Morphometric traits as indicators for body weight in Sudanese Kenana cattle.

Abstract

In this study body weight in both sexes was predicted using some morphometric. Traits used were height at withers (HTW), heart girth circumference (HGC), abdominal girth circumference (ABGC) and body length (BL). The overall means of live body weight (WT) and of the studied morphometric traits (HGC, ABGC, BL and HTW), respectively, were 281.814  3.527kg, 150.641  0.447, 190.542  1.177, 87.963  0.512 and 119.023  0.497 cm. The phenotypic correlation coefficients for body weight (BW) with HGC, ABGC, BL and HTW in this experiment were 0.98, 0.78, 0.64 and 0.70 respectively. Prediction equations were obtained for combined sex, males and females. R2 was high in the three equations (0.97, 0.98 and 0.97 respectively). Obtained prediction equations were tested for their validity by estimating body weights of six males and 25 female Kenana cattle. These animals were weighed by three different methods; the equations, Dalton tape and large ruminant scale, and obtained weights were not significantly different (P≤0.05). It was concluded that prediction equations can be used efficiently to estimate live weight in Kenena cattle when it is difficult to use scales.