Context The in vivo evaluation of body tissue development on meat production sheep can be used both to identify and select animals with the best characteristics and to make choices regarding marketing the products of these animals. Aims The objective of this work was to evaluate, using computed tomography, the dynamics of body tissue development and composition of male and female Santa Ines sheep in vivo. Methods The carcass tissue evaluation by computed tomography of 38 sheep (21 male and 17 female) was performed after weaning, at the ages of 90, 120, 180 and 300 days. Based on the Cavalieri method, regression equations were generated for estimates of total weight and proportions of bone, muscle and fat. For the Cavaliere method five males and five females were selected at random and in the four times. In the evaluation of the reference points, all the animals of the study were evaluated in the four times (21 males and 17 females). Key results The mean fat weight was highest at 300 days (2.74 ± 0.99 kg) and lowest at 90 (1.88 ± 0.88 kg) and 120 days (1.91 ± 0.83 kg), indicating that the mean fat area increased with age at all the points evaluated. At age 300 days, the females accumulated more fat than the males whereas the proportions of bone and muscle were higher in the males. Conclusions Computed tomography allowed the evaluation of the body tissues of live animals and was efficient at detecting the changes during the growth phase, besides revealing differences in tissue composition between males and females. Implications The in vivo evaluation by computed tomography of body traits on meat production animals can be used both to identify and select animals with the best productive characteristics, allowing advances in sheep meat production.

中文翻译：

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使用计算机断层扫描技术对圣伊内斯绵羊的身体组织发育

背景 肉羊身体组织发育的体内评估可用于识别和选择具有最佳特征的动物，并就这些动物的产品进行营销做出选择。目的 这项工作的目的是使用计算机断层扫描来评估体内雄性和雌性圣伊内斯羊的身体组织发育和组成的动态。方法对断奶后90、120、180和300日龄的38只绵羊（21只雄性和17只雌性）的尸体组织进行计算机断层扫描评估。基于 Cavalieri 方法，生成了用于估计骨骼、肌肉和脂肪的总重量和比例的回归方程。对于 Cavaliere 方法，在四次中随机选择了五名男性和五名女性。在评估参考点时，研究的所有动物都进行了四次评估（21 只雄性和 17 只雌性）。主要结果 平均脂肪重量在 300 天 (2.74 ± 0.99 kg) 时最高，在 90 天 (1.88 ± 0.88 kg) 和 120 天 (1.91 ± 0.83 kg) 时最低，表明所有点的平均脂肪面积都随着年龄的增长而增加评估。在 300 天龄时，雌性比雄性积累了更多的脂肪，而雄性的骨骼和肌肉比例更高。结论 计算机断层扫描允许对活体动物的身体组织进行评估，除了揭示雄性和雌性之间组织成分的差异外，还可以有效地检测生长期的变化。