Phenotypic Characterization of Sheep Population in Aures, Hodna and Ziban Zones, Algeria

This study aims to characterize the sheep population phenotypically in three zones in northeastern Algeria: Aures, Hodna and Ziban. A total of 160 female animals of 2 to 4 years of age were subject to 4 quantitative linear body measurements (body length BL, withers height WH, tail length TL and wool weight WW) and 9 qualitative physical traits (head length HL, ear orientation EO, horn presence H, neck length NL, wool extent WE, tail texture TT, eyes shape ES, head color HC and wool color WC). The results indicate that the sheep population in these areas belonged to the Ouled Djellel sheep breed with some abnormal phenotypes, which refers to uncontrolled crossbreeding. Body measurements show moderate variation coefficient values, with the highest value reported for WW (7.37%). However, despite the weak correlations found in this study, clear ones were revealed between WH and TL (0.30) and BL and WW (0.26). The Hierarchical Agglomerative Clustering analysis sub-divided the sheep population into three classes, in which an overlap, according to body measurements, was remarked between Hodna and Ziban and between Aures and Ziban but not between Aures and Hodna.