Phenotypic Correlation Between Body Weight and Testicular Measurement Traits of Savanna Breeding Bucks
Phenotypic Correlation Between Body Weight and Testicular Measurement Traits of Savanna Breeding Bucks
Katleho Lephuting, Lebelo Joyceline Selala, Kwena Mokoena, Thobela Louis Tyasi*
ABSTRACT
The current study was conducted to assess the associations among body weight and testicular measurement traits of Savanna breeding bucks. The study follows the descriptive research method. A total of 19 Savanna goat bucks between the ages of 2 and 3 years old were used as experimental animals. Three testicular measurement traits namely testicular length (TL), testicular diameter (TD), and scrotal circumference (SC) were collected using a measuring tape. Body weight (BW) was collected using the electronic weighing scale. Data was analysed using Pearson’s correlation and simple linear regression. Phenotypic correlation results indicated that SC (r = 0.90) and TL (r = 0.86) had a highly positive statistically significant correlation with BW (p < 0.01). Testicular measurement traits are positively correlated with each other (p < 0.05). These findings suggest that when the measured testicular measurement traits increase the BW of the Savanna breeding bucks also improves. Regression analysis findings revealed the highest coefficient of determination (R2 = 0.81) was recorded on SC as compared with other testicular measurement traits. Regression results suggest that scrotal circumference is a reliable indicator of body weight in Savanna breeding bucks. The results of the study might be useful to Savanna goat farmers during breeding selection for the improvement of live body weight.
Keywords | Correlation, Testicular diameter, Testicular length, Scrotal circumference, Regression
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July 2024
Vol. 12, Iss. 7, pp. 1206-1409
