Possibilities of Using Morphometrics Characteristics as a Tool for Body Weight Prediction in Turkish Hair Goats (Kilkeci)

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine body weight, body measurements, body condition score and the relationship between body weight and body measurements in adult Turkish Hair Goat (Kilkeci) reared in four different enterprises just before the mating time under rural farm conditions. Totally 195 goats, 177 does (2-4 years old, n = 91, 1D group and 4.5-6 years old age n = 86, 2D group) and 18 bulks (at 3-5 years old, B) at breeding age were used. Morphologic measurements such as body weight, wither height, heart girth, chest width, rump height and body length were determined as 47.35 +/- 0.42, 52.2 +/- 0.46 and 64.09 +/- 0.34 kg; 73.13 +/- 0.33, 74.09 +/- 0.36 and 81.89 +/- 0.40 cm; 72.47 +/- 0.36 73.80 +/- 0.39 and 81.86 +/- 0.51 cm; 73.01 +/- 0.35, 75.79 +/- 0.38 and 81.78 +/- 0.77 cm; 18.10 +/- 0.14,18.75 +/- 0.15 and 23.22 +/- 0.32 cm; 30.76 +/- 0.15,31.94 +/- 0.17 and 34.86 +/- 0.39 cm; 86.22 +/- 0.36,89.67 +/- 0.38 and 98.89 +/- 0.86 cm for 1D, 2D and B, respectively. There were significant differences (p<0.01) between age groups in does and also between does and bulks. It was found positive and significant (p<0.001) correlations between body weight and body measurements. The highest correlations were found between body weight and each of heart girth (0.847), chest depth (0.775). The body weight could be estimated by using the equation of Y = -47.8+1.12 HG; R(2)= 0.717 for Kilkeci under reared rural conditions without considering age, farm and sex. It was concluded that Kilkeci has similar morphologic characteristics as peer evaluation and an important genetic source for the ecological production.