Guyo Mesay, Tareke Melaku, Tonamo Andualem, Bediye Diriba, Defar Girma
Department of Animal Science, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Madda Walabu University, P.O. Box. 247, Bale-Robe, Ethiopia.
Vet Anim Sci. 2024 Aug 22;25:100391. doi: 10.1016/j.vas.2024.100391. eCollection 2024 Sep.
This study was conducted to evaluate morphometric traits of horse ecotypes reared in four districts of the Bale highlands, southeastern Ethiopia. Twenty-seven morphometric traits were measured from 500 horses (294 males and 206 females) of both sexes. Data were analyzed using SAS 2012. This study revealed that certain traits, such as head length, loin length, bi-ischial width, and sternum height of horses were similar. However, significant differences ( < 0.0001, < 0.01, < 0.05) were observed in other traits across the districts. All traits were affected by age ( < 0.05) except rump width and canon perimeter. All 27 morphometric traits were subjected to STEPDISC analysis, of which 21 had the best discriminating power. The uppermost distances of 32.2 and, 28.8 were reported between the Agarfa and Dinsho and, Agarfa and Sinana horse populations, respectively. Mean separation distance among districts ranges from -1.75 to 3.57, -2.42 to 2.43, and -1.61 to 0.92 for CAN1, CAN2 and CAN3, respectively. The quadratic discriminate function classified 95.2, 94.4, 96.0, and 96.8 % of the sampled horses into source populations of the Dinsho, Agarfa, Sinana, and Goba districts, respectively. In addition, the cross-validation summary revealed reduced consistency of membership among each districts with 5 % average success rates and 4, 8, 4, and 4 % for the Dinsho, Agarfa, Sinana, and Goba districts, respectively. Therefore, the presence of variation in morphometric traits within the Bale Highland horse ecotypes has the potential for selection and further genetic interventions.
本研究旨在评估埃塞俄比亚东南部巴勒高地四个地区饲养的马生态型的形态特征。对500匹马（294匹雄性和206匹雌性）的27个形态特征进行了测量。使用SAS 2012对数据进行分析。本研究表明，某些特征，如马的头长、腰长、坐骨间宽和胸骨高度相似。然而，不同地区的其他特征存在显著差异（<0.0001、<0.01、<0.05）。除了臀宽和管围外，所有特征都受年龄影响（<0.05）。对所有27个形态特征进行了逐步判别分析，其中21个具有最佳判别能力。分别报道了阿加法与丁肖以及阿加法与西纳纳马种群之间的最大距离为32.2和28.8。CAN1、CAN2和CAN3的地区间平均分离距离分别为-1.75至3.57、-2.42至2.43和-1.61至0.92。二次判别函数分别将95.2%、94.4%、96.0%和96.8%的采样马分类到丁肖、阿加法、西纳纳和戈巴地区的来源种群中。此外，交叉验证总结显示各地区之间的归属一致性降低，平均成功率为5%，丁肖、阿加法、西纳纳和戈巴地区分别为4%、8%、4%和4%。因此，巴勒高地马生态型内形态特征的变异有可能用于选择和进一步的基因干预。
