Determination of Age and Weight of Djallonke Fetus (Capra hircus) by Biometry

Abstract

In order to determine the age of Djallonke goat fetuses through biometric measurements, a study was carried out on 201 fetuses from 114 gravid goats slaughtered at the Bantaï slaughterhouse in Ngaoundere (Adamawa Region). The gravid goats were characterized according to their breed, weight, age, litter size and body condition score (BCS). A total of 21 measurements were taken for each fetus. The prevalence for simple, twin, triple and quadruple litter sizes was 40.4%, 44.7%, 13.1%, and 1.8% respectively. The sex ratio of the fetuses was 0.86 and their ages varied from 58.78 ± 4.23 to 114.73 ± 3.60 days. Correlations between crown-rump length (CRL), weight and fetal biometric measurements through polynomial, logarithmic and power equations using the best correlation coefficient were established. Globally, head, body, limbs, CRL measurements and fetal weight were strongly correlated; more specifically, head length (R²_CRL= 0.959; R²_Poids= 0.9384), face width (R²_CRL= 0.9542), biparietal diameter (R²_Poids= 0.9276), fore head-tail base side length (R²_CRL= 0.9875), nose-rump length (R²_CRL= 0.9964; R²_Poids= 0.9666) and the tarsometatarsal length (R²_CRL= 0.9818; R²_Poids= 0.9564). There was a weak correlation between CRL, weight with regards to umbilical cord length (R²_CRL= 0.5436; R²_Poids= 0.5374), number of placentomes (R²_CRL= 0.0652; R²_Poids= 0.0577), and placentome sizes (R²_CRL= 0.3933; R²_Poids= 0.3839). Therefore, the utilization of parameters positively correlated to the CRL and the weight could contribute to the use of ultrasonography in small ruminants especially in Djallonke.