BARYMETRIC CHARACTERIZATION OF ALGERIAN SHEEP BREEDS IN WESTERN ALGERIA

Abstract

To study of the biodiversity of the sheep genetic resources, our phenotypic approach consists on the barymetric parameters of Algerian sheep breeds in western Algeria using the body measurements in 166 sheep of six breeds: Ouled Djellal, Hamra, Barbarine, Srandi, Daraa and Tazegzawt. The body measurements studied are: WH, SIL, HG, CD, SW, RW, TW, PL, HL, HW, EL, EW and CP, they are respectively : 84.71±7.15 cm ; 84.08±7.96 cm 103.53±10.79 cm ; 30.21±4.18 cm ; 17.34±2.09 cm ; 21.63±2.90 cm ; 26.01±2.32 cm ; 24.40± 4.07 cm ; 25.58±1.99 cm ; 15.18±1.62 cm ; 16.22±2.60 cm ; 8.24±0.96cm et 9.09±1.21 cm. The barymetric characterization revealed clear barymetric diversity between the breeds studied and between males and females, with very highly significant differences (p<0.001) for the most of body measurements used. A principal component analysis (CPA) was performed on the barymetric characteristics, revealed two main principal components accounting for 55.63% and 18.02% of the inertia, being related to WH, HG, CD, TW and SIL. The results of the CPA allowed establishing 3 classes, which only one class presents the majority of the population.