Correlation analysis between body weight and body size indexes of six-month-old Murrah buffaloes and establishment of a stepwise regression equation
HUANG Rongchun
ZHANG Qiqiang
YU Nongqi
LIANG Shasha
YAN Shengfei
LI Tingting
QIN Guangsheng
LIANG Gan
Abstract：The experiment aimed to investigate the correlation between body weight and body size indexes of six-month-old Murrah buffaloes,and to determine the key body size indexes that affect body weight by constructing a stepwise regression equation.A total of 299 healthy six-month-old Murrah buffaloes(149 males and 150 females)were selected to conduct correlation and path analysis between their body weight and nine body size indexes.The results showed that the average body weight and multiple body size indexes of six-month-old male Murrah buffaloes were higher than those of female buffaloes.The body weight of male buffaloes was extremely higher than that of female buffaloes(P<0.01),and the rump height and abdominal circumference were significantly higher than those of female buffaloes(P<0.05).However,the average values of rump width and rump length in female buffaloes were higher than those in male buffaloes.Correlation analysis revealed that the body weights of both male and female buffaloes were extremely positively correlated with most body size indexes(P<0.01).The body size indexes with a high degree of correlation with male buffaloes'body weight were in order of abdominal circumference(r=0.722),chest circumference(r=0.701),rump height(r=0.659),and body length(r=0.611).For female buffaloes,the indexes were abdominal circumference(r=0.752),chest circumference(r=0.748),withers height(r=0.656),and rump height(r=0.628).Path analysis indicated that abdominal circumference contributed the most to the body weight of both genders of Murrah male buffaloes and female buffaloes.Stepwise regression analysis yielded the optimal regression equations:Body weight of male Murrah buffaloes=-257.842+1.595×rump height+0.820×body length+0.574×chest circumference+0.617×abdominal circumference(R2=0.739),and body weight of the female Murrah buffaloes=-205.666+1.442×withers height+0.513×chest circumference+0.998×abdominal circumference(R2=0.704),with high goodness-of-fit for the equations.The study shows that the chest circumference,abdominal circumference,withers height,rump height,and body length are the core predictive indexes of body weight for six-month-old Murrah buffaloes,providing a reference for early selection and efficient breeding.
Keywords：Murrah buffalobody weightbody size indexesmultiple regression analysis
Publication Date：2025-12-28
Online Publishing Date：2026-01-31(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：5( 68-72 )