Author/Authors :
Hassan ، H. E. نويسنده Department of Meat Production and Technology, Faculty of Animal Production, University of Gezira, Al-Managil, Sudan. , , Elamin ، K. M. نويسنده Department of Animal Breeding, Faculty of Animal Production, University of Gezira, Al-Managil, Sudan. , , Yousif ، I. A. نويسنده Department of Genetics and Animal Breeding, Faculty of Animal Production, University of Khartoum, Shambat, Sudan. , , Musa ، A. M. نويسنده Department of Animal Breeding, Faculty of Animal Production, University of Gezira, Al-Managil, Sudan. , , Elkhairey ، M. A. نويسنده Department of Animal Breeding, Faculty of Animal Production, University of Gezira, Al-Managil, Sudan. ,
Abstract :
This experiment was conducted to study live body weight (BWT) and morphometric traits at various ages in Sudan local rabbits. Sex effects and the various phenotypic correlations between the traits were evaluated. Traits studied were body weight (BWT), ear length (EL), heart girth (HG), height at wither (HTW), body length (BL), abdominal circumference (ABC), nose shoulder (NS), fore limb(FL), hind limb (HL), thigh girth (TG) and tail length (TL). The coefficients of variation for traits studied were generally high to moderate at three and four month of age, whereas they were moderate t low at five month and over year old. Generally speaking, the coefficients of variation for traits studied were high for body weight and height at wither, moderate for heart girth. Traits significantly affected (P?0.05) by sex were: heart girth at 3 month of age, heart girth and fore limb length at 5 month of age and abdominal circumference and tail length at over 12 month of age .Phenotypic correlations between BWT and HG and BL were highly significant (P?0.01) in all age groups. These correlations were high in younger groups than in older groups. Pairwise correlations of linear measurements traits ranged from low to high values. The results revealed that morphometric traits can be used as aids to selection in rabbit genetic improvement and field and market live weight prediction.
