Study on the variation regularity of activity amount during estrus of red deer

Guo Yating; Shang Ye; Li Ning; Zhang Wang; Zhang Hui; Ma Li; Li Heping

doi:10.20154/j.cnki.issn1672-9692.2024.12.009

Abstract：The purpose of this experiment was to explore the variation rule of activity amount in red deer(Cervus canadensis)during estrus,and to provide reference for identification of red deer estrus in deer breeding and production.The experiment randomly selected 20 healthy adult female deer,and the female deer wore WT-003NB type collar pedometer to detect the activity level automatically,and predicted the estrus by relevant data,and compared with the results of manual observation.The results showed that the most active deer on the day of estrus was 3 463 steps,which was 2.97 times of the average daily activity before and after estrus.From 0 to 12 h from the beginning of estrus,the activity level of doe was significantly higher than that of the corresponding period of interestrus(P<0.05).The activity level increased significantly from 0 to 6 h at the beginning of estrus,and the highest level was 488 steps at 4 to 6 h.The activity level at 12 h before the end of estrus was significantly higher than that at the corresponding time of interestrus(P<0.05).The maximum activity(533 steps)was observed 6 to 8 h before the end of estrus,which was 6.66 times that of 80 steps in the corresponding period of interestrus.The detection rate of estrus by pedometer was higher than that by manual observation.The research shows that the use of a pedometer to record the amount of deer exercise can provide a reliable basis for the development of intelligent estrus identification.