Objective.

The objective of this study was to describe the body measurements and zoometric indices of Sudán Bayo and Sudán Blanco, two breed varieties of Colombian creole woolless sheep (OPC).

Materials and methods.

This research was carried out in the departments of Córdoba, Cesar, and La Guajira. Two farms were visited in each of the first two departments and one farm in the third department. Twenty-one, 75, and 14 animals were evaluated in each department, respectively. Twenty-nine morphostructural variables and body weight were studied in 110 Sudán sheep. Based on this, 15 zoometric indices were also estimated. Descriptive statistic was applied to the information collected through the InfoStat® software.

Results.

Sudán Bayo sheep had higher values than Sudán Blanco sheep for the body weight (40.8 and 40.57 kg), as well as for all the zoometric measurements relative to the head and extremities, and most of the trunk morphometric measurements; in the first breed variety 83 ewes were used and in the second 27 individuals. Regarding the zoometric indices, Sudán sheep were characterized as dolichocranial, dolichocephalic, eumetric, of thorax with elliptical tendency, convex rump, and longilineal animals according to two ethnological indices while brevilineal animals based on one functional index.

Conclusions.

Through this investigation, the current morphometric status of Sudán OPC sheep was known in detail, as well as the proportionality between the corporal regions of these, whose inclination is towards the meat biotype. This information is of importance for the breed recognition and characterization, biotype definition, conservation, development, and genetic improvement of OPC sheep.

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