Factor analysis to explain body conformation of Kajali Rams

Nine different biometric traits in 85 Kajali males were analysed using principal component analysis (PCA) to study the body conformation traits. The data were collected from breeding tract of Kajali sheep during August 2013 to February 2015 The adult body weight (30 to 76kg) and body height at withers (69 to 90 cm) of rams showed that Kajali is a large sized sheep breed. Phenotypic correlations among most of the traits were positive and significant (P<0.01). Out of nine factors, three factors were extracted which cumulatively explained 71.02% of the total variance. The first component (PC1) described the body shape and size and explained 42.56% total variance with high component loadings for chest girth, paunch girth and body weight. The second component (PC2) explained 17.10% of the total variance with high loading for paunch girth, face width, chest girth, while the third component (PC3) explained 11.36% of variance with high loading for ear length. The lower and negative coefficients in PC3 indicated that these traits have very little contribution to explain variation in body conformation. The communalities range between 0.183 (tail length) to 0.920 (ear length) showed that some variables are better represented than others by retained factors. The study revealed that factors extracted are effective to explain body conformation of Kajali rams and it will help in reducing the number of traits to be recorded in field.