Relationship between morphological traits, body indices and body condition score as welfare indicators of Nigerian sheep

The relationship between morphological traits and body condition score (BCS) of indigenous sheep breeds was assessed. A total number of 400 indigenous sheep were sampled. Twelve body measurements were taken from these sheep; these measurements were then used to estimate body indices of these animals. Data were subjected to General Linear Model and correlation using SAS. Results revealed that there were significant effects (p>0.05) of sex on some morphological traits and body indices of the sheep. There were negative and significant (p<0.01) correlation between body condition score and height index, over increased index, index of chest compression, cephalic index and dactyl thorax index. There were positive and significant (p<0.01) correlation between body condition score and length index, weight, thoracic development and conformation index. It was concluded that there was low correlation between BCS, morphological traits and body indices of sheep except in conformation index. This implies that increase in conformation index will result in increase in BCS and vice-versa.