scholarly journals Predication of body weight of the domestic rabbit at different stages of growth using linear body measurements

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-8
Author(s):  
E. C. Akanno ◽  
S. N. Ibe

Data on body weight and linear body measurements (LBMs) namely ear length (EL), body width (BW), body length (BL), Head to shoulder (HS), Shoulder to tail (ST) and length of leg (LL) of 363 progeny of locally adapted Dutch , New Zealand White and crossbred rabbits at 3,6,9 and 12 weeks of age were analyzed to obtain phenotypic correlations between the various traits and prediction equations for body weight, using different linear body measurements. There were high and positive correlations between each of the linear body measurements and body weight and between the LBM themselves. The values ranged between 0.57 and 0.85, 0.34 and 0.89, 0.27 and 0.83 and 0.41 and 0.75 in weeks 3, 6, 9 and 12, respectively. Hence, it was possible to predict body weight of live rabbits from their linear body measurements, as an aid to farmers in areas where sensitive scales are not available. Except in purebred New Zealand White NZWxNZW, body: length (BL) was a good predictor of 3- week body weight (IBW) in all breed groups. Body width (BW) and BL only were good predictors of 6-week body weight in all breed groups. For predicting 9- week body weight, shoulder to tail drop (ST) was important in all breed groups in addition to either BW, ear length (EL) or body length (BL). ST and BW were important predictors of 12-week body weight generally in all breed groups.

2021 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-197
Author(s):  
S. N. Ibe ◽  
V. N. Obasi ◽  
G. S. Ojewola ◽  
E. N. Nwachukwu

Records of body weight (BW) and linear body measurement (LBMs), namely body length (BL), body width (bwh), heart girth (hg), height-at withers (HW), shoulder-to-tail drops (ST), ear lenght (EL), head-to-shoulder (HS), lenght of fore limb (LFL), lenght of hind limb (LHL) and head circumference (HC) taken on 72 kits produced through complete dialled crosses were used to estimate heterosis and recipocal effects. The crosses involved New Zealand White (NZW), Dutch (DT) and Cchinchilla (CH) breeds of rabbit. Only NZW x DT and CH x DT crosses showed heterosis for BWs, indicating that non-additive sults for all effects of genes could be important for the LBMs were generally similar. Recipocal effect was not significant (p<0.05) for all traits. suggesting that any of the breeds may be used as sire or dam in planned crossesbreeding programmes.


1979 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 945 ◽  
Author(s):  
BJ Fox

A laboratory breeding colony of R. l. lutreolus was used to obtain data on the growth in the length of head, hind foot, tail, head and body, and body weight during the first 130 days of life. The development of external body features was compared to that known for other Australian Rattus. The young are blind and naked at birth and are not fully furred until 13 days. Incisors are visible at day 8 (5-11) and erupt about day 12 (8-15) with the eyes opening at 17 days (15-18). Independence was achieved at about 25 days (23-30) with the first signs of reproductive maturity at about 60-70 days. Five stages of growth can be related to developmental features from teeth eruption to puberty and reproductive maturity. The onset of hearing (14-15) days appear to be as important in development as does the opening of the eyes. Body measurements show sigmoid relationships to a linear equivalence of weight (W*0.33), except for head and body length which is linear. R. l. lutreolus belongs to the fast-growing group in Australian murids. Measurements from laboratory-bred animals are in agreement with those for field animals, with head and body length the best single parameter for obtaining approximate ages.


1984 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. N. B. SHRESTHA ◽  
D. P. HEANEY ◽  
P. S. FISER ◽  
G. A. LANGFORD

Heart girth (HG), body length (BL), leg length (LL), metacarpal circumference (MC), withers height (WH) and hook width (HW) of 233 growing rams of three synthetic strains, Suffolk and Finnsheep breeds were measured at 6, 8 and 10 mo of age. Thereafter, subsequent measurements were taken at 11–13 mo, 18–21 mo and 23–25 mo of age. Breed, birth period (hysterectomy derived birth date), age of ram and body weight (BW) had important effects (P < 0.05) on linear body measurements, whereas age of dam did not (P > 0.05). Significant effects of litter size on HG and BL were observed at 6 and 8 mo of age, respectively. All linear body measurements increased from 6 to 21 mo of age, whereas BL, WH and HW continued to increase to 25 mo. Rams of Strain 1, developed as a synthetic sire strain, with a large proportion of Suffolk background were generally similar to the Suffolk rams in all body measurements except for HG which was significantly larger than in Suffolk rams. The Finnsheep rams had smaller HG, BL, MC and HW than the synthetic strains and Suffolk rams, whereas LL and WH of the Finnsheep and Suffolk rams were similar. Rams of Strains 2 and 3, developed as synthetic dam strains with 50 percent Finnsheep background, were similar in body measurements. The synthetic dam strains did not differ from Strain 1 and/or Suffolk with respect to HG, BL, WH and HW. However, Suffolk rams had larger MC and shorter LL compared to those of the Strain 2 and 3 rams. Birth period had a significant effect on HG, BL, LL and MC, but no consistent trend with age of ram was apparent. Linear body measurements were positively correlated with each other and with body weight; however, the relationship varied as rams progressed in age. The importance of breed, birth date, age of ram and body weight on body measurements and the requirements for appropriate adjustments is emphasized. Key words: Sheep, body measurements, breed, birth date, age of ram


2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 170-177
Author(s):  
P. E. Nwaku ◽  
M. O. Otuma

The pre weaning growth performance of piglets from four different cross bred dams mated back to their native parents was studied in the Breeding and Research Farm of Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki. Parameters like body weight, weight gain, feed intake and feed efficiency as well as linear body measurements of body length, heart girth and height  at withers were taken and observed for growth between birth and weaning age of eight weeks. Results Results indicated significant differences (P<0.05) between the main backcross N x (N x LR) and the three other genotypes of N x (N x LW), N x (LR x N) and N x (LW x N) in all parameters. The mean birth weight of the progenies ranged from 1.00±0.60 to 1.60±5kg while the weaning weights were 10.5±0.4 to 16.0±1.0kg respectively. Results further revealed that body weight at weaning correlated responsively with all parameters and these include body length (r=0.858), heart girth (r= 0.446) and height at the withers (r= 0.946). Similarly, body length has a positive correlation with heart girth (r= 0.477) and height at the withers (r= 0.827) whereas hear girth correlated positively with the height at the withers (r= 0.494). Similar trend were obtained in the regression of each of the body measurements on the other in which bodyweight changes depended more on that of body length (0.86) than on heart girth (0.45). Judging from the observed variations existing among the piglets resulting from differnt crossbreed dams in their pre-weaning growth performance, maternal rather than paternal influences appeared to be more important in the traits studied.   


2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 16-21
Author(s):  
B. I. Umoh ◽  
U. M. Okon ◽  
J. S. Ekpo

Body weight of animals in the rural areas has not been accurately ascertained due to lack of accurate measurement scales, hence this experiment. The study was conducted to determine the correlation between milk intake and body weight with linear body measurements in white Fulani calves raised in semi-intensive system of management. A total of seven (7) white Fulani calves managed semi-intensively was used for the study. The experiment lasted 12 weeks. The overall mean±SEM value for milk intake, body weight, neck circumference, neck length, body length, body circumference, girth circumference, height at wither and tail length were 1.20±0.40g, 5.18±1.02kg, 21.54±0.66cm, 13.23±0.21cm, 28.36±0.31cm, 36.41±0.43cm, 35.84±0.37cm, 35.87±0.43cm and 23.43±0.39cm respectively. There was significant (P<0.05) effect of lactation stage on all body measurements taken except for neck circumference and tail length. Correlation between all body pairs of measurements were high, positive and highly significant (P<0.05). The highest correlation was recorded for body length, body circumference, girth circumference and height at wither. Linear function provided the best fit for milk intake weight and linear body measurements indicating that body measurements can be used for selection and the estimation of body weight in the fields where accurate scales are not usually available. It is recommended that any of the body measurement parameters could be used in the estimation of the body weight. Also, an improvement of non-genetic factor such as nutrition and general husbandry of the animal as much as possible will bring about improvement in the body parameters as well as maintaining the animal's physiological balance.


Author(s):  
A. K. Chaturvedani ◽  
Sambhuti Shankar Sahu ◽  
S. K. Choursia ◽  
Om Prakash

The present investigation was conducted in the herd of pure bred Sahiwal cows maintained at Bull Mother Experimental Farm (BMEF) and Government Cattle Breeding Farm (CBF), Anjora, Durg (Chhattisgarh). A total of 193 adult female Sahiwal cattle over three years of age were used in the experiment. The animals were grouped into seven age groups, i.e. 3-4, 4-5, 5-6, 6-7,7-8,>8 years old, and overall. Body weight was found to be significantly (P less than 0.01) and positively correlated with height at withers (r= 0.58 to 0.73), body length (r= 0.56 to 0.76) and heart girth (r= 0.57 to 0.80) in these groups. The relatively high value of coefficient of correlation between live body weight and heart girth assumed to be more significant indicator of live body weight in Sahiwal cattle.


2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 175-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Victoria ◽  
T. R. Fayeye ◽  
K. Luke Ayorinde ◽  
H. Olojede

A total of 108 two-weeks-old Japanese quail chicks were used to study the relationship between body weight and linear measurements and to predict body weight from linear measurements of body length (BL), body girth (BG), wing length (WL), shank length (SL), shank diameter (SD) and drum stick (DS).The results showed that the mean quail birds’ body weights were 35.23g and 143.78g, at 2nd and 8th weeks, respectively. Body weight gain was increased between 2 and 6 weeks of age and thereafter decreased with advancing age. Female birds were significantly (P< 0.05) heavier than those of male counterpart at 6th and 8th weeks of age. Significantly positive correlations (P<0.01) were obtained between body weight and body measurements at 2nd, 4th and 8th weeks. The best correlation was obtained between body weight and body girth at the 2nd week of age (0.70). The estimates of coefficient of determination and predictive equations show that body weight in Japanese quail is linearly related to body measurements especially with body girth and body length. The study shows that it is possible for breeders to use BG and BL as criteria for assessment and early selection of Japanese quail for body weight.  Keywords: Japanese quail; Body weight; Linear measurements; Correlation  © 2014 JSR Publications. ISSN: 2070-0237 (Print); 2070-0245 (Online). All rights reserved.  doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jsr.v6i1.16368 J. Sci. Res. 6 (1), 175-183 (2014)  


2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 39-43
Author(s):  
A. A. Adeoye

Data on body weight and linear body measurements collected from 101 America StandardChinchilla rabbits comprised of 62 females and 39 males at eight weeks were used todetermine the effect of sex and phenotypic correlations among the growth traits. Theestimates were statistically (p<0.05) higher in the female compared with male in virtually all the traits considered except in the fore arm length. The values for body weight, body length, ear length, tail length, fore arm length, heart girth and abdominal circumference for females were 1.19 kg, 31.97 cm, 10.67 cm, 9.89 cm, 15.61 cm, 21.61 cm and 23.75 cm, respectively while the corresponding values for males were 0.88 kg, 28.00 cm, 10.44 cm, 8.95 cm, 14.74 cm, 19.62 cm and 21.67 cm. The correlation between body weight and the linear body measurements was positively significant (p<0.05 and p<0.001) and ranged between 0.301 and 0.951 in males while in females positive and significant correlations were found between body weight and body length (0.831), tail length (0.184), heart girth (0.788) and abdominal circumference (0.719). The correlations among the linear body measurements in the males ranged between 0.108 and 0.951 while in females it ranged between -0.235 and 0.681. The positive relationships between body weight and linear body measurements can be used as basis for body weight selection in both male and female rabbits


2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 264-271
Author(s):  
A. J. Henry ◽  
S. N. Ibe ◽  
B. O. Asuquo

A study was conducted to investigate the relationship between linear body measurements (LBMs) and body weights of grasscutters at 2, 4 and 6 weeks of age. Simple linear correlation procedure was used to establish the strength of linear relationships and associations between the different linear body measurements with body weight. These parameters were also subjected to step-wise regression analysis. The goodness of fit (R2) was tested to determine the contribution of each independent variable measured to the prediction of the dependent variable, the body weight of grasscutters at different ages of 2, 4,6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20 weeks. One hundred and thirty-nine (139) juvenile grasscutters obtained from 24 parents comprising of 18 does and 6 bucks were used for the study. Experimental animals were raised under a mixed feeding regime throughout the experimental period of 20 weeks. The linear body measurements assessed are head length (HL), body length (BL), heart girth (HG), ear length (EL) and tail length (TL). Correlation coefficients (r) between body measurements and weights were generally positive and significant (p < 0.01) at 2 weeks, demonstrating strong relationships between variables. At 4 weeks, correlation coefficients ranged from 0.013 to 0.829 whereas at 6 weeks values ranged from -0.230 to 0.859. Coefficient of determination (R2) varied from 0.926 to 0.997, 0.965 to 0.989 and 0.930 to 0.991 at 2, 4 and 6 weeks, respectively The positive correlation coefficients observed for body length and heart girth shows that these parameters can be improved upon for grasscutters raised under intensive management. Results from this study further revealed that body weight of grasscutters can be estimated under field condition using the ear,head, body lengths and heart girth in the absence of a weighing balance.


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