PATH COEFFICIENT MODEL FOR ASSESSMENT OF WEIGHT USING LINEAR TRAITS AT BIRTH AND AT WEANING IN NIGERIAN INDIGENOUS PIG

Direct and indirect effects of some explanatory variables ((body length (BL), rump height (RH), rump length (RL) , rump width (RW) , shoulder width (SW), wither height (WH), heart girth (HG) and flank length (FL)) influence on live weight at birth and at weaning in Nigerian indigenous pigs, managed under semi intensive system were investigated using path analysis. Results of the analysis indicated that the correlation coefficient between body weight and body length at birth was highest (0.59) while at weaning, rump width had the highest correlation coefficient with body weight (0.60). The relationships were from low to high. The direct effect of linear traits to body weight at birth were highest with wither height and flank length similarly heart girth and rump length had better direct effect on body weight at weaning than other linear traits. The findings show that there is variability in relationship between body weight and linear traits with age, similarly both tissues and bone development play significant role in weight determination in the indigenous pigs. Thus selection for weight increase at adult phase can better be achieved at weaning, providing direction for selection towards increase weight in indigenous pigs.