Biometrical study on postnatal changes of metapodial bones of Yankasa Ram

Abstract

This study gives the first biometric description of the Cannon bones (metacarpal and metatarsal bones) of Yankasa sheep, as well as the gross morphology of this indigenous sheep breed of Nigeria. The dearth of information on the biometry, applied anatomy of the limbs and general morphology on domestic animals and the indigenous sheep in particular was the motivation behind this study. Ten limbs (2[0-6months], 2[6months- 1year], 2[1-2years], 2[2-3years], 2[3years- above]) were collected from purposefully and randomly sampled Yankasa male sheep from a slaughter slab and processed for biometrical investigation. Several biometrical measurements were recorded from each of the limbs samples. From these, simple descriptive statistical analysis was obtained. The values obtained from these groups were increasing with ages. This study has described the biometric and the morphologic characteristics of the Yankasa sheep and concludes that a contribution for comparative model for other African local ovine breeds in general and Nigerian ovine breeds in particular has been made. Being the first study of its kind in Nigeria, it makes a significant contribution to a better understanding of the Yankasa sheep limbs. It is envisaged that the results obtained in this study will be useful as baseline research data in comparative sheep anatomy.