ESTIMATES OF CORRELATION AND REGRESSION OF MORPHOMETRIC TRAITS IN CROSS BRED RABBIT USING DIFFERENT FUNCTIONS

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the correlation and regression estimates of linear body traits in mixed breed of rabbits. One hundred and sixty growing rabbits comprising New Zealand White and Chinchilla crossbreed were used. Body morphometric data, such as; body weight, shoulder to tail length, head to shoulder length, trunk length, height at withers, ear length, heart girth, fore-limb length, hind limb length and nose to shoulder length, were collected and recorded appropriately per week. Data generated were analyzed using SAS (2008) to establish the existing phenotypic relationship among morphometric traits of mixed breed of rabbits and to predict the performance traits of the rabbits using linear and non-linear functions. The results showed that there were low to high correlation coefficients between body weight and linear body parameters. The strong and positive relationships were found existing between the following: ear length-shoulder to tail length; body weight-shoulder to tail length; body weight-heart girth; body weight-ear length; heart girth-height at withers; and shoulder to tail length-heart girth. However, trunk length-body weight, height at witherstrunk length, ear length-trunk length, were negatively correlated and were not significant (p>0.05). The predictive functions were mostly positive and significant (p<0.05) except for ear length. Allometric function had the highest coefficient of determination (R2 ) of 96% for height at withers. It therefore recommended that allometric function be used to predict the linear body traits of rabbit breed