Document Type : Research Paper
Author
Department of Agriculture, Minab Higher Education Center,University of Hormozgan, Bandar Abbas, Iran
Abstract
In order to identify body weight and phenotypic diversity of camel populations in the south region of Kerman province, morphological characteristics and body measurements of 285 heads of camels (255 females and 30 males) from 12 regions of the Jaz-e-Murian and belonging to 4 different camel ecotypes were measured. The ecotypes involved Native, Roudbari, Zahedani and Pakistani camel populations. The biometric traits were studied. Data were analyzed with GLM and CORR procedures of SAS 9.1 program. The average of body length, barrel and heart girths of Pakistani camels population were significantly (p < 0.001) larger than the other camel populations. The difference of Rudbari camels with other ecotypes was significant (p < 0.05) based on length of body and length of hind and fore leg. The females of camel population were lower for traits mentioned above as compared to male camel populations. Positive correlation was observed between the height at the hump and height at the withers, the height at the hump and height at hip, the chest depth and the abdominal circumference. Body weight had positive and significant correlation with all traits other than neck length and the highest value was calculated between body weight and thoracic girth (r = 0.81) and then abdominal circumference (r = 0.65).The results of this study showed that there were phenotypic variation between different camel ecotypes and it is essential that owners of camels should be supported by the government so that they could be survived them as a genetic resource for future generations.
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