Models to predict live weight from heart girth in crossbred beef heifers

• Published in: Tropical animal health and production 2022-10, Vol.54 (5), p.275-275, Article 275
• Main Authors: Chico-Alcudia, Denis R., Portillo-Salgado, Rodrigo, Camacho-Pérez, Enrique, Peralta-Torres, Jorge A., Angeles-Hernandez, Juan C., Muñoz-Benitez, Alfonso L., Lendechy, Víctor Hugo Severino, Gurgel, Antonio Leandro Chaves, dos Santos Difante, Gelson, Ítavo, Luís Carlos Vinhas, Chay-Canul, Alfonso J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Bayesian analysis; Beef; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biometrics; Cattle; Correlation coefficient; Correlation coefficients; Criteria; Farms; Goodness of fit; Heart; Life Sciences; Livestock; Mathematical models; Performance prediction; Prediction models; Regular Articles; Root-mean-square errors; Veterinary Medicine/Veterinary Science; Weight; Zoology
• ISSN: 0049-4747; 1573-7438
• DOI: 10.1007/s11250-022-03276-7

The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate linear, quadratic, and exponential mathematical models to predict live weight (LW) from heart girth (HG) in crossbred heifers raised in tropical humid conditions in Mexico. Live weight (363.32 ± 150.88 kg) and HG (166.83 ± 24.88 cm) were measured in 400 heifers aged between 3 and 24 months. Linear and non-linear regression was used to construct the prediction models. The goodness of fit of the models was evaluated using the Akaike information criterion (AIC), the Bayesian information criterion (BIC), coefficient of determination ( R 2 ), mean squared error (MSE), and root MSE (RMSE). In addition, the developed models were evaluated through internal and external cross-validation ( k -folds) using independent data. The ability of the fitted models to predict the observed values was evaluated based on the root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP), R 2 , and mean absolute error (MAE). The correlation coefficient between LW and HG was r  = 0.98 ( P