Phenotypic correlation of body weight and morphometric measurements of two breeds of rabbit

Abstract

A total of one hundred (100) matured rabbit of 4 to 6 months of age with weight ranging from 1.4 to1.8 kg comprising of New Zealand White (NZW) and Dutch (DUT) breeds were used for the study to evaluate phenotypic correlation of body weight and morphometric traits. They comprise of forty-nine (49) New Zealand White rabbits (13 males and 36 females) and 51 Dutch breed comprising of 21males and 30 females. The experimental design used for the study was completely randomized design and the statistical analysis used was analysis of variance. The body weight and the morphometric traits measured were determined using digital weighing scale and flexible tape in kilograms and centimeters respectively. The data measured were body weight (BW), body length (BL), nose to shoulder length (NSL), heart girth (HG), height at withers (HW), ear length (EL), leg length (LL), tail length (TL) and height of the rabbit (HR). Positive and highly significant (p<0.001) correlation was observed between body weight and body length (r=0.70**). This may indicate that selection for improvement of body weight may lead to an improvement in body length. Moderate and positive correlation (p<0.01) was observed between leg length (LL) and tail length (TL) r=0.26**, nose to shoulder length and tail length 0.36** respectively. Low correlation was observed between nose to shoulder length and leg length (r=0.19**). The results revealed that increase in LL may not necessarily lead to increase in NSL. The results of this study indicated positive and highly significant (p<0.001) correlations between some morphometric traits measured in Dutch and New Zealand White rabbits. This is an indication that increases in one trait may lead to an increase in the other corresponding trait for the positive correlation. Meanwhile, negative correlation was also observed in the study between body weight and height of rabbit (- 0.09), height at wither and tail length ( -0.11), heart girth and tail length (-0.08) and between heart girth and hearth at withers (-0.24). This implies that increase in one parameter led to decrease in the corresponding one. Therefore, selection for an increase in such a particular trait apparently leads to a decrease in the other corresponding trait.