Zoometrical Body Measurements and Their Relation with Liveweight in Native Turkish Geese

Authors: MUSTAFA SAATCI, MUAMMER TİLKİ

Abstract: The aims of this study were to determine the body measurements of native Turkish geese and to define the relationship between these measurements and liveweight. The differences in head diameter and neck length between the sexes became significant at 10, 12, 14 and 16 weeks of age (P < 0.05-0.01). The beak and wing lengths increased with age and were longer in males than in females at 12, 14 and 16 weeks of age. The effect of sex on body and trunk length was significant at 14 and 16 weeks (P < 0.05-0.01). Chest depth, girth and width increased with age. The positive correlations (0.88-0.97) of liveweight with head diameter, neck length, body length, trunk length, chest girth, wing length and metatarsus length at 2 weeks of age were highly significant. The most reliable prediction from the regression analyses was between liveweight and body length + chest girth in weeks 2 and 8 (R^2 = 94%). Our study presents the body measurements and the correlations between these measurements and liveweight in geese of different ages. These correlations might be used to evaluate the liveweight of studied geese population and for selection based on liveweight.

Keywords: Geese, body measurement, liveweight, correlation, regression

Full Text: PDF