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- Title
Morphological evaluations in buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) in Venezuela.
- Authors
Pacheco-Díaz, Luis Alfredo; Aranguren-Méndez, José Atilio; Román-Bravo, Rafael; Rivero-Hernández, Sharon; Tovar-Briceño, Luis Edgardo
- Abstract
The buffalo herds in Venezuela are characterized by a high phenotypic polymorphism, showing high diversity among individuals. The leading cause is the great mixture of breeds involved in the crossbreeding programs, such as Murrah, Mediterranean, Nili Ravi, Jafarabadi, and Carabao. Morphometric measurements assist in racial characterization by comparing genetic groups (within and between) and establishing the relationship between the conformation and functional traits, eliminating undesirable characters, and helping in the selection process for the identification of morphologically superior animals. The morphometry study consists of the search for a functional animal. These traits also contribute to the selection process in identifying the morphologically superior animals and eliminating the unwanted characters. This phenotypic characterization of buffaloes comprised quantitative and qualitative traits of 157 female buffaloes aged 24 to 48 months and 21 males aged 18 to 36 months. There were measurements on 24 traits, 18 quantitative (cm) variables considered as morphometric: (i) wither height (HW), (ii) rump length (RL), (iii) rump angle (RA), (iv) hip length (HL), (v) rump width (RW), (vi) hip width (WH), (vii) heel depth (HD), (viii) shoulder width (SW), (ix) chest depth (CD), (x) heart girth (HG), (xi) body length (BL), (xii) tail length (TL) and six qualitative traits, a) loin strength (LS), b) hock angle (HA), c) foot angle (FA) and d) dairy form (DF); and only for females (xiii) fore udder attachment (FUA), (xiv) rear udder height (RUH), (xv) rear udder width (UW), (xvi) udder depth (UD), (xvii) udder cleft (UC), (xviii) teat length (LT) and e) Nipple direction (ND) and f) Nipple position (NP). The data were subjected to descriptive and ANOVA analysis for breed predominance and sex. No difference was found between the predominant breed (p>0.05) means ± SE were: for HW (132.41±0.82), RL (44.86±0.67), RA (10.68±1.45), HL (56.26±0.98), RW (26.76±0.80), WH (50.5±0.97), HD (2.8±0.10), HG (201.42±2.60), TL (88.09±1.50); except SW 41.69±0.73 vs 44.31±0.70 (p<0.002); CD 72.68±1.45 vs 76.03±1.40 (p< 0.01) and BL 136.7±2.06 vs 142.02±1.98 cm (p<0.04) for Mediterranean vs Murrah predominance, respectively. The sex affects only the variables for rump RL, HL, RW, 45.5±0.42 vs. 42.7±1.05 (p<0.01), 59.42±0.59 vs. 53.42±1.49 (p<0.001), and 28.99±0.48 vs. 22.97±1.20 cm, (p<0.001), for females and males, respectively. On all qualitative measurements, there were no significant differences. The results could suggest that the body morphometric traits could be incorporated in designing selection programs for buffalo breeding in Venezuela. This information would include the genetic evaluation using the BLUP methodology and the morphological characterization of the breeds present in Venezuela, constituting a starting point in the genetic programs.
- Subjects
VENEZUELA; WATER buffalo; ANIMAL morphology
- Publication
Revista Cientifica de la Facultade de Veterinaria, 2023, Vol 33, p144
- ISSN
0798-2259
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.52973/rcfcv-wbc027