ABSTRACT

 Twenty-five, 3 month old rabbits comprising 9 New Zealand White and 16 Dutch were used in this study. Eight morphometric traits were monitored in order to ascertain their validity as markers and breed discriminants. Descriptive statistics showed that New Zealand White rabbits were superior to the Dutch in all measured variables. Correlations among the morphometric traits obtained in this study were high, positive and significant. Heart girth and Body length were not included in the discriminatory model because they had the lowest correlation with the discriminant function. Breed Centroids obtained were opposing (- 3. 328 and 1.872), which indicate that the breeds are morphologically different and were rightly classified as different breeds. The classification using the discriminant function obtained in this study indicates that 95.8% and 100%of original cases for (Breed 1) New Zealand White and (Breed 2) Dutch respectively were correctly classified. The results of this study indicates that the two groups studied namely New Zealand White and Dutch are really distinct breeds based on their morphometric characteristics.