Early selection according to repeatability of body measurements of turkish arabian foals
Özet
In this study, body measurements of Turkish Arabian foals at different ages was obtained from Anadolu state farm in Turkey which included body length, cannon bone circumference, heart girth and withers height measurements. Effects of sex, birth month, birth year and age of foal at different growth periods on withers height, body length, heart girth and cannon bone circumference were significant (p<0.05). Effects of environmental factors on all body measurements were standardized additively. Using intra-class correlation method, repeatability was 0.55 for wither height, 0.47 for heart girth, 0.26 for cannon bone circumference for forelimb and 0.31 for body length. According to moderate level results of repeatability for especially heart girth and wither height measurements, selection of Turkish Arabian foals may be conducted at an early age according to body measurements at 6 months of age.
