Relation of Growth of Crossbred Hair Sheep with some Zoometric Measures

The weighing records of 18 crossbred females with average live weight of 14.7 ± 3.14 kg were analyzed to study the relationship of the growth of crossbred hair sheep with some zoometric measures. The weight was established and took the measures thoracic perimeter, cannon perimeter, body length, neck length, hip am-plitude, ischial amplitude, withers height and croup height. All parameters were stated as cm. Within 60 days of the initial weighing and taken the zoometric measures, animals were weighed again and the average daily gain was estimated. The correlation coefficients of initial body weight with zoometric measures were high (r>0.7) and the highest of average daily gain were with thoracic perimeter (r=0.41) and body length (r=0.34), to the remaining variables the coefficients were below 0.3. According to Akaike information crite-rion the best fit model to describe the growth was, average daily gain (ADG) (g/d)= 3.3 × thoracic perimeter (PT) - 44.4 × perimeter cane (PC) + 5.4 × body length (LCO) + 5.6 × amplitude hip (AC) - 3.3 × height at the croup (ALG) (R2=0.92, Akaike information criterion (AIC)=96.8; P<0.05). The zoometric measures relate to the growth, proving to be a tool for information about the growth potential of crossbred lambs.