Body morphometric measurements in Murrah crossbred buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis)

Abstract

The morphometry study contributes to the comprehension of the animal conformation. The objective of this research was to study the morphometric measurements of crossbred female Murrah buffaloes, aiming to give subsidies to the study of the relations between their body structures and productive or reproductive performances. The morphometric body measurements studied were: the breast width (BW), thigh width (THW), hip width (HW), rump width (RW), rump length (RL), animal depth (AD), body length (BL), front height (FH), hind height (HH), shoulder width (SW), thorax width (TW), loin width (LW), distance from the head to the ischium (DHI) and thoracic perimeter (TP). Descriptive and Pearson correlation analysis were performed. The average values were 43.72 (BW), 51.42 (TW), 39.99 (HIW), 25.38 (RW), 39.78 (RL), 71.72 (AD), 143.07 (BL), 130.05 (FH), 130.80 (HH), 33.00 (SW), 35.25 (CHW), 3.79 (LW), 180.15 (LHI) and 201.30 (TP). The highest correlations were 0.74 for the SW/CHW, 0.69 for the HIW/TW, 0.68 for the TP/RH, 0.66 for the CW/HIW, 0.65 for the HW/RH and 0.64 for the TW/CW. These correlation coefficients between the body morphometric measurements themselves can be used in the selections programmes.

Keywords

• Bubalus bubalis
• thoracic perimeter
• Pearson correlation
• body measurements
• morphometry