Prediction of Body Weight at Six Months of Age from Body Measurements at Birth in Iraqi Buffalo Calves

Abstract

Abstract This study has been conducted in Basrah province during 2019 by using 90 buffalo calves, weight at birth(W0) and weight at six months of age (BW6) and their body measurements at the same age such as, body length (BL), wither height (WH), hip height (HH), chest grith (CG) and hip girth (HG) are recorded. The current study aims to predict (BW6) from the body measurements at birth, also to predict BW6 from their body measurements at the same age.The results obtained of the current study can be summarized as follow :The overall means of W0 and BW6 are 37.159 and 124.241 kg respectively, and the overall means for body measurements at birth and at six months of age are : 76.778 (BL0) 73.088 (WH0), 91.470 (HH0), 104.274 (CG0) and 112.780 (HG0) and 90.815 (BL6), 88.333 (WH6), 102.852 (HH6), 122.00 (CG6) and 129.852 cm for (HG0) respectively. The results in this study explain that the first equation which depending on BL0 is the best predictor to weigh at six months of age where inquires a high correlation coefficient as 0.577 with adjusted R2=0.320.It is observed that the twenty –fourth equation is the best equation among the equations to predict BW6 from body measurements at birth which is based on four measures (WH0, HH0, CG0, HG0),as it achieved adjusted R2=0.384 and with allow standard error estimate (4.20) . It is found that first equation is the the best that depended on (BL6) as achieved adjusted R2=0.447. Significantly simple correlation coefficients between BW6 with their body measurements are ranging from 0.209 to 0.676 at six months of age. Also it is observed that fourth equation to predict W6from body measurements at the same age is the best which is based on (BL6, HG6),where the values of correlation coefficient and adjusted R2 are 0.700 and 0.470 respectively and the standard error estimate for this eqation is low (3.90) comparison with other equations.Finally, previous equations could be used to predict weights from body measurements at birth and six months of age, easily, cheaply, rabidly and well accepted by the breeds when weighing scales are not available in the commercial herds.