Relationship among Liveweight and Body Dimensions of the Greater Cane Rat (Thrynomys swinderianus)
A. K. Durowaye, A. E. Salako, O. H. Osaiyuwu, O. E. Fijabi
Asian Journal of Research in Animal and Veterinary Sciences · pp. 341–349 · Published 2 Jul 2021
10.9734/ajravs/2021/v4i4165Abstract
The objective of this study was to predict the live weight (LW) of domestically kept Grasscutters from some morphological parameters. The study was carried out at the Grasscutter section of FAK Farms, Apata, Ibadan. Data were recorded on body length (BL), tail length (TL), heart girth (HG), wither height and head length (HL) and body weights of 45 animals (25 females and 20 males) selected at random. Body weights and linear body measurements were recorded for the animals at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months of age using the simple kitchen digital weighing balance and traditional tape measure respectively and the data obtained were subjected to descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation and regression analysis (P=0.05). Mean body length, tail and head lengths, heart girth and wither height were 51.38±3.03cm, 16.76±1.05cm, 10.01±0.42cm, 28.90±1.39cm and 13.66±0.75cm respectively for the male Grasscutters and 45.92±10.01cm, 14.62±0.84cm, 9.40±0.42cm, 28.06±1.41cm and 13.83±0.78cm respectively for the female Grasscutters. The correlation coefficients between LW and body measurements ranged from 0.251 to 0.909 for the male grasscutters and 0.347 to 0.945 for the female grasscutters with the highest correlation of 0.909 and 0.945 for the association between liveweight (LWT) and HG for males at 12 months of age and females at 9 months indicating sexual dimorphism. The coefficients of determination (R2) for the prediction equations recorded highest for heart girth {LWT= -0.101+0.095HG (82.6%)} at 12 months and {LWT= -2.671+0.148HG (89.4%)} at 9 months for the male and female Grasscutters respectively. Using the linear function from the R2 value, BL, WH and HG were better predictors of LW than TL and HL. The best predictor of body weight was heart girth for both the male and the female. In conclusion, the use of BL, WH and HG in a given function explained better the variation in LW than the use of just one body measurement and can provide a basis for selection.
References (13)
- 1 Sex, Size and Gender Roles: Evolutionary Studies of Sexual Size Dimorphism [DOI]
- 2 Application of Morphological Indices in the Assessment of Type and Function in Sheep [DOI]
- 3 Body measurements in Bergamasca sheep [DOI]
- 4 Relationship between production performance, visual appraisal and body measurements of young Dorper rams
- 5 Genetic (Co)variance Components for Body Weight and Body Measurements in Makooei Sheep [DOI]
- 6 Linear Body Measurements as Predictor of Body Weight in Hararghe Highland Goats under Farmers Environment: Ethiopia
- 7 Estimation of body weight in Nguni-type cattle under communal management conditions [DOI]
- 8 Morphometric characterization of Nigerian indigenous sheep using multifactorial discriminant analysis [DOI]
- 9 An evaluation of sexual size dimorphism in Uda sheep using multifactorial discriminant analysis [DOI]
- 10 The Accuracy of Linear Body Measurements of Dairy Cattle [DOI]
- 11 A comparison and development of morphometric characteristics of stallions and mares on the Lipizzaner stud of Đakovo [DOI]
- 12 Linear Body Measurements and Slaughter Characteristics of Meat Goats in the Semi-Arid Zone of North-Western Nigeria. [DOI]
- 13 Sex, size, and gender roles: evolutionary studies of sexual size dimorphism [DOI]
Cited by 3
R. Korzezer, I. C. Nwaogu, S. Hena · Journal of Sustainable Veterinary and Allied Sciences · 2026
M. Mohammed, A. Duodu, I. Coffie · World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews · 2024
Showing 2 of 3 known citations — external sources report more than can currently be individually listed.
Related research
- Isolation, Characterization, and Selection of Bacterial Endophytes from Soybean (Glycine max) Nodules and Roots in Some Soils of Cameroon for Promoting Growth of Forage Legume Plants — shares topic coverage
- Genetic Studies and Response of Rice Germplasm (Oryza sativa L.) to Brown Spot Incidence in Aerobic Condition — shares topic coverage
- A Review on Genetic Analysis of Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Crop for Yield and its Contributing Characters — shares topic coverage
- Prediction of Varietal Replacement in Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) — shares topic coverage
- Multifactorial Analyses of Morphological Traits of Extensively Reared Helmeted Guinea Fowls Numidia meleagris in Kaduna and Katsina States of Nigeria — shares topic coverage
Article metrics
Real usage data collected on this platform.
0
Page views
0
PDF downloads
0
Outbound clicks
3
Citations
Views by country
Approximate, from request IP at view time — not citizenship or institution. Countries with fewer than 5 views are grouped as "Other".
No views recorded yet.
Traffic sources
Referring site, by host.
No traffic recorded yet.
Views and downloads exclude known bots/crawlers. Citations combines this platform's own DOI-resolved index with each external source's own reported total — see Cited by above for individually listed citing works. Last refreshed 0 seconds ago.