Abstract The aim of this research is to propose equations to estimate body weight (BW) from body measures (BMs) in the Cornigliese sheep, an endangered breed reared in Italy for meat purpose. BW and BMs were submitted to correlation and multiple regression analyses. Two datasets were used: (i) 303 animals (178 females, 125 males, BW 4.00–117.80 kg), on which BW, height at withers (HW), chest circumference (ChC) and body length (BL) were measured; (ii) 156 animals (109 females, 47 males, BW 5.15–117.80 kg) out of 303 on which croup height (HCr), chest width (ChW), chest depth (ChD) and croup width (CrW) were also considered. On each dataset, two regression models were applied, one containing all variables (models 1 and 3, respectively, for datasets 1 and 2) and the other one comprising groups of variables, selected by means of the stepwise procedure (models 2 and 4, respectively, for datasets 1 and 2). BW resulted correlated with all BMs (from 0.852 for ChW to 0.950 for ChC; p < .001). Models 1 and 3 fitted the data better than models 2 and 4, both for all animals and for females and males separately. We concluded that BW could be predicted from BMs also in Cornigliese sheep breed. The best fits were obtained when the highest number of measures was included in the model (models 1 and 3). Nevertheless, models 2 and 4 could be used more easily in extensive sheep breeding than models 1 and 3, since they require less parameters. Highlights The estimation of body weight is important in a meat type sheep breed for choosing the optimal slaughter time. A reduction of work for farmer is positive, mainly in field conditions of extensive rearing, where scales are not easily available. Body weight could be predicted from body measures in Cornigliese sheep breed with good precision and accuracy.

中文翻译：

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根据 Cornigliese 绵羊品种的身体测量估计体重

摘要 本研究的目的是提出方程式，以根据 Cornigliese 绵羊的体重 (BM) 估算体重 (BW)，这是一种在意大利饲养的濒危品种，用于肉类目的。BW 和 BM 进行相关和多元回归分析。使用了两个数据集：(i) 303 只动物（178 只雌性，125 只雄性，体重 4.00–117.80 kg），在这些动物上测量了体重、肩高 (HW)、胸围 (ChC) 和体长 (BL)；(ii) 303 只动物中的 156 只动物（109 只雌性，47 只雄性，体重 5.15-117.80 kg），其中还考虑了臀部高度 (HCr)、胸宽 (ChW)、胸深 (ChD) 和臀部宽度 (CrW)。在每个数据集上，应用了两个回归模型，一个包含所有变量（模型 1 和 3，分别用于数据集 1 和 2），另一个包含变量组，通过逐步程序选择（分别为数据集 1 和 2 的模型 2 和 4）。BW 结果与所有 BM 相关（从 ChW 的 0.852 到 ChC 的 0.950；p < .001）。模型 1 和 3 比模型 2 和 4 更适合所有动物以及分别适用于雌性和雄性的数据。我们得出的结论是，也可以从 Cornigliese 绵羊品种的 BM 预测 BW。当模型（模型 1 和 3）中包含最多的测量值时，获得了最佳拟合。尽管如此，与模型 1 和 3 相比，模型 2 和 4 可以更容易地用于广泛的绵羊育种，因为它们需要的参数较少。亮点 在肉型绵羊品种中，体重的估计对于选择最佳屠宰时间很重要。农民工作的减少是积极的，主要是在粗放饲养的田间条件下，秤不容易获得的地方。体重可以从 Cornigliese 绵羊品种的身体测量中以良好的精度和准确度进行预测。