Shared variability in body shape characters at growing phase of indigenous piglets

Abstract

Body measurement traits, body length (BL) , rump height (RH), rump length (RL), rump width (RW), shoulder width (SW), wither height (WH), heart girth (HG), and flank length (FL) of 52 piglets of indigenous breed, managed under traditional system were obtained at birth and at weaning, to evaluate the sources of shared variability and efficiency of weight determination. Factor analysis reveals four factors accounting for 89.53% at birth and three factors accounting for 73.52% at weaning. Most common variability in body dimension at birth and at weaning could be accounted for by factors representing general size and RL in both cases. Body conformation “shape” was controlled by common and unique factors at both ages. Amount of variation associated with shape characters increased with advancing age and accuracy of weight estimation decreased with increase in age.

Keywords: Body shape characters, growing phase and piglets