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Estimation of body weight using body measurements in female water buffaloes reared in southeastern Mexico

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Abstract

Buffalo farming is an important livestock activity in Mexico. However, the low technological level of the farms makes it difficult to monitor the growth rates of the animals. The objectives of this study were to analyse the body measurements of 107 adult female Murrah buffaloes, to estimate the interrelationships between those measurements and body weight, and to develop equations to predict body weight (BW) using body measurements including withers at height (WH), rump height (RH), body height (BH), heart girth (HG), abdominal girth (AG), pelvic girth (PG), body length (BL), girth circumference (GC), diagonal body length (DBL), pelvic circumference (PC), and abdomen circumference (AC). The study was conducted on two commercial farms in southern Mexico. Pearson correlation and stepwise regression techniques were used for the data analysis. To find out the best regression models, we used model quality criteria such as coefficient of determination (R2), adjusted R2 (Adj.R2), root mean square error (RMSE), Mallow’s Cp, Akaike's information criteria (AIC), Bayesian information criteria (BIC), and coefficient of variation (CV). Correlation results indicated that BW had a positive high correlation (P < 0.01) of all the measured traits. Model 4 (-780.56 + 311.76GC + 383.51DBL + 51.82PC + 47.65AC—106.78BL) was the best regression model with a higher R2 (0.87), Adj. R2 (0.86) smaller Cp (4.24), AIC (749.19), BIC (752.16), and RMSE (36.91). The current study suggests that GC, DBL, PC, AC, and BL might be used in combination to estimate BW of adult female Murrah buffaloes.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by a grant from the Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco. We thank Rafael De Hombre López and Karen De Hombre Carranza who generously allowed us to sample their animals and use their facilities.

Funding

This work was supported by the División Académica de Ciencias Agropecuarias and the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico-CNPq (Process nº 150305/2022–2).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. División Académica de Ciencias Agropecuarias, Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco, Villahermosa, Tabasco, México

    Jorge Ruiz-Ramos, Oswaldo M. Torres-Chable, Jorge A. Peralta-Torres, Nadia F. Ojeda-Robertos, Carlos Luna-Palomera, Rodrigo Portillo-Salgado & Alfonso J. Chay-Canul

  2. Department of Agricultural Economics and Animal Production, University of Limpopo, Limpopo, South Africa

    Thobela Louis Tyasi

  3. Campus Professora Cinobelina Elvas, Federal University of Piauí, Bom Jesus, Piauí, Brazil

    Antonio Leandro Chaves Gurgel

  4. Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária E Zootecnia, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso Do Sul, Campo Grande, Mato Grosso Do Sul, Brasil

    Luís Carlos Vinhas Ítavo

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  1. Jorge Ruiz-Ramos
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  2. Oswaldo M. Torres-Chable
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  3. Jorge A. Peralta-Torres
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  6. Rodrigo Portillo-Salgado
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  8. Antonio Leandro Chaves Gurgel
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  9. Luís Carlos Vinhas Ítavo
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Contributions

JRR, OMTC, JAPT, NFOR, CLP, RPS, TLT, and AJCC conceived and designed research; JRR, ALCG, LCVI, and AJCC wrote the manuscript; JRR, and AJCC data analysis and discussion of results; OMTC, JAPT, NFOR, CLP, RPS, TLT, ALCG, LCVI, and AJCC; reviewed the manuscript. JRR, OMTC, JAPT, NFOR, CLP, RPS, TLT, and AJCC conducted experiment, and statistical analysis. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Antonio Leandro Chaves Gurgel.

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The animals included in the present study were managed in compliance with the ethical guidelines and regulations for animal experimentation of División Académica de Ciencias Agropecuarias at Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco (approval code: UJAT-2012-IA-18).

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Ruiz-Ramos, J., Torres-Chable, O.M., Peralta-Torres, J.A. et al. Estimation of body weight using body measurements in female water buffaloes reared in southeastern Mexico. Trop Anim Health Prod 55, 137 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-023-03549-9

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