Morphological characterization and study of zootechnical indexes of berbere sheep in eastern Algeria

Abstract

Knowledge of the phenotypic and morphological characteristics of animals is a prerequisite for the improvement and conservation of breeds. The present study contributed to the morphometric study of a total 100 adult Berbere breed of sheep, which is near to extinction (average age 3.24±1.25 years) and sparsely distributed in different zones of the El-Tarf region in Eastern Algeria. Fourteen (14) body measurements were used to calculate 11 zootechnical indexes with qualitative characteristics in order to determine an ethnic and functional classification of this breed. Significant differences in several body measurements were detected between regions, sexes and age groups. A principal component analysis was performed on body measurements, revealing two major components that make up 60.07 and 14.68% of total inertia. This analysis made it possible to establish differences between five classes which have implications to be taken into account in the breed conservation program. However, zootechnical indexes showed that the Berbere breed is a short-sighted breed (BI=0.84±0.08), light, close to the ground (DT=0.48±0.04), small, oblong (LI=1.14±0.11 and DCI=0.37±0.05), medium sized (eumetric) with a straight dorsal line (BR=0.99±0.02) and dolichocephalic heads (CI=0.56±0.05). The analysis of the qualitative characteristics showed a great phenotypic diversity in this breed.