Abstract
This study was undertaken on 196 Hamadani sheep (179 ewes & 17 rams) to characterize the fleece quantitatively and qualitatively and to determine the effect of flock ( 1 – 4 ), ewe age (1.5 to ≥ 5.5 years) and ewe status (barren, rearing single and twin lambs) on the studied traits besides the relationships among these traits. The results indicated that the overall means were: body weight 59.4 kg, greasy fleece weight 2.3 kg, staple length 11.9 cm, fiber length 18.3 cm, fiber diameter 37.2 μm, crimps 0.65 crimps/cm, medullated fibers 3.4 %, hairy fibers 59.4 %, fine fibers 36.7 %, heterotype fibers 1.1 % and kemp fibers 2.8 %. Furthermore, it was noticed that the grease content in greasy and scoured wool were 1.73 and 0.86 % respectively. Statistical analysis revealed a significant effect of flock on body weight, greasy fleece weight, staple length, fiber length, fiber diameter, crimps, medullated fibers, heterotype fibers and kemp fibers whereas, age of ewe affected only greasy fleece weight, staple length, fiber length and fiber diameter significantly.Non of the studied traits were affected significantly by ewe status.
Highlights
Karadi (Kurdi) sheep are considered to be the largest size of local breed raised in the mountainous region of Iraqi Kurdistan.They represent about 20% of the total sheep population of the country (Juma&Alkas,2000) and belong to the fat – tailed carpet – wool sheep
The sheep belonged to four flocks, five ewe age groups (1.5 to ≥ 5.5 years) and three ewe statuses for the animals. the managerial practices in terms of feeding & husbandry differed among flocks, the traditional system in sheep feeding was availiable that depends upon low quality pasture & cereal stubble
One hundred fibers were randomly drawn from a degreased staple and used for fiber length measurements, while average number of crimps/cm was measured from ten selected fibers
Summary
Karadi (Kurdi) sheep are considered to be the largest size of local breed raised in the mountainous region of Iraqi Kurdistan.They represent about 20% of the total sheep population of the country (Juma&Alkas,2000) and belong to the fat – tailed carpet – wool sheep. Hamadani sheep is one of the important & favored indigenous strain of Karadi sheep among sheep owners in the plain areas due to its high twinning rate (Al-Kamali,1976), large body frame, high milk production and heavy fleece weight (Aziz,1993 and Juma&Alkas,2000). Since conflicting results had been documented on the properties of Hamadani sheep wool by many researchers such as Al-Azzawi ( 1977), Maarof et al (1982), Maarof (1989), Aziz (1993) and Ali( 1999), this study was conducted and the objectives of this study were to: investigate wool characteristics; determine the influence of flock, ewe age and ewe statuse on studied traits and detect the relationships among the traits
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