Browsing by Author "Akinyemi, M.O"

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    Discriminant analysis of morphometric differentiation in the West African Dwarf and Red Sokoto goats
    (Department of Animal Science, Nasarawa State University, Keffi., 2010-04-14) Yakubu, Abdulmojeed; Salako, A.E; Imumorin, I.G; Ige, A.O; Akinyemi, M.O
    This study evaluated the usefulness of morphological characteristics to distinguish two important indigenous goat breeds in Nigeria. Fifteen morphometric traits were measured on West African Dwarf – WAD (n = 160) and Red Sokoto – RS (n = 142) goats that ranged in age of up to 19 months and were reared extensively in villages in southern and northern Nigeria. Univariate analysis revealed that the body measures of RS goats were significantly higher than those of WAD goats. Canonical discriminant analysis gave better resolution, as only seven external morphological characteristics of strong discriminating power were extracted. The most discriminant variable between the two goat populations was rump height, followed in order by body length, horn length, face length, chest girth, neck circumference and head width. The discriminant function obtained correctly classified 100% of individuals from the sample of known goat populations. The classification accuracy of the function was cross-validated using the split-sample method, and indicated a 99.7% success rate (99.4% of WAD goats and 100% of RS goats were correctly assigned to their source genetic group). This study indicates that a discriminant tool may be used successfully in the field to separate WAD and RS goats. The present results could be complemented by molecular characterization using DNA markers for better management and conservation strategies of genetic resources for indigenous goats.
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    An evaluation of sexual size dimorphism in Uda sheep using multifactorial discriminant analysis
    (Department of Animal Science, Nasarawa State University, Keffi., 2010-11-15) Yakubu, Abdulmojeed; Akinyemi, M.O
    This investigation aimed at evaluating sexual size dimorphism in Uda sheep using multivariate discriminant analysis. Eleven morphological traits were measured on a total of 296 adult sheep of both sexes randomly selected in Nasarawa State, northcentral Nigeria. The univariate analysis showed that Uda rams had significantly (PB0.05) higher values in nine of the morphological traits examined. Measurements that were best able to separate the rams and the ewes as revealed by the canonical discriminant analysis were head width and face length. These two variables were included in the single discriminant function used to classify the two sexes. The discriminant model was able to allocate correctly 70.8% of Uda ewes and 58% of rams to their a priori sexes. Ward’s option of the cluster analysis further revealed the morphological distinctness of the population. The discriminant function obtained in the present study could be useful in management, ecological and conservation studies