PHENOTYPIC CORRELATIONS AND RELATIONSHIP ESTIMATION BETWEEN LITTER SIZE, PARITY, BODY WEIGHT, BODY CONDITION SCORE AND BODY MEASUREMENTS IN YANKASA EWES

Résumé

Data from forty-eight (48) Yankasa ewes were used to study the phenotypic correlations and relationship estimation between litter size, parity, body weight, body length, age, body condition score and chest girth in Yankasa ewes. The data were collected at the College of Agriculture and Animal Science, Ahmadu Bello University, Mando Road, Kaduna State, Nigeria. Traits recorded were litter size, parity, body length, height-at-wither, chest girth, body condition score and age. All data were collected fortnightly. The data were analysed using the General Linear Model of SAS. The average height-at-withers, body length, chest girth, litter size, body condition score and body weight recorded were 69.0 ± 2.34cm, 66.0 + 3.40cm, and 1.46 + 0.04, 2.67 ± 0.10 and 32 '0 ± 0.24kg respectively. Body weight had positive correlation with (P< 0.01 ) with HAW, BCS, BL, and parity. BL had positive correlations with CG, BCS, age and parity. CG had positive correlation with BW, HAW, BL, BCS, age and parity. The correlation coefficients recorded for the measured traits range between 0.21 and 0.89 and were significant (P < 0.01). This study also indicated that body measurements and body weight showed significant and positive correlations and the tendency to show some progress with progressing litter size, parity and age. These characters could be improved by conditioning the environment and the system of management.