12—A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE WOOL CHARACTERISTICS OF TWO MERINO BREEDS UNDER SEMI-ARID CONDITIONS

Abstract

An investigation is described in which the wool characteristics of the Caucasian merino sheep were compared with those of the Fleisch merino under semi-arid environmental conditions. Tests made on wool from 157 Fleisch merino ewes and 72 Caucasian merino ewes showed that the Fleisch merino had a significantly lower greasy-fleece weight, longer staple and fibre lengths, a higher number of crinips, coarser fibres, and higher strength and extensibility than the Caucasian merino. However, both breeds had an almost identical clean-wool percentage. The age of the sheep proved to have a significant effect on greasy-fleece weight, clean-wool percentage, fibre length, and number of crimps but no significant effect on staple length, fibre diameter, fibre strength, and fibre extensibility.