Livestock Studies 2011, Vol 51, Num, 2     (Pages: 055-070)

Some Phenotypic and Genetic Parameters of Purebred Turkish Arabian Horses Raised in Different Stud Farms I. Body Measurements and Heritabilities

Özlem GÜCÜYENER HACAN 1 ,Halil AKÇAPINAR 2

1 Afyon Kocatepe Üniversitesi, Veteriner Fakültesi, Zootekni Anabilim Dalı, AFYON
2 Ankara Üniversitesi, Veteriner Fakültesi, Zootekni Anabilim Dalı, ANKARA
- In this research; some body measurements and those of heritabilities of Purebred Turkish Arabian horses which are raised at Karacabey, Anadolu and Sultansuyu State Farms and Mahmudiye Stud Farm, belong to Turkish Jockey Club, have been analyzed. In the study by different age and sex 977 horses' data have been used. Effects of stud farm, age and sex on the body measurements have been examined by the least squares method and heritabilities have been calculated using the Animal Model. Body measurements were obtained as 151.34±0.21 cm for wither height, 152.81±0.21 cm for rump height, 155.17±0.25 cm for body length, 68.34±0.17 cm for chest depth, 177.22±0.37 cm for chest circumference and 19.45±0.04 cm for foreleg shin circumference. The heritabilities were calculated as 0.59±0.06 for wither height, 0.47±0.07 for rump height, 0.55±0.06 for body length, 0.39±0.06 for chest depth, 0.42±0.06 for chest circumference and 0.49±0.06 for foreleg shin circumference. As a result, differences among stud farms, ages and sex groups were important. The reason for these differences could be caused by environmental factors (husbandry, nutrition, climate, stud farm`s condition). Heritabilities for body measurements have been found high or moderate and if pay attention to the selection, could be made progress on these traits. Keywords : Arabian horse, environmental factors, heritability, body measurements