Phenotypic characterization of yankasa breed of sheep in Maiduguri, North-Eastern Nigeria

Abstract

A total of 255 (65 males and 190 females) Yankasa breeds of sheep were randomly sampled to evaluate the effect of age and sex on morphometric characteristics using descriptive statistics, correlation and regression coefficient. The morphometric traits evaluated were; body weight (BW), body length (BL), height at wither (HW), chest circumference (CC), head length (HDL), head width (HDW), ear length (EL), tail length (TL), rump width (RW), rump length (RL), foreleg (FLG), hind leg (HLG), height at rump (HTR) and neck length (NL). Body weight was measured with weighing while the morphometric characteristic was measured with measuring tape. The data was analyzed using GENSTAT 2011. The result revealed that age has significant (P<0.05) effect on morphometric characteristics of Yankasa sheep. Increase in age lead to increase in morphometric characteristics. Sex also has significant (P<0.05) influence on morphometric traits. Male shows superiority over female in all the traits except CC and NL. The Coefficient of Variation (CV) ranged from 7.31 – 26.86) with HDW having the highest (26.86) while CC had the lowest (7.31). The phenotypic correlation of morphometric characteristics varied in magnitude and direction. BW showed positive correlation with most of the morphometric traits. The positive correlation of BW with other traits showed that they are controlled by same gene. The regression analysis indicated that body weight of Yankasa sheep could easily be predicted from any of the linear body measurements. The traits combined could be the best predictor of body weight of these breed of sheep.

Keywords: Yankasa, Phenotypic, Breed, Characterization, Age