BODY MEASUREMENT RELATIONSHIPS IN PURE AND CROSSED GOATS

Abstract

Body measurment relationships study, among kids of West African Dwarf
(WAD) goats and their Red Sokoto (RS) halfbreds, between birth and 150
days of age was carried out at the University of Ibadan Teaching and Research
Farm over a perio9d of two and half years. Pecentage variation tended to
remain constant between birth and 150 days of age for all measurements
taken, except shoulder width. Among body length (BL) and leg length (LL),
coefficeint of variation were highest at 30days of age and steadily decreased
with increase in age. Among body measurements, phenotypic correlation
values at birth were moderately high and positive ranging from 0.31 to 0.76.
Similar results were obtainedat 90 and 150 days of age. However, the genetic
correlation values were negative between heart girth (HG) and leg length
(LL) and between heart girth and body length (BL) at birth. Between body
measurements and body weight at birth, 90 and 150 days, genetic and
phenotypic correlations were postitive and in general increased with increase
in age interval. Phenotypic correlation between measurements and degrees
of maturity at birth and at weaning.