Multivariate analysis of morphostructural characteristics in Nigerian indigenous sheep

Abstract

The population variability of three breeds of Nigerian sheep was investigated using multivariate discriminant analysis. The sampled populations comprised mature 331 Yankasa, 296 Uda and 166 Balami sheep kept by traditional farmers in northern Nigerian. A total of ten morphological traits (withers height, rump height, body length, face length, rump length, tail length, chest circumference, head width, shoulder width and rump width) were collected on each animal. The univariate analysis revealed that the body measures of Balami sheep were significantly larger (P<0.05) than others with the exception of tail length. Uda sheep also had higher mean values (P<0.05) than their Yankasa counterparts in all the morphological traits analysed. However, the stepwise discriminant analysis revealed that head width chronologically followed by tail length, chest circumference and body length were more discriminating in separating the three sheep populations. The Mahalanobis distance of the morphological traits between Yankasa and Balami sheep was longest (4.83) while the least differentiation was observed between Uda and Yankasa sheep (1.79). Nearest neighbour discriminant analysis showed that most Balami sheep (61.45%) were classified into their source genetic group. While 41.22% of Uda sheep were misclassified as Yankasa sheep, 35.35% of Yankasa were wrongly assigned as Uda sheep, showing the level of genetic exchange that has taken place between the two breeds overtime. The present phenotypic information could be complemented with genetic analyses; and serve as a basis for designing appropriate conservation, breeding and selection strategies for Nigerian sheep.

Using morphometric traits for live body weight estimation and multivariate analysis in Central Highland and Woyto-Guji Goat Breeds, Ethiopia

“…The discriminant analysis based on significant F-values indicated body weight, body length, height at withered, chest width, ramp length, pelvic width, horn length and ear length as the linear measures permitting discrimination between the Woyto-Guji and Central Highland goats. Some of these discriminating variables are similar to those reported by other researchers in sheep (Carneiro et al, 2010;Yakubu and Ibrahim, 2011) and goats . The higher the overall percent classification rate (hit rate) is also an indication of the fact that, the two breeds belong to different breeds.…”

Caractérisation phénotypique de la race ovine Rembi d’Algérie

“…Si l'on compare les mensurations de la Rembi à celles de races nigérianes (Yakubu et Ibrahim, 2011), d'Afrique du Sud (Mavule, 2013), du Ghana (Birteeb et al, 2013), du Burkina Faso (Traoré et al, 2008) ou de la Zambie (Pareacute et Casanova, 2013), la Rembi se positionne parmi celles au format le plus important. Si l'on compare la Rembi à la Ouled-Djellal, étudiée en Algérie en considérant les mêmes variables par Harkat et al (2015), on constate, malgré la forte ressemblance des deux races, que la Ouled-Djellal est plus lourde avec un poids moyen de dix kilogrammes environ supé-rieur, et plus élancée, avec un cou plus long de trois centimètres en moyenne est une hauteur au garrot plus élevée de trois centimètres en moyenne.…”

A morphometric study of sheep reared in north-east Algerian

“…The first step of the characterization of Algerian local genetic resources is to assess variation in morphological traits (Delgado et al, 2001). Many authors have suggested use of multifactorial analysis for morphological traits in order to assess phenotypic variation within and between small ruminant population (Traoré et al, 2008a, b;Yakubu et al, 2010;Legaz et al, 2011;Yakubu, 2011et Dekhili et al, 2013.…”