Revisiting Palla Strain of Nellore Sheep: Morphological, Production and Reproduction Characteristics

Animal populations are characterized by biometric and morphological traits. Morphometrics are vital for identifying breeds and understanding unknown populations. Principal component analysis (PCA) is a critical statistical tool for analyzing livestock morphology. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to study the morphological structure of the Kashir goat. Accordingly, the morphological data on 187 adult goats were collected for the year 2019. The traits considered were face length (FL), ear length (EL), ear width (EW), body length (BL), chest girth (CG), paunch girth (PG), tail length (TL), height at wither (HW), and body weight (BW). The averages were of 35.63±1.01 kg, 22.5±0.18 cm, 13.32±0.35 cm, 9.04±0.96 cm, 56.1±0.44 cm, 55.65±0.32 cm, 66.13±0.65 cm, 69.84±0.76 cm, and 13.06±0.15 cm for BW, FL, EL, EW, CG, PG, HW, BL, and TL, respectively. BW had a strong positive correlation with CG and BL, whereas moderate correlations with WH and PG. Indicating that taller, fatter, and longer animals had higher body weights. Similarly, positive and moderate to high (>0.25) correlations were observed between CG and BL, CG and WH, BL and WH, and WH and PG. EL, EW, TL, and FL had mostly low and negative correlations with other traits and between them. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test yielded a measure of sampling adequacy (MSA) of 0.759 with a significant (P<0.01) Bartlett's test of sphericity. In the present study, communalities ranged from 0.214 (EL) to 0.824 (CG), indicating the proportion of variance explained by each variable. Principal Component Analysis extracted three components (PC1, PC2, and PC3) for Kashir goats, following varimax rotation. These components collectively explained 61.723% of the total variance. In conclusion, the results of the Principal Component Analysis revealed that a few key morphological traits, particularly chest girth, body length, and height at withers (WH), play a key role in defining the body conformation of Kashir goats. This provides a useful basis for breed characterization and selection strategies.

A study was undertaken to assess the type and function of Ganjam goats native to coastal Odisha based on morphometric traits and their indices. Different flooring systems, viz. conventional earthen flooring (CEF), bamboo-slatted flooring (BSF) and plastic-slatted flooring (PSF) were applied for rearing the growing goats in multilocation trials involving 54 kids (~4 months age) of either sex in equal ratio. The goat kids were equally distributed i.e. eighteen in each group (6 animals × 3 locations) and reared on free range system followed by in-house sheltering at night after the browsing hours on these three floor types. The body weight (BW) and morphometric parameters like, body length (BL), withers height (WH), chest girth (CG), paunch girth (PG), rump height (RH) and their indices were assessed fortnightly. Kids reared on all the three floor-types exhibited age-dependent increase in BW and in all the morphometric parameters. There was improved performance (BW, BL, WH, CG) of kids on PSF compared to CEF, while the difference between BSF and PSF was non-significant. The functional indices characterized Ganjam goats as longiline with good proportionality, medium thoracic development, prolific and dual type. The correlation between BW and morphometric parameters exhibited highest for CG followed by WH, RH, BL and PG. The BW of Ganjam goats can suitably be predicted from CG, WH and RH with R2 value 0.914. The importance of morphometric parameters and their indices classify Ganjam goats as a promising dual-purpose breed and impetus to its performance is better achieved with improved shelter management involving plastic-slatted floor in coastal Odisha.

The data recorded on morphometric traits, productive and reproductive performance of Nellore Palla sheep (n=347) from the farmers ’flocks in its breeding tract from January to December, 2016 were subjected to least squares analysis of variance to study the effect of villages and sex. The overall least squares means of body weights at 2, 4 and 6-tooth and full mouth ages were 35.18±0.27, 39.65±0.33, 41.18±0.56 and 45.00±0.46 kg, respectively. The overall least squares means for height at withers (HW), chest girth (CG), paunch girth (PG) and body length (BL) at 2-tooh age were 78.47±1.55, 80.82±0.66, 80.93±1.37 and 69.90±0.83 cm, respectively and the corresponding means at full mouth were 85.22±1.97, 87.17±0.58, 86.14±0.52 and 76.17±0.33 cm. The overall means for age at first mating in males and females; age at first lambing, tupping and lambing rates were 598.03±3.02, 361.54±1.09 days, 509.32±1.00 days, 81.06±1.61% and 73.37±1.53%, respectively. Body weights and linear body measurements were significantly (P<0.01) higher in rams and increased with age. The correlation coefficient among body weights and biometrical measurements were positive and significant (P<0.01) in males, while majority of the associations were positive in females. The highest coefficient 0.69 was observed between BW and HW in females of full mouth age. Significant associations among body weights and the biometric measurements in the study indicated pleiotropic effect and selection for body measurements would result in a change in body weight as well as all the other biometrical measurements in the same direction as a correlated response.

The objectives of the study were to determine phenotypic variations in Dhanni cattle for quantitative and qualitative traits and to analyze the relationship between different body measurements and body weight in Dhanni cattle. Data were collected from Barani Livestock Production Research Institute (BLPRI) at Kherimurat, Attock and potential farmers who were raising Dhanni cattle in Potohar region. Ten (10) phenotypic parameters were measured on 125 adult animals (29 male and 96 female). Five qualitative and five quantitative traits were investigated. Qualitative traits were visually observed and expressed as a percentage. Descriptive analysis was done on quantitative variables. All Dhanni cattle had a predominately white coat color with pigmented body skin. Horns were present in all animals. However, there was variation in horn shape i.e., curved (3) straight (56) and stumps (66). Analysis was performed in SAS On-Demand for Academics using PROC mixed model procedure. Overall means ± SD of Body Weight (BW), Body Length (BL), and Height at Wither (HW), Chest Girth (CG) and MC (Muzzle Circumference) were 312.07 ± 74.14 kg, 129.31 ± 10.99 cm, 130.37 ± 7.11 cm, 165.13 ± 11.14 cm and 42.84 ± 2.55 cm respectively. Both herd and sex had significant effect on BW, BL, CG, HW and MC (P &lt; 0.05). Dhanni cattle raised at government farm had higher (P &lt; 0.05) values for all traits. Female had lower BW, BL, HW, CG and MC (P&lt;0.05) as compared to their male herd mates. Dhanni cattle appear to have the potential for selection as beef cattle breed based on substantial within breed variation in live body weight (24% CV). A selection program may be devised to improve beef production potential of Dhanni cattle besides other traits.

Janwal Pashmi is the medium sized dog found in the villages of Chakur tehsil of Latur and adjoining districts of Marathwada region of Maharashtra. Present investigation was carried out by collecting morphometric data on 207 Janwal Pashmi dogs from its breeding tract. Data collected was classified into two age groups, i.e. below one year (puppies) and above one year (adult). Majority of the dogs were found to be black in colour (78.26%), however, fawn (8.69%), brown (4.34%), grey (5.79%) and white (2.89%) were also noticed. Most of the dogs were found to have medium hairs length (51.20%) followed by long hairs (43.47%) and rarely short hair length (5.31%). The head was straight and wedge shaped with 69.56% and 30.43%, respectively. The colour of nostrils in majority of dogs was black (95.16%) and very few dogs had brown (3.86%) and pinkish (0.96%) colour nostrils. Eyes were light brown (47.34%) to dark brown (52.65%). Majority of dogs had long ear (54.58%) while medium sized ears were observed in 42.02% of dogs. Morphometric characters studied were body weight (BW), height at wither (HW), body length (BL), chest girth (CG), paunch girth (PG), tail length (TL), head length (HL), height at base of tail (HBT), neck length (NL), neck girth (NG), ear length (EL), ear width (EW), eye width (EYW), hind foot length (HFL), upper hind leg length (UHLL), lower hind leg length (LHLL), fore foot length (FFL), upper fore leg length (UFLL) and lower fore leg length (LFLL). The effect of sex was found to be non-significant on all the traits in puppies except BW, HW, HBT, NL, UHLL and UFLL. However, BW, HW, BL, CG, TL, HL, HBT, NL, NG, HFL, UHLL, LHLL, FFL and UFLL were found significantly higher in males of adult age group. Both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food was given to dogs and majority of farmers used iron mesh cages for keeping dogs. The characterization of Janwal Pashmi dog done in this study may help in the registration of this dog as a breed status and further conservation.

Background: The principal component analysis is applied to identify minimum number of combined variables that account for maximum portion of the variance existing in all variables studied. Chitarangi is a lesser known carpet type wool sheep distributed in Fazilka and Muktsar districts of Punjab, Sri Ganganagar district of Rajasthan and the adjoining areas. The information on body biometry is a prerequisite to characterize the lesser known sheep population available in the country. Hence, it is important to describe the body conformation by recording minimum number of biometric traits. Methods: Body biometry traits of Chitarangi sheep, a lesser known carpet quality wool producing sheep population were studied using Principal Component Analysis. The traits studied were body length (BL), height at wither (HW), chest girth (CG), paunch girth (PG), ear length (EL), face length (FL), face width (FW), tail length (TL) and adult body weight (BW). The data were collected on 297 ewes in the breeding tract of Chitarangi sheep. The descriptive statistics were determined for all the traits. The phenotypic correlations between different body biometric traits were estimated using partial correlations. Principal components were estimated using correlation matrix. Principal component analysis (PCA), a multivariate approach, is used when the recorded traits are highly correlated. Rotation of principal components was through the transformation of the components to approximate a simple structure. Factor analysis using oblique (promax) rotation was used. All the analysis was carried out using the SPSS statistical package. Result: The averages for body weight and biometry traits confirmed large size of Chitarangi animals. Most of the phenotypic correlations amongst the studied traits were positive and significant (p less than 0.01). The three components extracted from nine principal components accounted for 69.06% of the total variance. The first component, which described body size of ewes, accounted for 43.68% of the total variation with high loading for BW, CG, PG, HW, BL and FL. The components two and three explained 13.54 and 11.83% of total variance, respectively. The communalities ranged from 0.490 (FL) to 0.888 (PG). The lower communalities for face length indicated lower contribution of the trait to explain the total variation than others. The study indicates that principal components provided a means of reduction in number of biometric traits to explain body confirmation of adult female Chitarangi sheep.

Gurez sheep, a dual-purpose breed valued for its meat and fiber, is primarily reared by Dardi tribe of Gurez in Bandipora district, Jammu and Kashmir. To evaluate the breed biometric, body indices, and wool quality traits data of 236 adult sheep were collected and analyzed. The averages values of 35.81±0.24 kg, 73.55±1.28 cm, 61.88±1.18 cm, 74.92±1.69 cm, 10.97±0.43 cm, 60.49±1.01 cm, 18.68±0.78 cm, 77.02±0.32 cm, 29.57±0.71 µ, 4.44±0.47 cm, 11.78±0.6, 14.34±0.86 %,85.36±1.58, 102.64±1.16, 3788.88±9.76, 122.71±1.75, 47.47±1.29, 91.78±1.71 and 98.68±1.14 were calculated for body weight (BW), chest girth (CG), body length (BL), paunch girth (PG), height at withers (HW), ear length (EL), tail length (TL), clean wool yield (CWY), fiber diameter (FD), staple length (SL), number of crimps/ cm (NCPC), medullation % (MP), body index (BI), length index (LI), area index (AI), thoracic development index (TDI), Compact index (CI), conformation index (COMI) and height index, respectively. Phenotypic correlation though positive ranged from moderate to high among BW, CG, PG, and WH, whereas EL, TL, and wool quality traits had no to low correlation among themselves or with BW, CG, PG, and WH. Further, 10 negative and 11 positive correlations were observed among body indices. The principal component analysis applied to 12 traits yielded a Measure of Sampling Adequacy (MSA) of 0.710 and five principal components accounting for a cumulative variance of 70.495%. The study underscores its importance as a selection criterion for improving the productivity and efficiency of the sheep breeding program.

MS90 ADIPOCYTE FACTORS, hsCRP AND MALONDIALDEHYDE LEVELS IN OVERWEIGHT POSTMENOPAUSAL WOMEN WITH NORMAL AND IMPAIRED OGTT

Relationships between age, body measurements, testicular measurements and total ejaculation of semen in local goat of Rohilkhand region

The main objective of the research was to estimate body weight of Palla sheep from body measurements using ridge (RR) and stepwise regression (SR) models. Data pertaining to body weight (BW) and eight linear body measurements (BM) specifically body length (BL), height at withers (HW), chest girth (CG), paunch girth (PG), tail length (TL), face length (FL), face width (FW), and ear length (EL) were recorded from a total of 560 Palla sheep in the Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh. The optimal model for predicting body weight was selected based on the variance inflation factor (VIF), mean absolute error (MAE), root mean square error (RMSE), and coefficient of determination (R²). The results indicated that both stepwise regression (SR) and ridge regression (RR) models provided a good fit to the data; however, the SR model demonstrated a marginal improvement over the RR model with a R2 value of 0.932 in predicting Palla sheep body weight from BL, FL, HW and CG measurements. These findings highlight the effectiveness of step-wise regression model in using simple, non-invasive morphometric measurements to estimate live body weight, which can aid in selection, management, and breeding decisions under field and farm conditions.

This study was conducted to describe in morphometrical traits and body weight (BW) of indigenous goat populations reared in Belatal, Ajnar, Chhitarwara, Lamaura and Budhaura village of Jaitpur block in Mahoba. Data were obtained from 549 goats from 107 households. The BW and height at withers (HW) in Ajnar, Belatal and Budhaura doe aged 1-2 years were significantly high compared to others. Doe of Budhaura, Ajnar, Belatal and Chhitarwara had significantly high body length (BL). Significantly high chest girth (CG) values were obtained from Chhitarwara had Budhaura doe. Buck of Ajnar, Belatal and Lamaura had significantly high BW, BL and HW. Body weight of Belatal, Ajnar and Chhitarwara doe aged 1-2 years and bucks were better estimated using CG alone. However, the best predictor for Belatal, Ajnar and Chhitarwara doe aged 1-2 years old were CG, HW and BL. CG was the primary variable to explain most of the variations in BW. Budhaura and Ajnar goat had a relatively large body frame and emphasis may be given for their improvement.

Selection criteria for performance test of yearling bulls commonly include indicators of important traits, such as withers height (WH), chest girth (CG) and body length (BL). Estimations of (co)variance component and genetic parameter of WH, CG and BL of Bali cattle are rarely reported or have not been reported. Therefore, the objective of this study was to estimate (co)variance components and genetic parameter among the indicator traits WH, CG and BL. Records for WH (n = 140), CG (n = 133), and BL (n = 130) were obtained from the Bali Breeding Center which consisted of 23 sires and 134 dams represented in the data. (Co)variance components were estimated using animal model, and average information REML was used to obtain estimates of heritability and genetic correlations. Fixed effects included sex, age, and calving season. The random effect of the animal was included to estimate additive genetic effects. Generally heritability estimates of 0.41±0.08, 0.40±0.09, and 0.39±0.08 were obtained for WH, CG and BL on the underlying scale, respectively. The genetic correlation between WH and CG (0.05) was close to zero, as were the estimated genetic correlations between WH and BL (0.05) and CG and BL (0.05). Genetic and phenotypic trends did not show improvement due to selection. However, these results suggest that concomitant selection for increased withers height, chest girth and body length would not be antagonistic.

Having a successful heifer raising operation is not only relevant financially, but also influential for the future of the dairy herds. Milk feeding has a significant role on the health and growth of calves before weaning, in addition to the direct progressive effects on future performance post-weaning. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare the effects of constants amount of milk (CMS) versus step-up/step-down (SUSD) on calf performance in two different suckling schedules of suckling milk gradually till 9th weeks of calf age, then decreasing it till weaning. For this study, forty Holstein heifers calves utilized between birth and 8 months of age were randomly divided into four groups of 10 calves each. Grouping was performed according to suckling protocol (constant versus variable) and suckling schedule (2 versus 3 times/day). Each calf suckled 600 kg of milk in a suckling period of 120 days. Body weight (BW), in addition to five body measurements: chest girth (CG), height at wither (HW), height at rump (HR), body length (BL), and diagonal length (DL), were recorded weekly. The heaviest BW was observed on SUSD calves suckling twice/day which had also the highest HW at weaning. Similarly, were BW, HW, and CG at 6 months of age. Also, the same group achieved the largest daily BW (0.902 kg/day), BL (0.246 cm), and CG (0.338 cm/day) gains during the pre-weaning phase. However, CMS suckled 3 times/day calves had the largest daily BW gain between birth and 6 or 8 months of age. CMS twice/day calves had the largest daily gain in CG from weaning to 6 months and from weaning to 8 months of age followed by SUSD suckling 3 times/day calves. Also, CMS twice/day calves had the largest daily gain in rump height from birth to 8 months of age compared to other groups. It can be concluded that when equal amounts of milk were fed during the suckling period, suckling protocol affected growth rate before weaning but that effect diminished as calf age increased after weaning.

Summary In this study, canonical correlation analysis was applied to estimate the relationship between six different morphologic traits (X set – birth weight (BW), body length (BL), height at withers (HW), chest depth (CD), chest width (CW) and chest girth (CG)) measured at birth and the morphological traits measured at weaning time (Y set – weaning weight (WW), body length (BL_W), height at withers (HW_W), chest depth (CD_W), chest width (CW_W) and chest girth (CG_W)) measured from 121 Karayaka lambs, raised at Gaziosmanpasa University. First of estimated six different canonical correlation coefficients (CCC) (r=0.668) between the pairs of canonical variables were found significant (P<0.05). The results of canonical correlation analysis indicated that height at withers, chest girth and birth weight had largest contribution for the explanatory capacity of canonical variables estimated from the morphologic traits of Karayaka lambs at the birth when compared with other body measurements. Height withers and chest girth had largest contribution for the explanatory capacity of canonical variables estimated from the morphological traits of the lambs at the weaning time when compared with other body measurements. As results of this study showed that height at withers, body weight and chest girth measured at birth can be used as early selection criteria for genetic improvement in Karayaka lambs.

This study was conducted to estimate heritabilities and genetic correlations among carcass weight and body type measurements (Wither height, Rump height, Body length, Chest depth, Chest width, Rump length, Rump width, Thurl width, Hipbone width, Chest girth) obtained from 1,587 records of Hanwoo steers in National Hanwoo Contest. Based on EM-REML algorithm, this study estimated genetic parameters of the carcass weight and body type measurements that greatly affect Hanwoo's carcass grade and body type. The means and standard deviations of each trait were 377.30±45.59 kg , 136.14±4.51 cm , 137.79±4.62 cm , 157.77±6.97 cm , 77.55±3.62 cm, 51.72±4.30 cm , 55.04±3.19 cm , 50.21±2.96 cm , 48.29±2.94 cm , 29.12±2.04 cm , and 217.31±11.36 cm for Carcass weight, Wither height, Rump height, Body length, Chest depth, Chest width, Rump length, Rump width, Thurl width, Hipbone width and Chest girth, respectively. As a result of analysis on the effects by the birth year, the Carcass weight, Wither height, Rump height, Body length, Chest depth, Chest width, Rump length, Rump width, Thurl width, and Chest girth came out highest as 413.4±37.5 kg , 138.4±4.1 cm , 139.9±4.3 cm , 162.1±5.7 cm , 80.8±2.5 cm , 55.3±3.7 cm , 58.0±3.3 cm , 52.9±2.4 cm , 50.9±2.8 cm and 225.9±8.3 cm , respectively in 2005. As a result of analysis on the effects by the birth season, the carcass weight and body type measurements came out highest, respectively in spring. As a result of the analysis on the effects by the birth location, all of the traits came out highest, respectively in Gangwon. In the majority of carcass weights and body type measurements, statistically significant differences were observed depending on the location of birth. The heritabilities of the carcass weight, chest width and chest girth were estimated as 0.242, 0.221 and 0.264 respectively. These heritabilities of such traits were higher than those of other traits (withers height, rump height, body length etc.). Genetic correlation coefficients were estimated to be 0.944 between wither height and rump height, 0.822 between carcass weight and chest width, 0.769 between carcass weight and chest girth. From the results above, if the carcass weight should be improved by body type measurements of Hanwoo steer, it seemed that such factors as, chest width, chest girth, body length and withers height, which have relatively higher genetic correlations with carcass weight, should be considered.