Measuring of Udder Morphological Characteristics among Crossbred and Pure Sheep Breeds

Abstract

Image processing technique was used to compare udder morphological characteristics in two Iranian crossbred sheep populations including Ghezel-Arkhamerino, Moghani-Arkharmerino and a pure one that was Ghezel ewes. In addition, the resulted measurements were applied as independent variables for estimation of daily milk yield by regression models. Udder height of Ghezel was higher than Ghezel-Arkhamerino and Moghani-Arkharmerino. The udder left and right cistern height were imbalanced for Moghani-Arkharmerino crossbreds than for other populations. The teat opening, attachment width, direction of the right teat and teat-udder back distance for Ghezel ewes appeared to be the most useful traits among the udder traits taken in this study for predicting daily milk yield. The results reveals that digital image processing may be used as an alternative biometric characterization tool that would provide more accurate observation and measurements on domestic animals than current ones.