Evaluation of growth models for follicle development and ovulation in Lusitano mares

Several growth models are commonly used in the biological sciences, to model the follicle growth occurring in the estrous cycle. The aim of this project was to find the model that best fit the follicular size growth data for Lusitano mares. Retrospective data collected from reproduction book records of n = 84 mares and n = 124 cycles was used to find the series to be fitted to the models. The exponential, Gompertz, logistic, von Bertalanffy, Richards and Weibull models were used, and the most parsimonious and best fit was achieved with the logistic model (r2 = 0.999). The logistic model fits the Lusitano mare's follicle size growth data very well and its parameters were also shown to have a credible biological interpretation.