Relationship Between Live Body Weight and Linear Body Measurements in Goats: A Meta-Analysis Using a Multilevel Random-Effects Model.
- 1Department of Statistics, University of South Africa, Pretoria 0002, South Africa.
- 2Department of Agricultural Economics and Animal Production, University of Limpopo, Sovenga 0727, South Africa.
Abstract
This study determined the relationship between live body weight (BW) and linear body measurements, including heart girth (HG), body length (BL) and withers height (WH) using a meta-analytic method. This meta-analysis synthesized the evidence from studies conducted in goats to examine the relationship between BW and HG, BL, and WH. Five electronic databases (Web of Science, Google Scholar, PubMed, OpenAlex, and Scopus) were systematically searched for studies published between 2005 and 2025. The Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) tool was used to assess the risk of bias, and a multilevel random-effects model was used for analysis due to many studies containing multiple effect sizes. A total of 45 studies were included, with the sample size ranging from 30 to 1072 goats. The multilevel random-effects model revealed a pooled correlation coefficients of 0.83 between BW and HG (95% CI: 0.79-0.87), 0.79 between BW and BL (95% CI: 0.74-0.83), and 0.72 between BW and WH (95% CI: 0.64-0.78). The results also revealed a pooled regression coefficients of 0.65 (95% CI: 0.55-0.74), 0.40 (95% CI: 0.04-0.76), and 0.06 (95% CI: -0.02-0.14) for HG, BL and WH, respectively. This meta-analysis provides evidence of strong positive significant associations between body weight and heart girth, body length, and withers height in goats. The findings highlight the potential of these linear body measurements as practical indicators of body weight, particularly in production systems where weighing equipment is not available.
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BibTeX
@article{tyasi2026relationship,
title = {{Relationship Between Live Body Weight and Linear Body Measurements in Goats: A Meta-Analysis Using a Multilevel Random-Effects Model.}},
author = {Thobela Louis Tyasi and Gaetan Kabera},
journal = {Animals : an open access journal from MDPI},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3390/ani16193107},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42883076},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Relationship Between Live Body Weight and Linear Body Measurements in Goats: A Meta-Analysis Using a Multilevel Random-Effects Model.
AU - Thobela Louis Tyasi
AU - Gaetan Kabera
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/02
JO - Animals : an open access journal from MDPI
DO - 10.3390/ani16193107
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42883076
AB - This study determined the relationship between live body weight (BW) and linear body measurements, including heart girth (HG), body length (BL) and withers height (WH) using a meta-analytic method. This meta-analysis synthesized the evidence from studies conducted in goats to examine the relationship between BW and HG, BL, and WH. Five electronic databases (Web of Science, Google Scholar, PubMed, OpenAlex, and Scopus) were systematically searched for studies published between 2005 and 2025. The Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) tool was used to assess the risk of bias, and a multilevel random-effects model was used for analysis due to many studies containing multiple effect sizes. A total of 45 studies were included, with the sample size ranging from 30 to 1072 goats. The multilevel random-effects model revealed a pooled correlation coefficients of 0.83 between BW and HG (95% CI: 0.79-0.87), 0.79 between BW and BL (95% CI: 0.74-0.83), and 0.72 between BW and WH (95% CI: 0.64-0.78). The results also revealed a pooled regression coefficients of 0.65 (95% CI: 0.55-0.74), 0.40 (95% CI: 0.04-0.76), and 0.06 (95% CI: -0.02-0.14) for HG, BL and WH, respectively. This meta-analysis provides evidence of strong positive significant associations between body weight and heart girth, body length, and withers height in goats. The findings highlight the potential of these linear body measurements as practical indicators of body weight, particularly in production systems where weighing equipment is not available.
SN - 2076-2615
ER -