<div>Background: Among the three varieties of Nellore sheep, Nellore brown was most popular among the shepherds of Telangana state. The research on the performance of the other two varieties i.e. Palla and Dora was done extensively in their home tract but less data was available about performance of Nellore brown under different system of rearing. The growth rate of lambs was highest from birth to weaning in their life. The system of rearing can influence both growth rate and biometrical measurements of the lamb. The performance of the lambs during this stage influence the productive and reproductive performance in the lifetime.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: Sixty Nellore brown ewes (1.5 - 2 years) were selected from Sheep unit, Livestock Research Station, Mamnoor, Telangana for the present study.&nbsp; The lambs born in intensive (G1, lambs born N= 14), Semi-intensive (G2, lambs born N= 14) and Extensive (G3, lambs born N= 12) system of rearing were used to study the growth performance and biometry of lambs from birth to weaning.&nbsp; 
 
Result: The birth weight (kg) of lambs in G1 and G2 groups were significantly (P&lt;0.01) higher than lambs in G3 group. The weaning body weight (Kg) was significantly higher (P&lt;0.01) in G1 group as compared to weaning body weights in G2 and G3 group. The mean average ADG (gm) of lambs from birth to weaning was significantly (P&lt;0.01) higher in G1 (105.4&plusmn;0.19) followed by G2 (97.9&plusmn;0.14) and G3 (92.8&plusmn;0.07) group. The mean pin shoulder length (cm) of lambs at birth in G1 group was higher than G2 and G3 group but had a significant (P&lt;0.05) difference with the only G3 group. In G1 group, the mean heart girth (cm) of lambs from15th day to weaning was significantly (P&lt;0.01) higher than G2 and G3 groups. The mean gain in paunch girth from birth to weaning in lambs of three groups was nearly 19 cm and had no significant (P&lt;0.05) difference between groups.</div>

​Growth Performance and Biometry of Nellore Brown Lambs from Birth to Weaning under Different Systems of Rearing

Background: In 234 cows of Tripura desi cattle from three districts, 18 different biometric traits were measured and analyzed by PCA to explain body conformation. These traits included body length, height at withers, heart girth, paunch girth etc. The native cattle in Tripura are of a smaller breed, according to the average of these several traits.&nbsp;

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Methods: Six factors that accounted for roughly 75.67% of the variation overall were found using factor analysis with promax rotation. Explaining 26.07% of the total variation, factor 1 characterized the overall body structure. The measurements of tail length, shank length, heart girth, paunch girth, circumference of horn and horn length were significantly positive with high loadings. 
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Result: The outcome indicates that a significant decrease in the number of biometric parameters required to record in order to explain body conformation could lead to the application of principal component analysis (PCA) in breeding programmes. As a result, the study will support conservation efforts and the stabilization of this non-descript breed of cow.

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Principal Component Analysis of Morphometric Traits of Tripura Desi Cattle

<div style="text-align: justify;">Present investigation was conducted on 3310 Assamese buffaloes during the period 2009-13 to study on-farm husbandry practices and phenotypic characteristics. Fifty two breeders were randomly selected from 18 villages of three districts in its breeding tract in Assam, India. A pre-structured questionnaire was used to interview the breeders to generate data which included husbandry practices: housing and sanitation, feeding, breeding and general health management and body measurement: body length, body height, heart girth, paunch girth. The data collected were analyzed by descriptive statistics (percentages). The study revealed that the body length, height, heart girth and paunch girth for young and adult animals, ranged from 70.45&plusmn;0.82 to 143.62&plusmn;1.10, 81.34&plusmn;0.60 to 136.31&plusmn;1.00, 88.85&plusmn;0.53 to 186.95&plusmn;0.95 and 96.04&plusmn;0.83 to 197.96&plusmn;0.99 cm respectively. The results showed that the breeders have adopted good husbandry practices under existing farming situations in the area except sanitation and drainage was very poor. Feeding management was mostly extensive type (100%) for 8 hours (100%) and the Colostrum and milk feeding to young calves was practiced by 100% of the farmers. Whereas breeding is concerned, 46.15% breeders maintained 40-60 animals with 1-2 breeding bulls (78.85%) for natural breeding (100%). Buffalo breeders adopted deworming (40.38%) in young as well as adult animals and the vaccination of animals were practiced only 38.46%. The treatment of diseased animals was performed mostly by Veterinary Field Assistants (38.62%) and the Quacks (51.92%). Most common category of diseases was FMD, BQ and Parasites (36.54%) in the area. The animals are good for draft purpose and known for higher fat contents in its milk, hence recommended for its conservation and further development.</div>

On-farm husbandry practices and phenotypic characteristics of indigenous Assamese buffaloes of India

Majority of the Kargil sheep populations are indigenous. Very scanty information is available for morphological characterization of Purky sheep population. Therefore, the present study was undertaken with the objectives to study the morpho-metric characteristics and body measurements for phenotypic characterization of the local sheep. A stratified random sample survey was conducted on various parameters (horn size, tail size, chest girth, punch girth, body length, height at wither and body weight) in seven different age groups. Data were collected randomly from 510 sheep of either sex. The local sheep population of Kargil which was selected for the present investigation is named as &lsquo;Purky&rsquo; by the name of the community that reared this breed. In Purky sheep white body colour was predominant in both the sexes. The sheep breed was of low to medium body weight. The chest girth, punch girth, height at withers of Purky sheep showed it to be medium sized. Sex had significant effect (P&lt;0.05) on height at wither only. For males the least squares means were higher for all the traits of all age groups baring few exceptions. The phenotypic correlations of age groups with different morpho-metric traits were very high. The phenotypic correlations of &nbsp;body weight with other body measurements like tail size, chest girth, paunch girth, body length and height at wither were very high. Further studies should be carried out to fully exploit their genetic potential and to register the breed and in-situ conservation of this population. 
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Phenotypic characterization of Purky sheep population of Kargil district 
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<div style="text-align: justify;">Measurements of body conformation in sheep are of value in judging the quantitative characteristics of meat and also helpful in developing suitable selection criterion. Data &nbsp;on 349 Harnali sheep for body length (BL), body height (BH), heart girth (HG), paunch girth (PG), tail length (TL), head circumference (HC), ear length (EL), ear width (EW), face length (FL) and adult body weight (ABW) were analysed to study the relationship between linear body measurements and &nbsp;body weight. The mixed linear model with dam&rsquo;s weight at lambing as covariate was used to study the effect of non-genetic factors on body measurements and body weight. High estimates of heritability were obtained for BL, BH, HG, TL, HC, EL, EW, FL and ABW while moderate estimate was obtained for PG. The phenotypic correlations of BL, BH, HG, PG, HC and FL with ABW were positive and significant (0.32&plusmn;0.04 to 0.59&plusmn;0.08). The genetic correlations of HG, PG, HC and FL with ABW were 0.51&plusmn;0.13, 0.42&plusmn;0.19, 0.44&plusmn;0.13 and 0.43&plusmn;0.15, respectively. Various combinations of linear type traits to predict ABW were found to have coefficient of determination as high as 0.92. It is concluded that heart girth is the most important trait for estimation of live weight in sheep and the prediction equation is Body weight = -63.72 + 1.23 HG with R2 = 0.87.</div>

<div style="text-align: justify;">Prediction of body weight from linear body measurements in sheep</div>

The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of chedu and mattha on growth performance of Murrah buffalo calves. To assess the effect of chedu and mattha on growth rate, 20 growing buffalo calves of around 1 year of age and approximately of same weights were selected and were divided into 4 treatment groups having 5 animals in each group. The animals had access to ad libitum berseem hay as the basal roughage T0 (Control), T1 (Administration of mattha @ 2% of body weight with salt @ 0.5% of mattha), T2 (Application of chedu on their body @ 150 g per animal), T3 (Administration of mattha and application of chedu). Body weight of all buffalo calves was recorded at 15 days interval during the experimental period. From 75th day of experiment, significant effect (P&lt;0.05) was observed in body weight, heart girth and height at withers of treatment groups as compared to control group whereas, body length and paunch girth showed significant effect (P&lt;0.05) on 90th day of experiment. The results further indicated that use of chedu and mattha improved the health status of the calves and helped to attain a comparatively higher body weight and an early puberty. It can be concluded on the basis of findings of present research work that the use of chedu and mattha may be recommended for supplementation of calves&rsquo; diet, as it improves the health status of the calves and helps in the attainment of higher body weight and an early onset of puberty in the calves.

Effect of chedu and mattha on growth performance of Murrah buffalo calves

A study was undertaken to assess the type and function of Ganjam goats native to coastal Odisha based on morphometric traits and their indices. Different flooring systems, viz. conventional earthen flooring (CEF), bamboo-slatted flooring (BSF) and plastic-slatted flooring (PSF) were applied for rearing the growing goats in multilocation trials involving 54 kids (~4 months age) of either sex in equal ratio. The goat kids were equally distributed i.e. eighteen in each group (6 animals &times; 3 locations) and reared on free range system followed by in-house sheltering at night after the browsing hours on these three floor types. The body weight (BW) and morphometric parameters like, body length (BL), withers height (WH), chest girth (CG), paunch girth (PG), rump height (RH) and their indices were assessed fortnightly. Kids reared on all the three floor-types exhibited age-dependent increase in BW and in all the morphometric parameters. There was improved performance (BW, BL, WH, CG) of kids on PSF compared to CEF, while the difference between BSF and PSF was non-significant. The functional indices characterized Ganjam goats as longiline with good proportionality, medium thoracic development, prolific and dual type. The correlation between BW and morphometric parameters exhibited highest for CG followed by WH, RH, BL and PG. The BW of Ganjam goats can suitably be predicted from CG, WH and RH with R2 value 0.914. The importance of morphometric parameters and their indices classify Ganjam goats as a promising dual-purpose breed and impetus to its performance is better achieved with improved shelter management involving plastic-slatted floor in coastal Odisha.

Morphometric Traits and Body Indices to Assess the Type and Function of Native Ganjam Goats Reared on Different Flooring Systems in Coastal Odisha

<div style="text-align: justify;">In the present study an attempt has been made to assess the phenotypic variability and know the management of indigenous cattle in the Meghalaya state. A total of 76 farmers from 17 villages of three districts (Ri-Bhoi, East-Khasi Hills and West-Garo Hills) were interviewed to record information on various management practices and 217 animals of different age and sex were recorded for morphometric and physical traits. &nbsp;It was observed that cattle were reared mainly for meat, milk, bullock power and manure. Animals were reared on extensive system of management i.e. grazing from morning to evening, free range during December to March. During April to December fields have crops so controlled grazing was there. Cattle were of small size, well built, hardy and in cylindrical shape. The body colour varies in different colours brown (53%), grey (38%) and black (9%). &nbsp;Bulls were darker in colour and have medium size hump. Horns were smaller in length (9-12 cm). The average body length, height at wither, heart girth, paunch girth, horn length, ear length, face length and tail length without switch in cows (95) &nbsp;were &nbsp;97.64&plusmn;1.08 cm, 100.90&plusmn;0.95 cm, 128.90&plusmn;1.53 cm, 128.60&plusmn;1.77 cm, 9.94&plusmn;0.63 cm, 18.91&plusmn;0.22 cm, 38.08&plusmn;0.47 cm and 68.61&plusmn;0.97 cm, respectively. Males and females did not differ significantly at all stages of age for all the mophometric traits. The average daily milk yield and lactation length were 2.38+0.18 kg (1.50 to 4.0kg) and 138 days (120-180 days), respectively. It may be concluded that indigenous cattle of Meghalaya showed uniformity in physical and morphometric traits and differ in their proportion (type traits) with others cattle of the region. &nbsp;</div>

<div>Phenotypic characterisation of indigenous cattle of Meghalaya State</div>

<div>Background: The principal component analysis is applied to identify minimum number of combined variables that account for maximum portion of the variance existing in all variables studied. Chitarangi is a lesser known carpet type wool sheep distributed in Fazilka and Muktsar districts of Punjab, Sri Ganganagar district of Rajasthan and the adjoining areas. The information on body biometry is a prerequisite to characterize the lesser known sheep population available in the country. Hence, it is important to describe the body conformation by recording minimum number of biometric traits. 
 
Methods: Body biometry traits of Chitarangi sheep, a lesser known carpet quality wool producing sheep population were studied using Principal Component Analysis. The traits studied were body length (BL), height at wither (HW), chest girth (CG), paunch girth (PG), ear length (EL), face length (FL), face width (FW), tail length (TL) and adult body weight (BW). The data were collected on 297 ewes in the breeding tract of Chitarangi sheep. The descriptive statistics were determined for all the traits. The phenotypic correlations between different body biometric traits were estimated using partial correlations. Principal components were estimated using correlation matrix. Principal component analysis (PCA), a multivariate approach, is used when the recorded traits are highly correlated. Rotation of principal components was through the transformation of the components to approximate a simple structure. Factor analysis using oblique (promax) rotation was used. All the analysis was carried out using the SPSS statistical package. 
 
Result: The averages for body weight and biometry traits confirmed large size of Chitarangi animals. Most of the phenotypic correlations amongst the studied traits were positive and significant (p&lt;0.01). The three components extracted from nine principal components accounted for 69.06% of the total variance. The first component, which described body size of ewes, accounted for 43.68% of the total variation with high loading for BW, CG, PG, HW, BL and FL. The components two and three explained 13.54 and 11.83% of total variance, respectively. The communalities ranged from 0.490 (FL) to 0.888 (PG). The lower communalities for face length indicated lower contribution of the trait to explain the total variation than others. The study indicates that principal components provided a means of reduction in number of biometric traits to explain body confirmation of adult female Chitarangi sheep.</div>

Study of Body Conformation of Carpet Wool Type Chitarangi Sheep of India using Principal Component Analysis

<div>Background: In the present study, a set of non-linear prediction equation was developed using records of body measurement traits, namely heart girth, punch girth, height at shoulder, height at back, height at fore leg, height at back leg and body length of pigs. Repeated measurement of traits at birth, 15 d, 30 d and weaning (42 d) of 394 piglets were used.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: The regression of body weight on body measurement traits showed non-linear relationship based on equation, Y = aXb. Correlation of heart girth with body weight (r2 = 0.968 for male and 0.969 for females; P&lt;0.01) was highest among the traits studied.&nbsp; 
 
Result: Heart girth was found to be most suited among the traits to predict body weight in an exponential equation, Y = 0.00058 H2.49 and Y = 0.00061 H2.47 for male and females, respectively, explaining 96 percent of variation.&nbsp;</div>