the dry season. Key words: Sexual courtship. Ethology. Reproduction. ResumoObjetivou-se a partir desse trabalho avaliar o comportamento sexual de reprodutores ovinos da raça Morada Nova criados no semiárido brasileiro, durante períodos seco e chuvoso, em criação semiintensiva. Os dados comportamentais foram coletados a partir de 4 carneiros frente a114 fêmeas, 55 fêmeas durante período chuvoso e 59 no período seco. As observações foram realizadas para ambos períodos, das 06h00 às 17h00, totalizando 11 horas de avaliação diária. Os comportamentos foram obtidos de forma contínua e classificadas como 'evento' (frequência de execução) e 'estado' (tempo de execução). Durante o período chuvoso, os reprodutores mostraram comportamentos sexuais mais eficientes resultando em menor tempo de reação (TR) e menor frequência de tentativas de monta (NST)

Bioclimatic spatial zoning for small ruminants in the state of Paraíba, Brazil

“…Regarding relative humidity, it is observed that most of the mesoregion of Sertão, as well as all Borborema and part of Agreste present values within the recommended comfort for sheep, but Zona da Mata, Agreste and a small part of Sertão have humidity of 3 to 6% above the recommended comfort for these animals, and may adopt the same measures suggested for sheep in the rainy season for high humidity (Figure 10). In a study evaluating the sexual behavior of Morada Nova sheep in the city of São João do Cariri, located in the Borborema mesoregion, Santos et al (2017) observed air temperature of 28.6ºC, maximum temperature of 32.7ºC and minimum of 24.4ºC, and humidity of 46.1%, therefore being above the thermal comfort zone according to the authors, and such climatic changes may affect the sexual behavior of males, since this behavior is reduced in hot climates.…”