EFFECT OF RESTRICTED SUCKLING AND SUPPLEMENTATION WITH WHOLE COTTON SEED ON BODY´S WEIGTH AND CONDITION SCORE IN COWS UNDER DOUBLE PURPOSE PRODUCTION SYSTEM

In a farm, located in the Sinú Valley, department of Cordoba, with the objective of evaluating the effect of an supplementation whole cotton seed on the Body Weight (BW) and Body Condition Score (BCS) 30 days before calving, thirteen F1 Holstein X Zebu (HxZ) heifers, were divided into two groups: group 1 (G1), conformed by 7 heifers, which received, as well as grazing, 2 kg of whole cotton seed; group 2 (G2), conformed by 6 heifers, that only grazed. After calving till week 14, it was evaluated the effect of the supplementation with whole cotton seed and the suckling system on BW and BCS for witch 4 treatments were conformed: T1 conformed by four cows, supplemented with 2 Kg. of whole cotton seed and experimental suckling; T2 conformed by three cows, supplemented with 2 Kg. of whole cotton seed and traditional suckling; T3 conformed by three cows without supplementation and experimental suckling; T4 conformed by three cows without supplementation and traditional suckling. A complete random design with a 2x2 factorial arrangement was used and for the results analysis an ANOVA was used. There was no effect (P>0.05) of the pre and postpartum treatments on the animals BW and the BCS, resulting in agreement and in part contrary to experimental researches available in the consulted literature.