SOURCES OF SHARED VARIABILITY FOR THE EGYPTIAN BUFFALO BODY SHAPE (CONFORMATION)

A factor analysis with a varimax rotation was applied to 13 body measurements on 463 young Egyptian buffalo bulls to (a) disclose the main sources of shared variability, (b) deduce the factors that control body conformation and (c) predict live weight from orthogonal body measurements. Body conformation appeared to be controlled by common and unique factors. The communalities ranged from 0.96 (height at hips, height at withers) to 0.78 (rump width) and the uniqueness (special size factors) made the balance. Findings indicated that most of the common variability (88\%) in body dimensions could be accounted for by factors representing general size, body depth and height and head width. A final prediction equation for predicting body weight from the orthogonal factor scores was derived using a factor analysis including all the above mentioned factors.