{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T17:26:54Z","timestamp":1785432414838,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,22]],"date-time":"2026-06-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1782086400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000780","name":"European Union","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["ECS00000041"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ECS00000041"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000780","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000780","name":"European Union","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["C43C22000380007"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["C43C22000380007"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000780","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"award":["ECS00000041"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ECS00000041"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/019w4f821","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["C43C22000380007"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["C43C22000380007"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/019w4f821","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Animals"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The Abruzzo (AB) donkey is a mountain-adapted Italian population listed as a genetic resource at risk of extinction (census \u2248 600 animals; no studbook). We aimed to provide the first comprehensive morphometric description of the breed and to compare it with the Martina Franca (MF) donkey, its main progenitor. Sixty-nine adult donkeys (56 females, 13 males) from six farms were measured in 2024. Twenty-three linear traits plus body weight and body condition score were recorded three times by a single operator. Descriptive statistics, Welch\u2019s t-test or Mann\u2013Whitney U test with Benjamini\u2013Hochberg correction, PCA and LDA with leave-one-out cross-validation were performed in R; comparison with MF was based on published summary statistics. Coefficients of variation for the three studbook-admission parameters were \u22640.10 in both sexes. Sixteen of 26 traits showed significant sex dimorphism, with the largest effect sizes for rump height, medial canthal distance and wither height. LDA correctly classified 94% of animals by sex. AB females were significantly smaller than MF in 22 of 23 shared traits but had a wider thorax (p = 0.012). The sexual dimorphism observed in the Abruzzo donkey is male-biased and predominantly size-based, with a minor and well-localised shape component in the head region. Males are significantly larger than females for all axial measurements (wither height A: +6.5 cm, +5.3%; rump height B: +6.4 cm, +5.0%; trunk length D: +12.1 cm, +9.5%), for thoracic circumference (M: +7.1 cm, +5.0%), for body weight (+49.9 kg, +20.6%) and for the main head traits (CM: +4.3 cm, +20.0%; G: +3.6 cm, +12.5%; H: +1.3 cm, +11.1%; E: +2.0 cm, +3.8%); no trait shows a significant female bias after BH-FDR correction. The AB donkey shows a uniform mesomorphic phenotype, smaller and stockier than MF, supporting the establishment of an official studbook.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ani16121932","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,23]],"date-time":"2026-06-23T06:13:37Z","timestamp":1782195217000},"page":"1932","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Phenotypic Characterisation of the Abruzzo Donkey (Equus asinus), an Endangered Italian Genetic Resource: Body Measurements"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2819-4455","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ippolito","family":"De Amicis","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Teramo, Piano d\u2019Accio, 64100 Teramo, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1385-8439","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Vincenzo","family":"Landi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari Aldo Moro, S.P. 62 per Casamassima km. 3, Valenzano, 70010 Bari, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alberto De","family":"Berardinis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Teramo, Piano d\u2019Accio, 64100 Teramo, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1868-5779","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Medhat S.","family":"Saleh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari Aldo Moro, S.P. 62 per Casamassima km. 3, Valenzano, 70010 Bari, Italy"},{"name":"Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Benha University, 13736 Benha, Egypt"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6710-1186","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ivano","family":"Massirio","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Teramo, Piano d\u2019Accio, 64100 Teramo, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9787-2443","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Domenico","family":"Robbe","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Teramo, Piano d\u2019Accio, 64100 Teramo, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2748-4933","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Roberta","family":"Bucci","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical Sciences and Translational Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2283-6146","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Augusto","family":"Carluccio","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Teramo, Piano d\u2019Accio, 64100 Teramo, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2015). 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J."}],"container-title":["Animals"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2076-2615\/16\/12\/1932\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,27]],"date-time":"2026-06-27T04:54:08Z","timestamp":1782536048000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2076-2615\/16\/12\/1932"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,22]]},"references-count":32,"journal-issue":{"issue":"12","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6]]}},"alternative-id":["ani16121932"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/ani16121932","relation":{},"ISSN":["2076-2615"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2076-2615","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,22]]}}}