Morphometric traits of turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) as affected by genotype and sex

Morphometric traits have been found useful in quantifying body size and shape and scientific information on them would be required for genetic improvement of turkeys. This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of sex and genotype on morphometric traits of turkey (Meleagris gallopavo). Linear body measurements were taken on 70 exotic turkeys (20 males and 50 females) and 80 locally adapted turkeys (30 males and 50 females) randomly selected from the Turkey Unit at Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching and Research Farm. The linear body measurements taken and recorded were the beak length, head length, neck length, body length, keel length, wing span, wing length, drumstick, Shank length, toe length, tail length and body girth all taken in centimeters (cm) using a measuring tape. Data were analyzed with the GLM procedure of SAS and Duncan Multiple Range Test was used to detect differences among means. There were significant differences (p <0.05) between male and female turkeys with male turkeys having higher values as an expression of sexual dimorphism for all studied traits. Further, the male was found to be significantly higher (p <0.05) than the females for all the morphometric traits measured both for the local and exotic type. The exotic type was found to be significantly (p <0.05) higher than the local type for all the morphometric traits measured. There were significant (p <0.05) interactions between sex and genotype with the male exotic having higher values of all the morphometric traits observed. It was concluded that turkeys are sexually dimorphic and that exotic type had higher body conformation and morphology than their locally adapted counterpart.