Influence of genotype on body weight and morphometric traits of rabbits raised in the tropics

Abstract

Two breeds of rabbits New Zealand white (NZW) and Chinchilla (CHA) were crossbred to produce both pure and crossbred genotypes. Four  genotypes NZW x NZW, CHA x CHA, NZW x CHA and CHA x NZW were generated to obtain one hundred and twenty (126) kittens, examined for the influence of genotypes on body weight and morphometric traits performance. Body weight an d morphometric traits were measured early in the  morning at weeks 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10. The traits measured were body weight (BWT), body width (BWD), Neck length (NL), leg length (LL), ear length (EL), body length (BL), heart girth (HG), shoulder to tail (ST) and thigh length (TL). The data obtained were subjected to analysis of variance and  phenotypic correlations between body weight and morphometric traits as well as among morphometric traits were estimated. The results indicated that genotype had significant (p<0.05) influence on body weight and other morphometric traits measured with cross bred NZW x CHA genotype showing superiority in body weight and other morphometric traits than other genotype studied at all ages. Positive high (p<0.001) and significant (p<0.05) correlations were established among the morphometric traits measured, and between BWT with other morphometric traits except the relationship with BWD and ST at week 10. It was concluded that NZW x CHA had a significant higher performance in body weight and morphometric traits in the study area and thus should be recommended to farmers to meet protein requirement of individuals in the area of this study.

Keywords: Rabbit, Genotype, Body weight, Morphometric traits