Sexual Allometric Monomorphism in Araucan Pig from Colombia: Preliminary Results

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Breed morphological profiling is the first step towards the conservation of local genetic resources, and data obtained from different approaches improve knowledge on them. Morphometric measurements performed on animals are important tools in the assessment of growth and body development as they make it possible to perform quantitative analysis. This study aimed to evaluate the allometric growth of the Araucan pig breed, a creole breed from Arauca, East Colombia, locally known as “Sabaneros”. Little is known about the production, economic importance, and geographical distribution of these animals. Knowledge on the genetics, morphology, growth potential, and yield characteristics of a breed is essential to establish a rational production system. Results showed that in Araucan pigs, sexual differences do not increase with body size. ABSTRACT: This study aimed to evaluate the allometric growth of the Araucan pig breed, a creole breed from Arauca, East Colombia, locally known as “Sabaneros”, in relation to different quantitative traits and considering genders separately. To do this, a total of 31 male and 27 female Araucan pigs, ranging from 4 to 48 months of age, were studied in order to evaluate their growth patterns, using a multivariate approach. Animals belonged to different farms (“fincas”) of the Department of Arauca, Colombia. From each individual, 10 quantitative traits were obtained: face width, croup height, croup length, croup width, tail base height, hock height, loin height, cannon length, and length and width of ear. Our results, which must be interpreted as preliminary, showed that the Araucan pig is allometrically monomorphic as sexual differences do not increase with body size. We suggest that although males and females have evidently different reproductive roles, during growth they shift the allocation of energy to structures linked to environmental adaptation rather than those linked to reproduction.