UTILITY OF BODY CONDITION SCORE (BCS) SYSTEM FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF PHYSICAL TRAITS AND PERFORMANCE OF NELLORE (BROWN) SHEEP
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Date
2016-12
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SRI VENKATESWARA VETERINARY UNIVERSITY TIRUPATI - 517 502. (A.P.) INDIA
Abstract
ABSTRACT :
The technique of Body Condition Score (BCS) is a means of subjectively assessing the degree of fatness or condition of the live animal and quick, easy and low cost management tool to increase ewe productivity and flock profitability. The study was carried out at the sheep unit of Instructional Livestock Farm Complex, NTR College of Veterinary Science, Gannavaram and sheep flocks of farmers in and around Gannavaram. The present experiment was designed to study the utility of BCS system for the assessment of physical traits and performance in Nellore Brown sheep. BCS system of 1 to 5 scale developed by Maurya et al. (2008) at CSWRI, Avikanagar was used to score the ewes in the present study as this BCS system is suitable for scoring of ewes under Indian conditions. Four check points of the ewe’s body were examined by vision and palpation. The scores from those check points were recorded and an average BCS was assigned to the ewe. The relationship between BCS and physical parameters was studied in 100 ewes by grouping them in to below 3 and 3 years age group and above 3 years. Ewes with BCS of 2.50 were more in number in the test flock followed by ewes with BCS of 3.00, 2.00, 2.25, 3.25, 2.75, 4.00, 3.50 and 3.75. The mean BCS was 3.11 ± 0.84. The mean values of the measurements of physical parameters i.e, body weight (kg), pin-shoulder length (cm), height at withers (cm), chest girth (cm), abdominal girth (cm) and thigh circumference (cm) of the ewes of test flock were 34.23 ± 0.68, 67.43 ± 0.60, 74.68 ± 0.87, 83.20 ± 0.75, 93.84 ± 0.97 and 40.00 ± 0.65, respectively. The variance of BCS was 0.31. The ewes of the age group of above 3 years had significantly (P<0.01) higher BCS (3.11 ± 0.84) compared to the ewes of age group of 3 years and below 3 years (2.51 ± 0.06). The mean BCS and physical parameters of ewes of age group of above 3 years was higher compared to the ewes of the age group of 3 years and below 3 years. The values of measurements of all the physical parameters showed increase from BCS range of 2.75 to 3.25. As the BCS increased the body weight of ewes also showed increasing values. The BCS was significantly (P<0.01) positively correlated with all physical parameters except thigh circumference which was also positive but not statistically significant. Pin - shoulder length and height at withers were significantly (P<0.01) positively correlated with chest girth, abdominal girth and body weight and also significantly (P<0.05) correlated with thigh circumference. Chest girth was significantly (P<0.01) positively correlated with all the physical parameters. abdominal girth was significantly (P<0.01) positively correlated with all the physical parameters except thigh circumference which was also positive but non - significant. Body weight was significantly (P<0.01) positively correlated with all the physical parameters except thigh circumference which was also positive but non - significant. The postpartum changes studied in BCS of 60 ewes showed that the ewes were in the BCS range of 2.50 – 4.00 at lambing, there were no ewes in either poor (below 2.00) or obese (5.00) body condition. Majority of the ewes (49) were in the BCS of 2.50 – 3.74 at lambing have reduced their body condition during early lactation and so the minimum BCS of 2.00 – 2.74 was recorded for majority of the ewes (46). The mean BCSL was 3.15 which was decreased to 2.91 at first week postpartum, further decreased to 2.38 by 12 weeks postpartum and later on increased gradually to 2.64 by 18 weeks postpartum. LBCS of the test flock ranged from 0.50 to 1.25 with a mean value of 0.80. GBCS of the test flock ranged from 0.25 to 0.50 with a mean value of 0.28. Minimum BCS of the test flock ranged from 2.00 to 3.00 with a mean value of 2.34. The highest CV (18.94) of BCS in ewes was observed at 5 weeks postpartum and the least (12.04) at 14 and 16 weeks postpartum. The CV of LBCS was 24.27 and the CV of GBCS was 35.17 at 18 weeks postpartum. A significant (P<0.01) difference was observed between the ewes of different groups of BCSL in LBCS and minimum BCS, but there was no significant difference in GBCS. The mean BCS was decreased from first week to 12 weeks postpartum for the ewes of BCSL 2.50 to 2.99 and from first week to 13 weeks postpartum for the ewes of BCSL 3.00 to 3.49 and 3.50 to 4.00, thereafter showed an increased trend for the ewes of three BCSL groups. The highest loss as well as gain in BCS was achieved by the BCSL group 3.50 to 4.00 compared to the BCSL group 2.50 to 2.99 and 3.00 to 3.49.
The body weight of ewes at lambing ranged from 28.3 to 38.5 kg with a mean of 33.4kg. The birth weight of lambs ranged from 2.6 to 3.3 kg with a mean of 2.87 kg. The weaning weight of lambs ranged from 9.4 to 13.5 kg with a mean of 11.39 kg. There was a significant (P<0.01) difference between the ewes of different BCSL groups in body weight of ewes at lambing, birth weight and weaning of lambs. Lambs of the BCSL group 3.50 to 4.00 showed significantly (P<0.01) higher birth weight (3.06 kg) compared to the BCSL group 3.00 to 3.49 (2.85 kg) and 2.50 to 2.99 (2.69 kg). Lambs of the BCSL group 3.50 to 4.00 showed significantly (P<0.01) higher weaning weight (12.66 kg) compared to the BCSL group 3.00 to 3.49 (11.39 kg) and 2.50 to 2.99 (10.11 kg). The present study revealed that BCS of 3.50 – 4.00 at lambing resulted in higher birth weight as well as weaning weight of lambs. Hence, the BCS system on a number system of 1 – 5 scale is economical, easily applied measure of fatness in ewes and also an immediate appraisal of body fat reserves. It is an ideal tool of support for effective productive, reproductive, feeding and health care management of ewes.
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