Professional Documents
Culture Documents
How much does crimp frequency vary between sheep (take the
frequency at the midside as the average of the sheep)? If there is no
variation we can't change the flock average anyway.
ii.
iii.
What is the genetic relationship between crimp frequency and other traits
that breeders might consider important in their flocks or in the flocks of
clients?
iv.
First, let's look at variability. If we take the nine fine/superfine bloodlines that
form the Fine Wool Project flocks, and plot the average value for the hogget
animals over five years, we see the differences shown in Figure 1a. The first
thing to note is that these differences are surprisingly small. This is especially
surprising when viewed against Figure 1b the range of crimp frequency found in
the hoggets from any of the flocks which is very much greater.
Figure 1a. The relationship between crimp frequency and length of fibre in the
processed top (hauteur) showing that the lower crimped wools produce tops
with longer hauteur.
Figure 1b The relationship between crimp frequency and staple length showing
that the lower crimped wools are associated with longer staples.
Now let us see what proportion of those differences in a typical fine wool flock is
due to the effects of genes that will influence the performance of the next
generation. This is measured by the heritability, and crimp frequency is
moderately heritable (approx. 0.3), so selection for crimp will be reasonably
effective if we decide that we want to change the crimp frequency of the flock.
But, if we change the crimp frequency of the flock, what would we be doing to
other characteristics at the same time? What would happen to diameter, for
example? We already know that crimp frequency was used in the past as a
visual indicator for mean fibre diameter. It therefore comes as a bit of a shock to
find objective evidence that shows the association between crimp frequency
and mean fibre diameter is essentially zero. It is the same whether we look
within a flock, or a bloodline, or even a strain of Merino. This means that
selection within a flock or bloodline for lower mean fibre diameter alone will not
change crimp frequency.
The association between fleece weight and crimp frequency is slightly more
complex. If we ranked a group of animals within a fine wool flock from the
highest fleece weight to the lowest, we would not find any corresponding
change (up or down) in crimp frequency. However, when we look at the genetic
control, things are different. Progeny of sires (and dams) with the highest clean
fleece weights tend to have the lowest crimp frequency. The impact of this is
that selection within a fine wool flock for increased fleece weight will produce
animals in subsequent generations with lower crimp frequency.
However, we have done the calculations and despite concerns about changing
crimp frequency in fine wool flocks, we conclude that selection that is focused
on the major traits of economic importance within a flock fleece weight and
diameterwill result in only very small changes over a period of, say, ten years.
This conclusion applies only to fine wool flocks. If a ram from a medium wool
bloodline is used - where, of course, the average crimp frequency is very
different- there will be greater changes over this period.
Perhaps the biggest issue of all, these days, and certainly an important one, is
the relationship between crimp frequency and processing performance.
Gary Robinson (right) and Phil Henry from CSIRO Geelong examine a top
made from wool from the Fine Wool Project
Studies have been conducted over several decades on crimp frequency and
processing efficiency by the South African Wool Research Institute and by
CSIRO Division of Wool Technology in Australia. In general, these results show
that up to the topmaking stage lower crimped wools produce slightly longer
fibres and have lower processing losses than wools of higher crimp frequency.
What do the processing results from the Fine Wool Project show us?
More than 200 batches representing the pooled fleeces of the progeny of
individual sires have been processed through to tops at the Geelong research
mill of CSIRO's Division of Wool Technology. The results of these unique trials
will let us predict with confidence the
processing consequences of different selection strategies.
One of the many raw wool attributes measured on the individual fleeces that
formed the processing batches was crimp frequency. This information allows us
to relate the average crimp frequency of a processing batch to the subsequent
performance of that batch through to top stage. We were particularly interested
in the hauteur, or mean fibre length in the top because it is has a big influence
on the prices paid for wool tops.
As Figure 1a clearly shows, when crimp frequency increases, hauteur
decreases. On the face of it, it looks as though lower crimp wools are clearly
better than highly crimped wools.
But, we need to analyse this further.
If we look at the relationship between crimp frequency and staple length in
Figure 1b we get an identical relationship. That is, longer staples have a lower
crimp frequency. So, is it the crimp or is it the staple length that gives us the
result that we see in hauteur?
When we looked at wools of similar length differing only in crimp frequency we
found no association between crimp frequency and hauteur.
These are preliminary results in a very comprehensive program but they are
certainly important to producers of fine wool who are considering using crimp
frequency as part of their selection strategy. I will be presenting further data
in The Wool Press as they become available.
For further information contact
Dr Ian Purvis, Manager, Program 1, CSIRO Division of Animal Production,
Private Bag, PO Armidale NSW 2350.
Tel: (067) 761 373.