Differentiation of some Pramenka sheep breeds based on morphometric characteristics

Abstract

For the purpose of the morphometric characterization and differentiation of local sheep breeds that belong to the group of breeds called Pramenka or Zackel, two Slovenian (Bela Krajina and Istrian Pramenka) and four Montenegrin sheep breeds (Bardoka, Sjenička, Pivska Pramenka, and Zeta Žuja) were studied. The variation of morphometric measures and nine morphometric indices were analysed. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied in order to provide an easier description of body size and shape. Regarding body size, the Sjenička breed was one of the largest breeds (body weight 76.4 kg, wither height 72.7 cm, chest circumference 100.3 cm), while Zeta Žuja had the smallest body size (37.1 kg, 64.8, and 81.9 cm). On the other hand, Slovenian Istrian Pramenka had the largest body length, chest depth, chest width, and rump width among all included breeds (79.4, 33.6, 22.7, and 21.2 cm). Bela Krajina, Istrian Pramenka, and the Sjenička breed, according to the index of body frame (IBF) value (107-114), have a rectangular body frame, Bardoka and Pivska Pramenka have a square body frame (99.3-100), and Zeta Žuja has a short body frame (91.8). The PCA of all morphometric parameters extracted three components accounting for 96.6% of the cumulative variance. An unweighted pair- group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) cluster analysis by Euclidian distance shows diversity among the studied breeds, through it grouped Pivska Pramenka with Sjenička and Istrian with Bela Krajina Pramenka in two clusters, while Bardoka and Zeta Žuja were clustered separately.