Variability in body shape characters in an indigenous guinea fowl (Numida Meleagris L.)

Abstract

Morphometric traits (body length, wing length, neck length, shank length, thigh length, keel length, chest circumference) and body weight obtained from 82 adult (both sexes) Nigerian indigenous guinea fowl, domesticated by rural farmers in three communities of Lafia local government area of Nasarawa State, were determined in the study. The study was aimed at obtaining the sources of shared variability among the body shape characteristics in adult guinea fowl and predicting live weight using both original and orthogonal traits. Sex effect on the traits was not significant (P>0.05). Correlations between traits were ranging from 0.07 to 0.98. Body conformation “shape” was controlled by both common and unique factors, communalities ranges between 0.371 to 0.996 for wing length and keel length, respectively. Common sources of variability in body dimensions of the bird were accounted for by factors representing general size and chest circumference. Original body dimensions were better predictors of body weight than the orthogonal traits derived from factor analysis.