Wool sulphur concentration in fleeceweight-selected and control
Romney hoggets
Y.X. Sun, J.P. Koolaard, H.T. Blair, J. Lee, S.N. McCutcheon
Department of Animal Science, Massey University, Palmerston
North, New Zealand
Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production.
1991, 51: 395-400
Hoggets from the Massey University fleeceweight-selected (FW)
line were previously shown to have lower sulphur (S) concentrations in
midside wool than control (C) hoggets at 14 months of age. This study
involved two experiments. The first examined wool S concentrations at
different body positions in 14-month hoggets and the second examined
midside wool S concentration and blood parameters in young lambs. In
Experiment 1, 16 FW hoggets and 16 C hoggets were wool sampled at 11
positions over the body. The wool S concentration of FW hoggets was
found to be significantly (P<0.01) lower than that of C hoggets (2.77%
vs 2.94%). Discriminant analysis was used to classify hoggets to their
respective lines based on wool S measurements. The combination of sites
which most correctly classified the hoggets was the midside plus base of
the tail. In the Experiment 2, 40 FW and 40 C lambs were wool sampled
on the midside at 28 day intervals from 21 November (1 week before
weaning) to 13 February. FW lambs had significantly (P<0.05) lower
midside wool S concentrations of urea, but not of creatinine, than C
lambs. Results suggest that wool S concentration and plasma urea
concentrations may be useful genetic markers for high fleece production
but that the ability to discriminate between animals of high versus low
genetic merit for fleece weight on the basis of wool S will depend on
the sampling position and age of animals.
Keywords: NZSAPAB;
Wool; sulphur concentration; fleece weight; selection; urea;
creatinine
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Last Updated 25-01-1997
