Determination of Some Morphological Characteristics of Eastern Anatolian Red (EAR) Breed Calves Reared in Ex-Situ Conditions

Abstract

This research was conducted with 129 female and 132 male calves raised under ex-situ conditions in Erzurum province among 2019 and 2022 years. Some morphological characters of calves under current conditions were determined. The values found were compared with the literature information of the past period. Birth weight showed more variation in females than males over the years. Differences in birth weight between between sexes and among years were significantly found to be statistically (P=0.001, P=0.000, respectively). The values for males and for 2019 from these sources of variation were higher than for other groups.The highest coefficient of variation (CV) values for body lengths (BL) were found in 2020 and 2022 for males and females, respectively. Body length differences between years were significant (P=0.000). The CV ratio of the withers height was found to be higher in males. The least squares mean differences for chest depth (CD) were found to be significant (P=0.000) between years. CV for chest circumference (CC) varied between 4.25% and 6.53% in females between 3.36% and 4.95% in males by years. Least square mean of rump height (RH) was found to be significantly different in females (P=0.033) and males (P=0.000) over years. Front shank circumference differed significantly both in sex and between years (P=0.000). The results showed that the time and location differences in question led to some changes in the Eastern Anatolian Red (EAR) calves. For this reason, it has been seen that the breed should be followed in terms of morphological characteristics.