The ability of a sheep to shed its own wool has an attraction in scenarios where the costs of harvesting wool outweigh its value. Certain breeds and composites have the ability to shed their wool in the spring, and these are investigated in this work in an attempt to outline the genetics of wool shedding. One flock from a breeding group in Southern England (UK) containing sheep with wool-sheddi...

Dickkopf-1 (DKK1) is an inhibitor of canonical Wnt signaling pathway and regulates hair follicle morphogenesis and cycling. To investigate the potential involvement of DKK1 in wool production and quality traits, we characterized the genomic structure of ovine DKK1, performed polymorphism detection and association analysis of ovine DKK1 with wool production and quality traits in Chinese Merino. ...

The aims of this work were to quantify the requirements of Zn for wool growth in growing male Merino lambs, and to describe the histological lesions of Zn deficiency in skin and wool follicles. Four groups of male Merino lambs (n 4) weighing 22 kg were fed ad lib. for 96 d on diets that contained 4 (basal diet), 10, 17 or 27 mg Zn/kg. Sheep in a fifth group were fed on the diet containing 27 mg...

The Australian Merino is the most important genetic resource for the wool and the lamb and sheep meat industries of Australia. In this paper estimated genetic parameters for ultrasound scan and wool traits at yearling and hogget age are presented for Merino sheep. Results indicate that it is possible to breed Merino sheep that perform well for both ultrasound scan and wool characteristics when ...

Effects on wool growth rate of abomasal supplements of several amino acids (glycine, glutamic acid, arginine, lysine, and threonine) and of some sulphurcontaining compounds (L-cysteamine, sulphuric acid, and methionine hydroxy analogue) were examined. None of the abomasal supplements, apart from methionine hydroxy analogue, was effective for stimulating wool growth. Methionine hydroxy analogue ...

A hydrosulphide solution (3% Na2S, 0.5% NaOH, 2% wetting agent) when misted-onto the skin of the sheep causes a frank break in the wool at the skin surface. Wool from this treated area can be manually removed 30 60 sec. later. The sheep handling device, mister, and ancillary equipment for wool handling have been developed to enable the technique to be used on commercial properties. The practica...

1. Amino acid metabolism was studied in control virgin rats, lactating rats and virgin rats protein-pair-fed with the lactating rats (high-protein virgin rats). 2. Urinary excretion of nitrogen and urea was higher in lactating than in control virgin rats, and in high-protein virgin rats it was higher than in lactating rats. 3. The activities of urea-cycle enzymes (units/g) were higher in high-p...

Novel composites between cellulose (CEL) and keratin (KER) from three different sources (wool, hair and chicken feather) were successfully synthesized in a simple one-step process in which butylmethylimidazolium chloride (BMIm+Cl−), an ionic liquid, was used as the sole solvent. The method is green and recyclable because [BMIm+Cl−] used was recovered for reuse. Spectroscopy (FTIR, XRD) and imag...

OBJECTIVE The aim of the study was to investigate the ability of two organic dusts, wool and grain, and their soluble leachates to stimulate secretion of tumour necrosis factor (TNF) by rat alveolar macrophages with special reference to the role of lipopolysaccharide (LPS). METHODS Rat alveolar macrophages were isolated by bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and treated in vitro with whole dust, dus...