Anatomical parameters of head and neck with referring to their conformation of local Arabian horses

الملخص EN

The study was carried out on (180) local Arabian horses in Al-Diwaniyeh Province for three different breeds (Kehalan, Saklawi and Hamadani).

They divided into six age groups which were (12-36, 36-60, 60-84, 84-120, 120-180 and 180-240 months), also their sexes divided equally and their colors (white, black, red and brown) were included in the study.

Many different head and neck morphological measurements were recorded as follow: Head length (HeL), the line between the bases of ears (BR), the line between the medial canthi of the eyes (BE), the head side length (SL), the circumference of the attached part of the neck with the head (HNP), the circumference of the attached part of the neck with the body (NBP), and neck length (NL).

Results indicated that in (12-36 months) group, the male and female Saklawi recorded significant decrements (P<0.05) with other breeds in the (HeL) measurement with 63.60 ± 1.661 and 64.20 ± 1.985 respectively, the (NL) measurement of male Saklawi was 43.80 ± 1.595 which registered a significant difference (P<0.05) with other breeds, as well the male of the same breed had significant decrement in both (HNP) and (SL) parameters with 70.20 ± 0.374 and 66.00 ± 1.140 respectively.

The (36-60 months) group the (HeL), (BR), (NL) and (NBP) measurements of male and female Hamadani registered significant differences (P<0.05) with all other breeds, while the (HNP) parameters of male and female Kehalan recorded significant increment with other breeds.

The (60-84 months) group the measurements of (BR) and (NBP) of male and female Hamadani were 19.80 ± 0.374, 20.40 ± 0.510 and 108.60 ± 1.913 and 108.80 ± 0.200 respectively and these results registered significant decrements with other breeds.

The (84-120 months) group the male and female Hamadani recorded significant differences with all other breeds in (BR), (NL) and (NBP) parameters.

The (120-180 and 180-240 months) groups the (NL) as well as (NBP) parameters of male and female Hamadani registered significant differences with all other breeds.

The Arabian local horses in the present study characterized by long neck, broad forehead as well as long face.