USE OF LIVE BODY MEASUREMENTS FOR PREDICTION OF BODY AND CARCASS CUTS WEIGHTS IN THREE EGYPTIAN BREEDS OF SHEEP

ABSTRACT
Eight body measurements were recorded on 30 Egyptian ram lambs (10 Ossimi, 10
Barki and 10 Rahmani) at slaughter age 12 months to predict weights of live body, hot carcass
and carcass cuts.
There was a positive and significant relationship between round circumference of
Ossimi, Barki and Rahmani ram lambs and round weight of their carcasses. To predict live body
weight of Ossimi ram lambs, paunch girth (PG) and body length (BL) must be included in the
model with an accuracy of 93 %. Whereas, the equation including heart girth (HG), chest depth
(CD) and paunch girth (PG) could predict hot carcass weight of Ossimi with R2 = 97 %.
Meanwhile, body length (BL) alone contributed 47 % and 59 % of the variation in body weight
and hot carcass weight of Barki ram lambs, respectively. Heart girth (HG) was the best single
predictor and accounted alone for 86 % and 90 % of the variation in body weight and hot carcass
weight of Rahmani ram lambs. The prediction equation must include only round circumference
(RC) to predict round weight of both Ossimi and Barki carcasses with accuracy 67 % and 60 %,
respectively. Height at withers (HW) of Rahmani ram lambs alone explained 57 % of the
variation in round weight of carcass. Chest depth (CD) was the single variable used to predict
shoulder weight of Ossimi carcass (R2 = 0.72). Whereas, body length (BL) was the single
variable entered in the model to predict shoulder weight in Barki carcass (R2 = 0.70). Two body
measurements (Height at withers (HW) and chest depth (CD)) were used to predict shoulder
weight of Rahmani carcass (R2 = 0.93).
It was found that all live body measurements used in this study to predict the weights of
body and carcass cuts had positive regression coefficients