Morphometric traits and their description.

Sussex cattle breed is characterized by their distinctive solid red coat colour and white tail switch. Sussex cattle are known for being easy to handle and manage, making them an ideal choice for cattle farmers. The phenotypic characterization of this cattle breed in South Africa is unknown. Hence, the objective of this study was to characterize the morphological structure, phenotypic and body indices traits of Sussex cattle in South Africa at Huntersvlei farm, Frere State province of South Africa. One hundred and one weaners (n = 101) between 6 and 8 months old (female = 57 and male = 44) and fifty yearlings between 12 and 15 months old (female = 15 and male = 35) were used in this study. Body weight at weaning, yearling and linear body measurements such as head length (HL), head width (HW), ear length (EL), ear width (EW), sternum height (SH), withers height (WH), heart girth (HG), hip height (HH), body length (BL), rump length (RL), and rump width (RW) were measured. Moreover, the animals were assessed for coat colour and horn presence. Descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) were used to describe the Sussex cattle breed. The results indicated that male Sussex cattle had highly significant (p苏塞克斯牛（Sussex cattle）品种以其标志性的纯红色被毛与白色尾帚为典型特征。该品种以易驯服、易管理的特性著称，是肉牛养殖户的理想选择。目前南非境内苏塞克斯牛的表型特征尚未明确，因此本研究旨在南非弗雷尔州省亨特斯弗莱农场，对当地苏塞克斯牛的形态结构、表型性状及体尺指数展开表征。 本研究共纳入101头断奶犊牛（n=101），月龄介于6至8个月之间，其中母犊57头、公犊44头；另纳入50头周岁牛，月龄介于12至15个月之间，其中母犊15头、公犊35头。 研究测定了犊牛断奶时、周岁牛的体重，以及多项线性体尺指标，包括头长（head length, HL）、头宽（head width, HW）、耳长（ear length, EL）、耳宽（ear width, EW）、胸骨高（sternum height, SH）、髻甲高（withers height, WH）、胸围（heart girth, HG）、臀高（hip height, HH）、体斜长（body length, BL）、臀长（rump length, RL）及臀宽（rump width, RW）。此外，还对受试牛只的被毛颜色与角的存在情况进行了评估。 本研究采用描述性统计、皮尔逊相关分析及主成分分析（Principal Component Analysis, PCA）对苏塞克斯牛品种进行表征。结果显示，公苏塞克斯牛具有极显著（p