Multivariate principal components analysis of the morphostructural traits of West African Dwarf sheep

A study was conducted to determine the interdependence among conformation traits of 178 West African Dwarf sheep and predict body weight from their independent scores using principal components analysis. Body nine morphostructural traits: height at withers, length, heart girth, rump height, hip width, chest depth, fore canon bone tail ear length were measured. Phenotypic correlation coefficients between dimensions ranged 0.78 0.79. Anti-image correlations shape characters showed that partial low. Two extracted factor analysis with varimax rotation inter-correlated which accounted for 69.50% total variance. The first component (PC1) explained 57.70% second (PC2) contributed 11.70% Both PC1 PC2 could be considered in selection programme obtain animals better conformations minimal number measurements.