Determination of the Relationship between initial fattening body measurements and Slaughter, Hot and Cold Carcass Weights in Akkaraman Lambs by Using Regression Analysis

This study was carried out to investigate the relationship between initial fattening live weight and body measurements and slaughter, hot and cold carcass weights of Akkaraman lambs by using regression analysis. Data were collected from 14 Akkaraman lambs fattened at the state of the Prof. Dr. Orhan Düzgüneş Research and Application Farm of Department of Animal Science, Agricultural Faculty, Selcuk University. Body measurements were taken one by one, firstly. After then, the height measurements (X2+X3=X7), depth measurement (X5), circumference measurements (X4+X6=X8), height-circumference measurements (X2+X3+X4+X6=X9), heightdepth measurements (X2+X3+X5=X10), circumference-depth measurements (X4+X5+X6=X11) all body measurements (X1+X2+X3+X4+X5+X6=X12) were taken for regression analysis by using among themselves. The highest correlation were found between slaughter weight and initial fattening rump height (X3) as 0.699, the correlation between hot carcass weight and initial fattening rump height (X3) as 0.595, cold carcass weight and initial fattening chest depth (X5) as 0.598, respectively (P 0.01, P 0.05). The highest correlation among the body measurements was determined between initial fattening chest circumference and initial fattening chest depth as 0.834, (P 0.01). At the end of the study, it was seen that the determination coefficient increases by the height and circumference measurements used as independent variable. When the all body measurements were used as independent variables, the determination coefficient for slaughtering weight was 85.5 %.