Determining the Correlation Between Specific Characters of Bucovina Shepherd Dogs

Abstract

Forming sheepdog breeds has had primarily economic and utility objectives and is the direct result of the influence of natural factors, or of reproductive isolation, a process which resulted in natural breeds characterized by genetic, phenotypical and behavioural uniformity. The current economic importance of breeding Bucovina Shepherd dogs is very well highlighted by the fact that in the area of origin there appeared a number of kennels, in which selection programs and routed mating are applied in order to increase the quality of genetic material and to enhance the skills of this dog. From this point of view, we analyse the existence of genetic correlations between certain morphometric characteristics in Bucovina Shepherd dogs, and carry out a comprehensive study on some elements that make the difference among the four breeds of shepherd dogs raised in Romania. These endeavours are part of current concerns addressed in animal husbandry. Biological material subject to investigation was represented by the canine population belonging to the Bucovina Shepherd Dog breed, raised in the North-Eastern part of Romania. As a result of statistical data processing and interpretation, it was established that for most attributes, in the couples analysed, the correlation coefficient exceeds 0.400 which means, in general, that the analysed characteristics are well correlated. However, there are also weakly correlated characteristics (r< 0.2) as is the case of dorsum height and hip height. Instead, the correlation between the height of the base of the tail and back height was positive and intense (r = 0.98), which means that the selection applied for one of these two characteristics leads to the improvement of the other characteristic. Also, as a general conclusion of the study, the results could be applied in the improvement of this sheepdog population because the correlation coefficient values recorded between the main characteristics analysed have been statistically distinctly significant (p < 0.01%).