Medidas corporales e índices zoométricos de toros Criollo Limonero de Venezuela

In order to determine body measurements and their relationships through zoometric indexes 49 pure Criollo Limonero bulls were evaluated. Different measures were taken: height to cross (HCR), height to hip (HTH), thoracic perimeter (PTO), hip perimeter (HP), body length (BL), rump width (GRW), thorax width (TW), shank perimeter (SP), rump length (GRL), head length (HL), head width (HW), tail length (TL), tail thickness (TT); and zoometric indexes: Cephalic (CEI), Thoracic (TOI), Body (BOI), Side Body (SBI), Anamorphous (ANI), Pelvian (PEI), Dactylo-thoracic (DTI), Dactylo-costal (DCI), Pelvian Transversal (PTI), Pelvian Longitudinal (PLI), Shank relative thickness (SRI), and Shank load (SLI). Descriptive analysis and Pearson correlation was made with SAS® software. The measures showed low coeffi cients of variation (3.32 HCR and 10.88 PTO), refl ecting a high phenotypic homogeneity. Positive correlation (P<0.001) was found between body weight and morphological characteristics, the thoracic perimeter was the most correlated (r = 0.93). Zoometric Indexes ranged from 2.38 for ANI and 194.03 for PEI. The Criollo Limonero bulls are described as a clearly dolichocephalic biotype, with good morphological uniformity, eumetric, of half-line proportions, concave rump, region dorsal-lumbar ascending towards the rump, and body size in harmony with bone development, shank and legs robust, with tendency to develop muscle tissue in the zone of most valuable cuts and of productive aptitudes for milk and meat production.