THE USE OF LINEAR BODY MEASUREMENTS PREDICTORS OF BODY WEIGHT OF DONKEYS AT BLOUBERG LOCAL MUNICIPALITY, LIMPOPO, SOUTH AFRICA

In animal breeding, linear body measurements are identified as predictors of body weight. The current study was conducted to estimate body weight (BW) by using body measurements including thoracic circumference (TC), withers height (WH), body length (BoL), rump height (RH) and front leg length (FLL) of donkeys. The study was conducted at three villages (Thorne, Archibalt, and Genau) of Blouberg Local Municipality, Limpopo, South Africa. A total of 74 donkeys (40 males and 34 females) aged from 3 to 4 years were used in the current study. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation and simple linear regression. Correlation results indicated that in female donkeys, BW had positive and highly statistical significant (p  0.01) correlation with WH (r = 0.67) and not significant correlated (p  0.05) with TC (r = 0.14) and FLL (r = 0.28). In male donkeys, BW had positive and highly statistical significant (p  0.01) correlation with RH (r = 0.60) and not significant correlated (p  0.05) to FLL (r = 0.27). Regression findings indicated that WH had the highest r 2 = 0.45 and MSE = 8.17 in female donkeys, while RH had the highest r 2 = 0.36 and MSE = positive significant and rump height in in body weight had positive highly significant relation with rump height and withers there was a relation between body weight with circumference, withers height and body length in body had a negative statistical correlation with body weight. Current correlation results to used Findings suggest that wither height and rump height might be used to improve the body weight of donkeys in the study information on correlation results to know which linear body measurements might be used in selection for breeding to improve body weight. Regression models were developed for the prediction of body weight using linear body measurements. In female donkeys, withers had the highest coefficient of determination and low mean square error followed by rump height. In male donkeys, rump height had the low mean square error and highest coefficient of determination followed by withers height. in line with Tyasi et . indicated that show that body weight can be predicted from withers height and rump height. Regression thoracic square error and highest coefficient regression