Abstract

Wool fibre and follicle development was monitored in 40 hoggets born in 1996 comprising sex-balanced groups of Romney (R), Dorset x Romney (DR), Texel x Romney (TR) and DR x TR and TR x DR (DTR) sheep between 3 and 12 months of age. There was a significant curvilinear pattern of development for fibre curvature and follicle curvature for the DR, TR and DTR groups whereas values for the R group did not change significantly with time. Fibre diameter was not significantly different between the groups. A combination of fibre curvature and fibre diameter explained approximately 70% of the variation in core bulk within all genotypes at hogget shearing for samples taken at points in time during growth of the fleece. The combination of fibre curvature and fibre diameter is a useful predictor of adult wool bulk to assist breeders of GrowBulk sheep.

RMW, Sumner

Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production, Volume 59, , 39-42, 1999