Association between Body Measurements Trait and Live Body Weight of some Sudanese Sheep Ecotypes

Abstract

Two hundred and twenty-five head of three sheep ecotypes were randomly selected [80 Ashgar (male=21, female=59), 72 Dubasi (male=22, female=50) and 73 Watish (male=23, female=50)] and according to sex [rams (n=66) and ewes (n=159)] to find out the correlation between live body weight and body measurements using different mathematical models (linear, quadratic, cubic, compound, power and S). The live body weight and body measurements were significantly (P<0.05) affected by sheep ecotypes and sex except shank circumference (SC) and thigh circumference (TC) for sheep ecotype and chest depth (CD), rump width (RW), head width (HW) and thigh circumference for sheep sex. The live body weight was significantly (P<0.01) correlated with the majority of body measurements, the highest correlation coefficient in the studied sheep ecotype was between the live body weight and heart girth (0.826), followed by live body weight with wither height (0.756) and body length (0.749) respectively. R2 values of the studied ecotypes showed that heart girth was the highest association (P<0.01) with live body weight, followed by wither height and body length. The study concluded that sheep ecotypes and sex significantly affect body weight, Watish had the highest body weight while Dubasi had the lowest.