INFLUENCE OF BODY CONDITION SCORE ON PREGNANCY RATE IN NELORE COWS SUBJECTED TO FIXED-TIME ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION

Abstract

Beef is one of the most consumed proteins in the world, favoring foreign trade. Brazil is one of the largest exporters of this product, which leads to the importance of seeking ways to obtain greater reproductive and productive efficiency. Among these methods, the use of Fixed-Time Artificial Insemination (TAI) has been increasing and with this comes the search for strategies to achieve better pregnancy rates. One strategy is to evaluate the animal's nutrition in conjunction with body condition. Therefore, the purpose of this work is to verify the influence of the Body Condition Score (BCS) on the pregnancy rate in Nelore cows submitted to IATF. The study was carried out on a private property in the municipality of Cacoal, Rondônia, with 150 multiparous Nelore cows, with an average age of 5 years, subjected to semi-intensive grazing management. Two groups were separated: group A: 75 cows with a score ≥ 3.0 and group B: 75 dams with a score ≤2.5. Both underwent the same pharmacological protocol, divided into three stages (D0, D8 and D10). Artificial insemination was carried out on D10 and after 30 days the cows from both groups underwent pregnancy diagnosis via ultrasound. The results demonstrated that the pregnancy rate of group A (68%) was higher than that of group B (40%), with concern regarding the BCS of Nelore cows in TAI protocols being relevant.