Sexual precocity in Nelore bovines evaluated by testicular ultrasonography

Made available in DSpace on 2015-02-02T12:39:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2014-08-01Bitstream added on 2015-02-02T13:08:10Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 S0102-09352014000401296.pdf: 105664 bytes, checksum: 0a9dd0ae333be4e7778cba0d527f4b25 (MD5) Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) The present study aimed to evaluate if there are differences in testicular parenchyma echogenicity between pre-pubescent and pubescent animals at the same age. Ultrasound examinations were performed in longitudinal and transversal planes of the testicles of 111 healthy Nelore bovines, at the ages of nine, 13 and 15 months. The EIV software calculated the echogenicity of the testicular parenchyma, which ranged from 0 (anechoic) to 100% (hyperechoic). Animals that had reached puberty at 15 months of age presented higher testicular echogenicity than the animals that had not reached puberty at the same age. These results suggest that testicular ultrasonography can be used as a predictor of sexual precocity. UFPA Unesp FCAV CRV Estação Experimental de Zootecnia Unesp FCAV