Application of path analysis for direct and indirect effects of body linear measurements on body weight of Yankasa and Balami sheep

Abstract

The aim of this investigation was to establish both direct and indirect causal relationships between body weight and body linear measurements (head width, wither height, body length, chest girth and rump height) of Yankasa and Balami sheep and to create a useful model that uses various body linear measurements to predict body weight. Correlations between body weight and body linear measurements were also established which ranged from 0.71 - 0.97 for Yankasa and 0.70 - 0.93 for Balami sheep were significant (P<0.01). The direct causal effect of chest girth (0.94 and 0.77 in Yankasa and Balami sheep respectively) on body weight was the highest in both sheep breeds. Body length (-0.19) was significantly (P<0.05) negative in Balami sheep. The indirect causal effects were mostly via chest girth in both sheep breeds. The optimum regression model for predicting body weight included only chest girth for Yankasa sheep while chest girth and body length were included for Balami sheep.