Varieties of Greens
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Aayvagam an International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research | Volume No. 1 | Issue No. 12 | January 2014 4 PHYSICAL AND PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS OF KANNI DOG: AN INDIGENOUS DOG BREED OF TAMIL NADU T. Ravimurugan 1, *S.M.K. Karthickeyan 2, A. Hisham 2 and S.N. Sivaselvam 2 1Department of Animal Genetics and Breeding, Veterinary College and Research Institute, Tirunelveli – 627001 (India) 2Department of Animal Genetics and Breeding, Madras Veterinary College, Chennai – 600 007 (India) * Author for Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract The Kanni dog, a medium-sized, sight-hound breed seen in south India, is studied to assess the distribution and breed characteristics. The main breeding tract of this dog is Tirunelveli district of southern Tamil Nadu. The features are black and white / brown coat, black nostrils, black eyes, broad chest and tucked up abdomen. The overall means of body length, height at withers, chest girth, belly girth, ear length and tail length in adults were 60.28 ± 1.10, 59.86 ± 0.93, 59.38 ± 1.00, 38.95 ± 0.57, 10.88 ± 0.15 and 39.20 ± 0.63 cm respectively. Sex had no significant effect on body length, height at withers and chest girth. This study shows that Kanni dog breed is a medium-sized indigenous sight hound dog of Tamil Nadu requiring conservation measures. Key words : Morphology, morphometry, performance characteristics, Kanni dog Introduction India has got a vast array of many species of domestic and companion animals. Dog has been the important companion animal since time immemorial. India has the privilege of having excellent dog breeds like Rajapalayam, Chippiparai, Kombai, Kanni, Mudhol Hound, Rampur Hound, Caravan Hound, Banjara Hound, Bhotia sheep dog, Himalayan sheep dog, Alangu, Kaikadi, Indian Spitz, Bakharwal and Jonangi. The state of Tamil Nadu in southern India is blessed with four indigenous dog breeds, of which, Kanni is one among them. It is a sight-hound type, utilized mainly for hunting. It is a rare indigenous south Indian dog breed found in and around Virudhunagar, Tuticorin and Tirunelveli districts (Selvakkumar et al ., 2013). The Kanni , which means maiden in Tamil language, was considered as a further extension of the Caravan or Mudhol Hound, and was also a descendant of the Saluki (Ravimurugan and Kumaravelu, 2008; Srinivasan, 2011). Only a few preliminary studies have been made so far about this wonderful breed. Hence the present study was undertaken to assess the breed characteristics using morphometric measurements and physical traits. Materials and methods The study was conducted during November, 2013 in Ukkirankottai, Maruthapuram, Parvathiapuram villages in Tirunelveli district and Elayirampannai, E.Rettiapatti, Sivasangupuram of Virudhunagar district of southern Tamil Nadu where a total of 50 dog owners / villagers maintaining these dogs were surveyed. Age of the dog was recorded after careful personal interaction with the owners. Various physical traits like body colour, shape of face, eyes, nostrils, patches present on the body and morphology of ear, chest, abdomen and tail were recorded through observation as well as physical examination. Morphometric measurements such as body length, height at withers, chest girth, belly girth, length of head, length of muzzle, ear length, ear width, height at rump and length of tail were recorded as suggested by Gonzalez et al . (2011) and Leite et al . (2011). These measurements were recorded accurately in cm (with a precision of 0.5 cm) using a measuring tape when the dog was in normal standing position. The reference points for measuring the morphometric variables were as follows. Body length : distance from point of shoulder to point of buttock. Length of head : distance from tip of nose to occipital. Muzzle length : from tip of nose to the line joining the edges of internal eye. Tail length : from the dorsal edge of base of the tail to its tip. Height at withers : distance between ground and withers at standing posture. Height at rump : distance between ground and rump at standing posture. Chest girth : circumference around the chest just after the front limb. Belly girth : circumference around belly. Ear length : distance from the end of external acoustic meatus to the tip of apex of ear. Ear width : width at the base of the ear. Aayvagam an International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research | Volume No. 1 | Issue No. 12 | January 2014 5 The data collected were subjected to standard statistical analyses as per Snedecor and Cochran (1989). Student’s ‘t’ test was carried out to find whether there was any significant difference in body length, height at withers and chest girth between sexes. Results and discussion Breeding tract The Kanni dogs were bred in and around Tirunelveli, Kovilpatti, Kazhugumalai, Kileral, Kodangipatti, Sivakasi and Madurai which form the major breeding tract of the breed. About 100 – 120 villagers in the tract breed the Kanni dogs. More than 200 Kanni dogs are being reared in the main breeding tract itself. The breeding tract is having a subtropical climate and generally dry except in monsoon seasons. The elevation of the tract ranges from 70 to 500m above mean sea level (MSL). The average annual rainfall is 736.5 mm with major contribution from northeast monsoon (429.8 mm) followed by summer rains (141.9 mm) and south west monsoon (92.6 mm). The relative humidity ranges between 44.6 and 76.5 per cent. The mean minimum and maximum temperatures varies from 21°C to 27.5°C and 28°C to 38.5°C respectively. The majority of the study area consists of black and red soil. Morphology The predominant body colour of Kanni dog is black (Figs. 1 and 2). White or brown patches are also seen on ventral aspect of thigh and underbelly. The skin is tight and grey in colour. Their coat is short and smooth. They have a conical shaped black coloured head which is having white / light brown stripes with black nostrils. Eyes are usually black in colour and occasionally reddish brown eyed animals are also seen. The colour of eye lashes varies from black to light brown. The ears are semi-drooping. The neck is long and moderately muscular. The body is compact with broad chest and tucked up abdomen giving an appearance of hound type dog. Strong, moderately muscular long legs has helped them to be swift runners and good hunters. The tail is long and bony with a slightly upward and forward curl. Our findings are in agreement with an earlier studies by Ravimurugan and Kumaravelu (2008) and Selvakkumar et al (2013) who also reported that Kanni was agile, slim, graceful medium-sized dog, usually black and tan in colour with limited white on the feet and chest having a deep chest, tucked up belly and slim body. Morphometric measurements The means for various body measurements are furnished in Table 1. The overall means for the principal body measurements such as body length, height at withers and chest girth were found to be 60.28 ± 1.10, 59.86 ± 0.93 and 59.38 ± 1.00 cm respectively. The tail length averaged 39.20 ± 0.63 cm. The mean ear length recorded for Kanni dogs was 10.88 ± 0.15 cm. The height at rump as well as belly girth were also measured which were found to be 60.10 ± 1.28 and 38.95 ± 0.57 cm respectively. There was no significant difference between sexes for body length, height at withers and chest girth. Previous study by Porchezhian and Selvakkumar (2010) on 20 Kanni dogs showed higher height (66.4 ± 0.54 cm), girth (67.7 ± 0.33 cm), body length (68.01 ± 0.62 cm), tail length (41.7 ± 0.33 cm), ear length (12.6 ± 0.27 cm) and ear width (11.1 ± 0.23 cm). The mean body length, height at withers suggest that Kanni is a medium-sized dog. Yilmaz (2007) classified the hound dogs based on height and specified a range of 51 to 70 cm for medium-sized dog and the Kanni dog having a mean height of 59.86 cm falls within the range. The mean belly girth as well as chest girth indicate that it could be classified under hound type of dogs. It was reported that in sight hound anatomy, the chest should be deeper and the abdomen be narrower than in other dog breeds (Yilmaz and Ertugrul, 2011). It is normally accepted that the chest and abdomen depth are very important traits to evaluate speed of sight hound. Secondly speed factor in sight hound depends on strength of its hind legs (Yilmaz and Ertugrul, 2011). Therefore, Kanni dogs with deep chest, narrow abdomen and strong legs can thus be considered as a sight hound. Mean height (59.86 ± 0.93cm) of Kanni observed in the present study shows that it is taller than other hound dogs like Italian Greyhound (33-38cm; Italy) and Whippet (47-51cm; UK) dogs; but shorter than that of Borzoi (66-81cm; Russia), Greyhound (69-78cm; UK), Irish Wolfhound (81-86cm; Ireland), and Turkish Tazi (70cm; Turkey) (Yilmaz and Ertugrul, 2011). Their height is similar to the height of other canine breeds such as Rampur Greyhound (60-75cm; India), Saluki (58-71cm; Middle Eastern), Afghan Hound (61-73cm; Afghan), Arabian Greyhound (61-72cm; Morocco) and Pharaoh Hound (53-64cm; Malta) dogs, as reported by Yilmaz and Ertugrul (2011). Performance characteristics and husbandry The Kanni dogs are usually bred by natural service. In a single whelping, four to eight puppies were born. The age at first heat in dogs ranged from 12 to 14 months. They were first allowed for mating at around 18 months of age and their age at first whelping ranged from 20 to 24 months.