Elsevier

Small Ruminant Research

Volume 192, November 2020, 106178
Small Ruminant Research

Morphometric characterization and zoometric indices of white Morada Nova breed: The first step for conservation

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smallrumres.2020.106178Get rights and content

Highlights

  • The morphometric characterization of white Morada Nova sheep was performed.

  • The variables related to cephalic measurements greatest differentiation power between animals.

  • The more homogeneous characteristics were ocular mucous, ear pinna and skin of the dorse, ear length and the withers-rump relation index.

  • The multivariate analysis was efficient to evaluate morphometric characterization and zoometric indices.

Abstract

The objective of this study was to carry out a morphometric characterization of white Morada Nova sheep using the mean of sixteen (16) morphological traits and thirteen (13) zoometric indices. A total of 115 animals of seven (7) flocks in three states of the Northeast from Brazil were evaluated. Flock differences for quantitative variables were evaluated through analysis of variance, while the chi-squared (χ²) test was conducted for qualitative variables. A principal component analysis (PCA) was performed in order to reduce the number of variables in the study, and canonical discriminant analysis (CDA) and tree analysis were used to define which variables had the greatest discriminatory power to differentiate the body shape of the flocks. Five principal components (PCs) were identified, which together explain more than 72 % of the variation in quantitative and qualitative variables, and following the order of importance: structure, pigmentation, height, ear pinna and physical protection. Another five PC’s were also determined for the zoometric indices, with these explaining more than 90 % of the variation found and were named in the following order of importance: productive potential, body capacity, cephalic, pelvic and chest expansion. The cephalic index is responsible for 68.35 % of differentiation of the flocks and practically divided the animals into two flocks. The sheep classification according to flocks in the CDA shows that three flocks were classified according to their own characteristics as belonging to the flock itself, and the others have a good part of the sheep classified as belonging to other flocks. White sheep of the Morada Nova breed have a good thoracic capacity, medium body development and square rump, have depigmented or partially depigmented mucous, hooves and skin, and morphological characteristics which indicate better aptitude for meat production. The variables related to hooves (pigmentation) and cephalic measurements are those which have the greatest differentiation power between animals. The more homogeneous characteristics were ocular mucous, ear pinna and skin of the dorse (pigmentation), ear length and the withers-rump relation index.

Introduction

More than five centuries have passed since the beginning of colonization and the introduction of domestic animal species in Brazil, and breeders have only little improved local genetic resources which have spent all this time adapting to the environmental conditions of production systems. Factors such as the introduction of animals from temperate regions in flocks which are locally adapted to the tropical climate region are routinely discussed by some authors to justify the decrease in genetic variability and the substitution by more productive animals (Lobo, 2019).

The Morada Nova breed represents an important genetic resource within sheep breeds which are locally adapted to the semi-arid region of Northeast Brazil. Its general characteristics are based on excellent productive and reproductive capacity, females have high precocity, prolificacy and maternal ability (Facó et al., 2008), and flocks in general have excellent control dynamics of the main gastrointestinal endoparasites (Ferreira et al., 2017), in addition to good homeothermic characteristics in hot environmental conditions (Leite et al., 2018). However, even with all these attributes, they are still underappreciated animals within production systems. This factor is mainly attributed to their small size and weight, which according to the Brazilian Association of Sheep Breeders (Associação Brasileira dos Criadores de Ovinos - ARCO) varies from 30 to 50 Kg. This standardization was erroneously interpreted as an unfavorable characteristic for many years, attributed by the lack of zootechnical bookkeeping associated with the financial control of livestock activity in production systems.

The Morada Nova breed is recognized by ARCO for two types of coat color; the first is completely red and the other totally white, where red animals must have a dark muzzle and hooves and only white-coated animals can have a light muzzle and hooves (Muniz et al., 2016). It is worth mentioning that animals with atypical coats, black or which have some spots and the presence of horns are disqualified for the purpose of genealogical registration, and are consequently excluded from the selection programs because they do not meet the so-called “breed standard” (Shiotisuki et al., 2016).

The actual Morada Nova sheep flocks present population fragility, especially the white coat group, which is worrying. Traditional breed producers consider that the sheep of this genotype are “not adapted”, claiming that they are undesirable animals for the particular context of the semi-arid region because they have depigmented white hair, skin and mucous membranes, and therefore have disadvantages compared to other breeds. As a result, the white population of the Morada Nova breed has been eliminated from farms due to these assumptions. Thus, there is an indisputable need to start work which can promote improving the characteristics of a “breed standard” aimed at conservation, genetic improvement and economic viability of the breed in animal production systems, aiming at maintaining genetic variability (Alderson et al., 2018). Given this context, the objective of this study was to carry out a morphometric characterization of the white Morada Nova sheep using the mean of sixteen (16) morphological traits and thirteen (13) zoometric indices, and thereby start the breed conservation process.

Section snippets

Search regulation

All the procedures performed in the study followed the ethical principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.

Data history

The data herein come from 115 white Morada Nova sheep from seven flocks in the states of Ceará, Paraíba and Rio Grande do Norte, in Northeastern Brazil. The farm characteristics are shown in Fig. 1. Searches for the farms began in January 2018 and lasted for 15 months. The search initially took place in the associations: ARCO and the Brazilian Association of Morada Nova sheep breeders (

Results

The mean values, the amplitude of the morphometric measures and the zoometric indices, and the pigmentation frequencies of the different body regions are presented in Table 1. It is possible to obtain a description of the body regions and the size of the animals, in which some variables presented greater amplitude such as the case of head length (HLen) and head width (HWid) among the cephalic measures, as well as body length (BL), withers height (WH), thoracic perimeter (TP), rump height (RH),

Discussion

Phenotypic characterization enables obtaining useful information for recognizing a breed, being the first step in a conservation program of genetic resources after identifying a population at risk of extinction (Alderson, 2018). White Morada Nova sheep do not have a breed pattern with precise references which is based on technical data to support selecting individuals.

Some body characteristics such as HLen, HWid, BL, WH, RH and RW were important, since white sheep, unlike the red phenotype of

Conclusion

White sheep of the Morada Nova breed have a good thoracic capacity, medium body development and square rump, have depigmented or partially depigmented mucous, hooves and skin, and morphological characteristics which indicate better meat production. Although there are some variations of their characteristics with productive applications among populations, most of them can be explained by environmental factors such as deficiencies in nutritional and reproductive management. Lastly, the variables

Note

This work was carried out as a result of the Master in Animal Science of Samuel Freitas Nunes (2020).

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Samuel Freitas Nunes: Methodology, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Josiel Ferreira: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Robson Mateus Freitas Silveira: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Daniel Caetano Sales: Methodology, Investigation. José Ernandes Rufino de Sousa: Supervision, Project administration, Funding

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank farmers and universities that made available flocks (Federal University of the Semi-Arid Region, Federal University of Ceará and State University of Acaraú Valley). We are grateful to Dr. Olivardo Facó (EMBRAPA Caprinos e Ovinos, Brazil) for important reviews concerning this publication, Dra. Jacinara Hody Gurgel Morais Leite for assisting in the bureaucratic procedures of the research project, Wilian Maia for assistance with data collection and CAPES (Coordenação de

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