Pelvimetry of kuri and bunaji cows in Maiduguri metropolitan slaughterhouse, northern Nigeria

Abstract

The study was conducted on 58 indigenous cattle consisting of 33 Kuri and 25 Bunaji cows slaughtered at the Maiduguri Metropolitan Slaughter house. The internal and external pelvic dimensions in the two breeds were  obtained immediately post slaughter before the animals were dressed.  The Mean ± SEM for pelvic area were found to be 120.83 cm ± 3.6 and 110.1 cm ± 3.4 for Kuri (K) and Bunaji (WF) respectively. The mean ± SEM for various body measurements were 80.98 cm ± 0.5 and 74.0 cm ± 0.8  for heart girth; 149.9 cm ± 1.1 and 138 cm ± 0.7 for height at withers;  129.3 cm ± 1.04 and 117.96 ± 1.4 for height at pin bone; 141.3 cm ± 0.54 and 131.7 cm ± 1.05 for height at hook bone; 46.2 cm ± 0.42 and 42.3 cm ± 0.51 for rump length; 43.6 cm ± 0.45 and 40.8 cm ± 0.74 for rump width; 10.7 cm ± 0.2 and 9.5 cm ± 0.16 bisilliac distance and 11.85 cm ± 0.02 and 11.12 cm ± 0.18 sacropubis distance for Kuri and Bunaji respectively. There was a significant correlation (P<0.05) between pelvic area and sacropubis, bisilliac, height at pin bone and height at withers in both breeds. The pelvic area was significantly (P<0.05) correlated with height at hook bone in Kuri cows but, there was no correlation with heart girth. The Bunaji showed a significant correlation of the pelvic area with the heart girth while, there was no correlation with the height at hook bone. A significant difference (P<0.05) was observed in the dimensions of the traits
between the breeds except in the heart girth and rump width. The study indicated that the parameters measured above may be used as good indicators of cows with large pelvic area in both breeds.