STUDY OF THE BODY WEIGHT AND BIOMETRIC MEASUREMENTS IN CROSSBREED NEWBORN CALVES

Marinela Enculescu, Ioana Nicolae, St. Sertu, Daniela Vidmichi

Abstract
    The aim of this study was to evaluate the body weight and biometric measurements on crossbreed newborn calves comparative with Romanian Black Spotted newborn calves. Our researches was carried out in the Dairy cows' Farm of I.C.D.C.B. Balotesti. We have taken into consideration four experimental groups (E₁ Romanian Black Spotted x Charolaise, E2 Romanian Black Spotted x Blanc Blue Belgique, E₃ Romanian Black Spotted x Aberdeen Angus, E₄ Romanian Black Spotted x Limousine) and one control group (M) Romanian Black Spotted, with n=5 heads/group. The main body measurements performed were: body length (BL), height at withers (HW), height at rump (HR), height at chest (HC), perimeter of the thorax (PT), perimeter of the shin (PS), length of rump (LR). Means± (standard error), standard deviations (sd) and coefficients of variation (V) of body weight and biometric measurements were calculated. To obtain the significance of the differences, the Student’s test was applied. The mean values obtained for the body weight was distinct statistically significant (p<0.01) in the case of group E₁ and statistically significant (p<0.05) in the case of group E₂ comparative with the control group M. The average values recorded for height of chest (HC) was 34.20±0.37 cm in E₂ comparative with 31.80±0.49 cm in M group (p<0.01). The mean value for perimeter of the shin varied between groups, for E₂ and E₃ groups values were close to the native race (BNR), but very statistically significant differences between group E₄ and control group M (p<0.001). The analyzed quantitative traits showed some better performances for crossbreed calves comparative with BNR calves.

Key words: crossbreed calves, birth weight, biometric traits