Obesidade em equinos da raça Crioula

Abstract

With the increase in value of the Crioulo breed and the different high-demand sports categories in which it participates, there was also an increase in intensive breeding systems, which provide a greater energy supply of nutrition, increasing the rate of animals that are overweight and obese. Thus, this thesis aims to address the issue of obesity in the Crioulo breed in two important periods of breeding. The first article addresses the humoral immune evaluation of pregnant overweight mares in response to a commercial vaccine. Thirty pregnant Crioulo mares were separated according to body condition score (BCS) into overweight mares (ECC≥7/9) and control mares (ECC = 5-6/9), yet in each group, animals were also separated into vaccinated and controls. The mares were vaccinated against EHV-1 in two doses with an interval of 21 days and collected monthly for five months for antibody evaluation. Both vaccinated groups had an increase in serum neutralizing antibodies after the vaccine, however, after the second dose, no increase in antibodies was observed in any of the groups. No difference was observed between the groups of animals vaccinated with BCS≥7 and BCS 5-6 at any time point, and it was found that the BCS does not alter the humoral response during the final third of pregnancy. Thus, this study demonstrated that obesity was not a factor that influenced the humoral immune response of pregnant mares. Article 2 aimed to evaluate the BCS and metabolic profile of the finalists of the Freio de Ouro competition, separated by gender. This study evaluated 84 Crioulo horses, 43 non-pregnant females and 41 stallions, from which morphometric measurements of BCS, crest neck score (CNS), evaluation of fat depth at the neck and fat in the base of the tail were performed, From these measures, the percentage of body fat (%BF), body mass index (BMI), fat mass (FM), free fat mass (FFM), thorax and height ratio (CT:AC) and neck to height ratio (CP:AC) were also performed. From the 84 animals, 53 were sampled for evaluation of triglycerides, cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), highdensity lipoprotein (HDL), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), creatine kinase (CK), and adiponectin. Regarding BCS, 21% of the participants were classified as overweight (BCS 7/9), and 49% with CNS≥3. Greater fat deposition was found at the base of the tail and neck in females. Females also had higher %BF, FM and CT:AC ratio and lower CP:AC when compared to males. Of the metabolic variables, females had higher concentrations of LDH, LDL, CK, and lower concentrations of adiponectin than males. No difference was observed in the morphometric measurements of the participants who passed to the last day of competition from those who were disqualified. Based on this study, it was possible to observe that despite the fact that the Freio de Ouro competition is of high physical demand and preparation of the participants, a percentage of the participants were overweight and with increased deposition of regional fat in the neck, which may predispose to the development of metabolic changes. However, no metabolic changes related to increased adiposity were found. In addition, females accumulated more fat than males.