ESTIMATING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LIVE BODY WEIGHT AND TYPE TRAITS AT WEANING AND SIX MONTHS OF AGE IN BAFRA LAMBS USING CANONICAL CORRELATION ANALYSIS

Aim of this study was to use canonical correlation analysis technique to reveal the relationship between seven morphological traits (live weight, withers height, chest depth, body length, chest width, rump width and chest circumference) measured at weaning time (X-Set) and six months age (Y-Set) in a multidimensional form from a total of 71 male Bafra lambs raised at Gozlu Agricultural Enterprise located in Konya Province, Turkey. Seven pairs of canonical dimensions were generated of which only the first one (U-1 V-1) was found statistically significant (r(c)=0.674, p<0.05). Canonical correlation analysis revealed that all correlations were uniformly large which shows both of the canonical variates (U-1 and V-1) can be considered as an overall measure of X and Y variable sets. Raw canonical coefficients showed that a one unit increase in live weight and wither's height at weaning leads to 0.118 and 0.127 units increase in linear combination of measurements at six months of age, respectively. Also, the most influential traits were wither's height, chest circumference and chest girth in the relationship of covariates measured at weaning time and six months age which can form the basis for early selection criteria in Bafra lambs.