Prediction of body weights of Nellore sheep under field condition

Abstract

Data on 1350 Nellore sheep of 2, 4, 6 and 8-teeth age, reared under field conditions in 12 mandals of Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh were utilized for development of prediction equations and study the phenotypic association among body measurements and body weights. The coefficients of correlation between body weight with the height at withers, chest girth, paunch girth, hip width and body length were positive and high in magnitude in both males and females in majority of the age groups studied. Step-down regression equations were fitted to predict the body weight based on biometrical measurements at different ages. The height at withers, chest girth, paunch girth, hip width and body length have contributed significantly to the expression of body weights at the majority of the ages studied. High coefficient of determination (R2) value was observed in males at 6 and 8-teeth age as 88 per cent, while in females 50 per cent at 2-teeth age.

Nonlinear Prediction Models for Estimation of Pre-weaning Body Weight of Pigs using Morphometric Traits

“…Body measurement traits have widely been used to predict the body weight of farm animals by deriving prediction equation. The method is more commonly used in cattle (El Khidir, 1980;Goe et al, 2001) and to a lesser extent for sheep, pigs and poultry (Lawrence and Fowler, 1997, Singh et al, 2001, Rani et al, 2016, Kumar et al, 2018. Growth is a complex biological process that is induced by differential development rates of body tissues.…”