Relationship and prediction of body weight from morphometric traits of indigenous highland sheep In Tigray, Northern Ethiopia

The study was conducted in Atsbiwonberta district to determine the relationship between live weight and linear measurements and predict live weight from morphometric traits. Three potential peasant associations namely, Habes, GolgolNeale and Gebrekidan were selected. Randomly selected 257 sheep (121 males and 136 females) were grouped into four age groups (0 PPI, 1 PPI, 2 PPI, and 3 PPI). Live body weight was highly and significantly (P<0.01) correlated with heart girth (0.950), body length (0.788) and height at wither (0.785). The simple regression equation for prediction of live body weight using heart girth was y = -18.7+0.6*HG (R2 0.903; P<0.000; N=257). The multiple regression equation for prediction of live body weight using heart girth, body length and height at wither was y = -24.3+0.5*HG+0.2*BL (R2 0.983; P<0.000; N=257) and y=-25.5+0.5*HG+ 0.1*BL+0.1*HW (R2 0.995; P<0.000; N=257).  The current study concluded that heart girth or its combinations could provide a good estimation for predicting live weight of highland sheep.     Key words: Highland sheep, body measurement, prediction equation.