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Abstract
It is scientifically demonstrated that lunar cycles have important effects on several biological events. Controversy exists about the lunar influence on human and animal parturition. In addition, in the horse industry, especially in Polo Horse breeders of Argentina and around the world there is a higher demand for female offspring than for males. The objective of this study was to determine whether there is a significant association between the lunar phase at the time of mating and the sex ratio at birth in horses. The Argentinean Stud Book provided information related to all matings registered for Thoroughbred and Arab horses between 2003 and 2011. Statistical associations were tested between dates of matings at different lunar phases or days and sex ratio at birth. A total of 65.535 gestations were studied. Overall, sex ratio at birth resulted in 33.396 fillies (50.96%) and 32.139 colts (49.04%). The percentages of males and females at birth were not statistically different amongst the different lunar phases or days. We can strongly conclude that managing the breeding dates in relation to lunar cycles in order to manipulate the sex ratio of the offspring is not a viable option in horses.
Acknowledgements
We thank Santiago Losinno and The Argentinean Stud Book for kindly providing the data and Ing. Soler for statistical support.
Declaration of interest
The Authors declare that there is no conflict of interest. The authors thank to the grant “Beca de Movilidad CEU-Santander 2013/2014” awarded to Dr. Juan Cuervo-Arango for financial support during his research in the UNRC.