Biometric Approach of Turcana Sheep Reared in South Romania Climate
Abstract
he climate change issue affects all sectors of activity, at global scale. Among these, livestock rearing is of first importance. As all regions, Romania is affected by these issues. Emphasizing the body development traits of Turcana
sheep in warm South area of Romania, and identification of possible interrelationships between considered body traits, temperature and rainfall was the aim of our study. The trial was carried out in 11 private farms located in 4 counties from South Romania, on 43 Turcana sheep: Teleorman, Olt, Dolj, and Mehedinţi, aged between 1 and 7 years. The full length (cm), withers height (cm), thorax perimeter (cm), body weight (kg), and age (years), were recorded. The temperature (ºC) and rainfall (mm) as year mean, were collected by a 10 years interval. Data were processed with STATISTICA v.8.0 for Windows. The biggest full length mean was recorded in sheep studied in the county of Teleorman, and biggest withers height, thorax perimeter, and body weight in Turcana sheep from the county of Olt. The sheep reared in the county of Dolj recorded the smallest means for all analyzed body traits, because, here, only young individuals with the smallest body development were taken in study. Weak correlations are reported between full length, thorax perimeter, body weight, and climatic parameters, while between whiter’s height and climatic parameters, a very weak correlation may be emphasized.