Morphological Characterization and Study of Zootechnical Indices of Tazegzawt Sheep Population in Eastern Algeria

Subject Areas : Camel

R. El-Bouyahiaoui ¹ , B. Belkheir ² , F. Moulla ³ , H. Mansouri ⁴ , M. Benidir ⁵ , A. Djaout ⁶

1 - National Institute of Agronomic Research of Algeria (INRAA), El Harrach, Algiers, Algeria
2 - Algeria’s National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRAA), Bejaia, Algeria
3 - National Institute of Agronomic Research of Algeria (INRAA), El Harrach, Algiers, Algeria
4 - National Institute of Agronomic Research of Algeria (INRAA), El Harrach, Algiers, Algeria
5 - Algeria’s National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRAA), Setif, Algeria
6 - Algeria’s National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRAA), Setif, Algeria

Received: 2020-11-03 Accepted : 2021-05-01 Published : 2021-12-01

Keywords: body measurements, Characterization, Tazegzawt, zootechnical indices,

Abstract :

The phenotypic study of the Tazegzawt sheep in Bejaia. A total of 54 adult sheep (16 rams and 38 ewes) with the average age 3.72 ± 1.20 years, were used for 20 barymetric measurements and 9 zootechnical indices were computed with qualitative characteristics to determine an ethnic and functional classification of this sheep. Significant differences (P<0.05) in several body measurements were detected between sex groups and age groups. The presence of wattles (80%), bluish spots in the tongue (74%), and the head (63%) are the dominant qualitative traits of this sheep, 44.4% of have black-legg spot at different points; the black color exists at the hock (25.9%), the pastern (44.4%) or the knee (22.2%). Zootechnical indices show that this race is elongate (LI: 1.05±0.08), tall on legs (depth of thorax (DT): 0.44±0.04), well developed forward (width slope (WS): 1.15±0.12) with a straight dorsal line (body ratio (BR): 1.00±0.03), a highly developed breast (thoracic development (TD): 1.29±0.08), a dolichocephalic head (cephalic index (CI): 0.58±0.16) and a better conformation for meat (body index (BI): 0.81±0.06).

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