Association among biometric traits and characterisation based on sexed-plumage colour of Nigerian locally adapted turkey were investigated using discriminant analysis. Eight morphometric traits were measured to study their phenotypic variations between two plumage colours (Lavender and White). The characters measured were body weight (BW) as well as body dimensions such as wing length (WL), wing span (WS), body length (BL), breast girth (BG), shank length (SL), thigh length (TL) and keel length (KL) taken at 12 weeks of age. The White male turkey was significantly (P < 0.05) heavier and had longer morphometric body traits than its female counterpart, but when compared with the Lavender male and female genotype, the traits did not differ significantly (P > 0.05). High positive and significant (P < 0.05) correlation coefficients were recorded among the various body traits. Coefficients of correlation in Lavender turkey ranged from 0.73 – 0.94, and 0.84 – 0.96 in the White turkey. The highest association with body weight in Lavender was body length (r = 0.80, P < 0.05), and the trio of BW, TL and KL had the stronger association for the White turkey (r = 0.91, P < 0.05). The first, second and third canonical variable or Fisher linear discriminant function explained 52.13 %, 37.48 % and 10.39 %, respectively, of the total variation. The distances between all pair wise were significant (P < 0.05). The greatest distance value (415.16) was between the White male and female turkeys, closely followed by the male White and female Lavender turkey (303.58), while the least distance was between the male and female Lavender. The distance between the populations was significant. It can be concluded that thigh length, breast girth, wing length, wing span and body length can serve as the most discriminating variables in distinguishing between White and Lavender populations.

Evaluation of body weight and seven morphostructural traits (body length, wither's height, rump height, fore cannon bone length, chest depth, hip width and hearth girth) of 200 West African dwarf (WAD) sheep of age range 0-1, 1-2, 2-3 and 3-4 was used in determining age and sex effects using General linear model procedure. The sheep were traditionally managed in flocks of southern and north central Nigeria. Interdependence magnitude (redundancy) was estimated to be positive and significant through pearson's correlation estimates between body weight and linear body dimensions (r = 0.04 – 0.81; P < 0.01). Among the linear type traits, highest correlation was observed between body weight and hearth girth in males (r = 0.85) and females (r = 0.81) respectively. Multicollinearity contrast at variance inflation factor (VIF) threshold 3.0 was found to be most associated with rump height, hearth girth and body length; with low tolerance modules. Collinearity effects were further orchestrated with computations of eigen values, condition indexes and variance proportions. The component solution through VARIMAX orthogonal rotation generated one principal component for WAD sheep of age range 0-2 years, and two principal components for age range 2-4 years. The principal component based on regression models revealed, body weight was best predicted from heart girth, and combination of rump height and wither's height measurements.

An economically-important trait in poultry for which gene identification continues to be a challenge is immune response. The objective of the study is to quantitate the expression of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II BLB2 gene at cytolytic and latent immune response stages in Nigerian indigenous chickens. A total of 108 Nigerian indigenous chickens (NIC) were sourced across the South-western states in Nigeria. The birds were inoculated with sheep red blood cells (SRBC), after which blood samples were obtained (5 days post-inoculation) and antibody haemagglutination test was carried out to place the birds into groups of high and low antibody titre levels. The categorisation of the birds resulted in six groups of normal feather high, normal feather low, naked neck high, naked neck low, frizzle feather high and frizzle feather low antibody groups. A total of 48 chicks were selected from the progeny for gene expression studies. Surgical excision of thymus and spleen was carried out for the detection of cytolytic and latent responses of the birds. β-actin was used as the endogenous control and the critical threshold method (2 -ΔΔCт ) was carried out for the determination of fold change. The fold change of spleen tissue expression at cytolytic immune response of the birds was 30,362.44 compared to latent response 294.07; and the fold change of thymus expression at cytolytic immune response of the birds was 51.98 compared to latent response 5.24. At both cytolytic and latent stages of