Repeatability Estimate Using Morphometric Measurement for Rabbit Genotypes in Late Dry and Early Wet Seasons

Abstract

The study was conducted to estimate repeatability of morphometric measurements using seven Rabbit genotypes. In achieving the objectives, linear body measurements were taken on the Rabbits using flexible tape calibrated in cm. They are body weight (BW) in kg, body depth (BD), body length (BL), tail length (TL), fore-limb length (FLL), hind-limb length (HLL) and ear length (EL).The coefficient of variability of the morphometric measurements showed low to moderate variability and ranged from 9.24% for HLL to 15.73% for TL. BW had high variability (35.88%). The Repeatability estimate for the morphometric measurements were 0.68, 0.73, 0.51, 0.63, 0.66, 0.74 and 0.68 for BW, BD, BL, TL, FLL, HLL and EL respectively in late dry seasonwhere HLL had the highest estimate in that season. Similarly, in early wet season, the repeatability estimate was0.71, 0.81, 0.64, 0.50, 0.52, 0.66 and 0.60 for BW, BD, BL, TL, FLL, HLL and EL respectively where BD recorded the highest estimate. Thus, all the parameters measured were highly repeatable (>0.50). Pearson correlation coefficient among the morphometric characteristics showed strong, positive and significant relationships with the ‘r’ value ranging from 0.38 (BDx EL) to 0.82 (BWx BL).