Can body volume predict of body weight in Pelibuey ewe lambs?

O volume corporal pode predizer o peso corporal em borregas Pelibuey?

ABSTRACT:

In traditional sheep production systems in tropical regions, the evaluation and monitoring of animal growth are not commonly practiced. This is primarily attributed to the limited adoption of technology and the high costs associated with acquiring livestock scales. The present study developed equations to predict body weight of Pelibuey ewe lambs using a Body Volume (BV) formula. BW and BV were obtained from 85 ewe lambs. The models evaluated were as follows: 1) linear, 2) quadratic, 3) cubic, 4) allometric, 5) exponential and 6) logarithmic. In addition, the models’ predictive ability for BW was assessed by k-fold (k=10) cross-validation. The BW and BV were 20.60 ± 8.73 kg and 17.54 ± 7.89 dm³, respectively. The quadratic model showed the highest r² and the lowest values of mean square error, root mean square error, and bayesian information criterion, while the k-fold cross-validation technique also had the highest r² and the lowest values of mean squared prediction error and mean absolute error. The quadratic model was the best performing mathematical model for predicting BW of growing Pelibuey ewe lambs using BV.

Key words:
body weight estimation; Pelibuey ewe lambs; mathematical models; regression models