Canonical Correlation Analysis for Estimation of Relationships Between Some Traits Measured at Weaning Time and Six-Month Age in Merino Lambs

Abstract

In this study, canonical correlation analysis was applied to estimate the relationship between six different morphologic traits (X set - at weaning; height at withers (HW), chest depth (CD), chest width (CW), chest girth (CG) and rump width (CD)) measured at weaning and morphological traits of the six-month age (Y set - at sixmonth age; height at withers (HW_6), chest depth (CD_6), chest width (CW_6), chest girth (CG_6) and rump width (RW_6)) measured from 72 lambs of merino, at Marmara Animal Breeding Research Institute. First two of estimated six different canonical correlation coefficients (CCC) between the pairs of canonical variables were found significant (0.717, 0.587, P<0.05). The results obtained from canonical correlation analysis indicated that chest girth and live weight had largest contribution for the explanatory capacity of canonical variables estimated from the morphologic traits of the lambs at the weaning when compared with other body measurements, while height weight and live weight had largest contribution for the explanatory capacity of canonical variables estimated from the morphological traits of the six-month age when compared with other body measurements. The results of this study showed that chest girth and live weight measured at weaning can be used as early selection criteria for genetic improvement in merino lambs.