Small Ruminant Research 110 (2013) 15–19 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Small Ruminant Research jou rn al h om epa ge: www. elsevier.com/locate/smallrumres Short communication Morphometric traits in Crioula Lanada ewes in Southern Brazil M.C. Silva a,∗ , F.B. Lopes a , C.M.S. Vaz b , F. Paulini c , I.S. Montesinos a , M.C.S. Fioravanti a , C. McManus d , J.R.B. Sereno e a Universidade Federal de Goiás, EVZ, Pós Graduac ¸ ão em Ciência Animal, Campus Samambaia, Caixa Postal 131, CEP 74001-970, Goiânia, GO, Brazil b Associac ¸ ão Brasileira de Criadores de Ovinos Coloridos – ABCONC, Brazil c Universidade de Brasília, ICB, Pós Graduac ¸ ão em Biologia Animal, Campus Darcy Ribeiro, CEP 70919-970, Brasília, DF, Brazil d Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Departamento de Produc ¸ ão Animal, 7712, CEP 91540-000, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil e Embrapa Cerrados, Laboratório de Reproduc ¸ ão Animal, Caixa Postal 08223, CEP 73310-970, Planaltina, DF, Brazil a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 24 January 2012 Received in revised form 31 August 2012 Accepted 1 September 2012 Available online 4 October 2012 Keywords: Animal production In situ conservation Local breed Multivariate analysis Morphometric characterization a b s t r a c t Fifteen morphometric traits and body weight (BW) from 319 adult Crioula Lanada ewes were evaluated. The influence of wool type and geographic location (fixed effects) was tested, in addition to Pearson correlation, factor and discriminatory analysis according to geographic regions and breed ecotypes. Analysis was carried out using the Statistical Analysis System Program. Geographic location revealed significant effect (P < 0.001) on mor- phometric traits. Most correlations were significant (P < 0.05), thoracic perimeter (TP) with BW (0.72) being the strongest. Correlations between head and body measurements were medium or weak, strongest being between BWs. Multivariate analysis revealed 81% of vari- ance using two factors, where three groups of variables were identified (general body, head and one group including thoracic and BW, respectively). Fine discrimination between herds and also the Fronteira and Serrana ecotypes were observed which opens door to valuable validation of how phenotype relates to genotype and associated SNPs in the Crioula Lanada breed. Published by Elsevier B.V. 1. Introduction The Crioula Lanada is a traditional and unique local sheep breed raised in Southern Brazil. Besides current stabilization, this breed was considered to be in risk of extinction around 1980 (Fao, 2007). Castro (2008) and Gonc ¸ alves et al. (2010) reported that the Fronteira and Serrana ecotypes were genetically distinct, suggesting technical interventions to conserve genetic diversity. Such ecotype distinction and spatial variation can be tested using different characterization techniques (Mariante et al., ∗ Corresponding author at: Programa de Pós-Graduac ¸ ão em Ciência Animal (PPGCA), Escola de Veterinária de Zootecnia – Campus II – Samam- baia, Caixa Postal 131, CEP 74001-970, Goiânia, GO, Brazil. Tel.: +55 061 38792105; mobile: +55 061 82508634. E-mail address: marcelo-correadasilva@hotmail.com (M.C. Silva). 2009) and multivariate analysis (Carneiro et al., 2010; Castanheira et al., 2010a,b). In this study, we hypothesized that there are different Crioula Lanada biotypes in Southern Brazil, that geographic location and wool type would affect morphometric traits and body weight and that morphometric data would be sufficient to discriminate adult Fronteira and Serrana sheep ecotypes. 2. Materials and methods 2.1. Sample Body weight, wool type and morphometric data of 319 Crioula Lanada sheep with average age 7.54 ± 0.97 months were evaluated. This sample is representative to current breed population. Farms in the same munici- pality were considered a unique localization determining six geographic provenances in three physiographic regions of Southern Brazil. Five prove- nances were defined as Serrana ecotype provenances (SEP) (II, III, IV, V, and VI) and one to the Fronteira ecotype provenance (FEP) (I) (Fig. 1). 0921-4488/$ – see front matter. Published by Elsevier B.V. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.smallrumres.2012.09.002