Morphometric Study on the Digital Bones in the Domestic Cattle

Abstract

In this study, the phalanges of the forelimb and hindlimb of 18 adult Holstein breed cattle were used. Morphometric measurements were taken from 144 digital bones. In contrast to classical references, it was concluded that the greatest lengths (GLpe) were longer in the hindlimb than the forelimb for the phalanx proximalis and phalanx media. In the phalanx proximalis and phalanx media, the SD*100/GLpe index value was high in the forelimb and low in the hindlimb. It was observed that the differences between the Bp (Breadth of the proximal end) values of phalanx proximalis and Bd (Breadth of the distal end) values in phalanx media were significant for the inner bones of the forelimb and their hindlimb counterparts, while the other values were statistically not significant. The presence of an asymmetry between the osteometric measurements of the internal and external bones of the digits could only be observed between the GL values of the phalanx media of forelimb (P<0.05). We concluded that the asymmetry seen in the forelimb in Holstein breed cattle maybe a result of being kept on concrete ground as dairy cows.