Original Contribution RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOME BODY MEASUREMENTS AND LIVE WEIGHT IN ADULT MUSCOVY DUCKS USING PATH ANALYSIS

Weight and body dimensions (body length (BL), chest circumference (CC), thigh length (TL), shank length (SL) and neck length (NL) were studied using 215 fifteen weeks male and female Nigerian indigenous Muscovy ducks by path analysis. The result showed that the correlation coefficient between live weight and body dimensions on the other hand were 0.89, .94, .87, .88 and .75 (male) and .29, .59, .41, .37, - .10 (female) for BL, CC, TL, SL and NL respectively. The direct effect of chest circumference was higher in both male and female (0.616, .571) with the neck length having the least and negative direct effects on weight for both sexes. Indirect effect of body length through chest circumference was also the highest .chest circumference is the most influential variable and can be included in the model in estimating live weight of both male and female Muscovy duck at 15 weeks of age.