Building a low cost instrument for measurement of important morphological measures for animal production

Priscila Silva Oliveira, Marina de Nadai Bonin, Diego de Córdoba Cucco, Joanir Pereira Eler and José Bento Sterman Ferraz

Universidade de São Paulo, Faculdade de Zootecnia e Engenharia de Alimentos,
Av. Duque de Caxias Norte, 225 - Campus da USP - CEP 13635-900 - Pirassununga/SP
pri_med_vet@hotmail.com

Abstract

The development of an efficient, low cost animal measurement equipment for morphological measurements is presented in this paper.

The equipment, similar to a hippometer, is easily handled for measurement of traits of economic importance for breeding programs of cattle, goats, sheep, pigs or other species. Measurements as height, width and length can be taken with the equipment. The material used is composed of  PVC plumbing pipes for cold water that can be found in any house plumbing or construction material store, worldwide. It’s easy to adapt the building plan presented in this paper to larger or smaller scale, so the equipment can be adapted for larger or smaller animals or species. The equipment is easy to set up, light weight, easy to repair, robust and cost effective and it can become a tool that can help scientists, animal breeders and farmers measuring animals for any purpose. 

Key words: height, width, length the croup

Introduction

Morphological measurements performed in animals are important tools in the assessment of growth characteristics and body development for breeding programs, because with the direct use of these or other correlated traits, researchers aim to detect genetically superior animals which may be selected to be parents of the next generation. According to Pinheiro et al (2007), although morphological measurements alone are not sufficient to characterize the carcasses, combinations of these settings and allow better adjustments and comparisons between animals. As an example, the widths between ileums and hamstrings are important measures of the conformation of cattle, sheep and goats, and are related to the ease or difficulty in calving. The measures of udder morphology, such as height and rear udder width, also have great weight in the assessment of the productive capacity of dairy cattle.

Methods of measurements are often accompanied by a margin of error. Some of these errors are due to the measurement device, the technique used or the variance between individuals responsible for measuring the characteristics of concern, but also in large part to the size of the sample. However, even if the sample size is not considered ideal, the development of efficient equipment and easy measurement is crucial to ensure standardization and consistency of measurements by reducing sampling errors.

The caliper and hippometer of two bars are popular measuring instruments that consist in a graduated scale associated to two bearings of measurement, a straight end and fixed to the other cursor, with a minimum of slack, slip on the graduate rule allowing  the measurement of the distance between two defined points.

Many works have been conducted in the field of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science in using such equipments, such as the evaluation of the thickness of subcutaneous fat in beef cattle (Andrighetto et al 2009), the measurement of length, width and height of the chorioallantoic membranes and amniotic fluid in cattle (Assis Neto 2009), in measuring the length and width of testis in cattle (Forni and Albuquerque 2004) and finally the measurement of chest depth, height, width and length of the croup in cattle (Bonin et al 2010).

According to Northcutt et al (1992) measurements as body height and length are more accurate in determining the size of the maturity than the weight, since this may introduce periodic fluctuations depending on the nutritional state.

In cattle, the measurements of live animals are essential to evaluate their performances in selection programs. Besides being heritable these favorable characteristics and have high correlations with the production of animals. In a study on carcass traits in Nellore, conducted by Bonin et al (2010), the values ​​of heritability coefficients and genetic and phenotypic correlations between the traits height, width and length of croup with weight and rib eye area (REA), the latter measured by ultrasonography, were highly relevant (Table 1). According to these authors the correlation between measures of croup and REA is beneficial and of great relevance, since there is a high correlation with the measures of REA and prime cuts of the carcass.

Objectives

• Given the importance of these traits in livestock and breeding programs the aim of this work was to present a way to build a practical and low cost measurement equipment that has the same effectiveness of equipment found commercially, which are not always available on the market, especially in developing regions.

Materials and Methods

Material 

The plumbing material is PVC for cold water that can be found in any plumbing or home building material store around the world. For the construction of this device the following material will be necessary:

•  42 cm of diameter 32 mm PVC pipe ((Photo 1)

• 130 cm of diameter 25 mm PVC pipe (Photo 1)

• 78 cm of diameter 20 mm PVC pipe (Photo 1)

• 2 pieces of  reduction PVC tees 32 x 25 mm  (Photo 2)

• 1 piece of 25 mm PVC tee (Photo 2)

•  4 pieces of PVC reduction nipple 25 x 20 mm (Photo 3)

• 1 small tube of Plastic Adhesive (Photo 4)

• 1 PVC blade saw (Photo 5)

• 1 sheet of sandpaper, #100  (Photo 6)

• 1 metric tape (Photo 7)

• 1 transparent adhesive tape 45 mm (Photo 8)