Fiber quality of carpet-wool sheep breeds

Abstract

This experiment was aimed to identify characteristics and comparative advantage of Iranian sheep breed wool. Fiber characteristics of 270 male and female sheep of 1, 2, 3 and 4 years of age belonging to Afshari, Zandi, Mehrabani, Lori and Baluchi sheep breeds were studied. Samples of fiber were taken from the left midside of sheep and analyzed using standard objective measurements for staple length (SL), mean fiber diameter (MFD), coefficient of variation of fiber diameter (FDCV), inner coat fiber ICF, outer coat fiber (OCF), kemp fiber (KF) and clean wool production (CWP). A general linear model was used to analyze the data usin SAS package. The mean (s.e) for SL, MFD, FDCV, ICF, OCF, KF and CWP were 110.8±0.1 mm, 36.9±0.5 µm, 50.2±0.8 %, 84.2±0.6 %, 9.8±0.4 %, 5.9±0.4 % and 69.3±0.7 respectively. MFD of 22% of all wool samples les was between 22 – 30 µm. MFD of a further 36 and 42 percent of wool samples was between 31 – 37 µm and coarser than 37 µm . SL of 12 % of wool samples was shorter than 100 mm and 38 % of samples between 100 – 120 mm and 50 % of samples were longer than 120 mm. There is substantial scope to improve the quality of fiber produced by Iranian sheep breeds through genetic selection