An investigation into the moisture content in the fleece of Merino sheep was commenced after proposing the hypothesis that moisture and relative humidity were required at the skin surface for the survival of the 1st instar larvae and the initiation of a strike. A method for drying wool was developed which created a minimal disturbance to its normal constituents. It was shown that, in dry weathe...

Abstract Polymer coatings on cellulosic fibres are widely used to enhance the natural fibre properties by improving, for example, hydrophobicity and wet strength. Here, we investigate effects of a terpolymer P(S-co-MABP-co-PyMA) coating cotton linters eucalyptus improve resistance cellulose against wetness. Coated uncoated were characterised using scanning electron microscopy, contact angle mea...

Two hundred castrated male Angora goats (18 mo of age) were divided equally between rangeland sites in the oak savannah of the Edwards Plateau (EP) and the mixed-brush shrublands of the South Texas Plains (STP) for 5 yr to study influence of environment and age on body weight (BW), mohair production, and mohair fiber characteristics. Goats were grazed on rangeland typical of the respective regi...

A study is described which is unique in that resistance to each of the major diseases which affect production in Merino sheep was measured in the same flock under the same environmental conditions. Results indicated that within the one flock, genetic variation exists for resistance to internal parasites, foot-rot, fleece rot and dermatophilosis. Heritability estimates were similar to those publ...

The total genome sequence of the archaeon Methanococcus jannaschii completes the trilogy of genomes for the three domains of life-Archaea, Bacteria and Eucarya. It will have far-reaching consequences for evolutionary studies and for the way in which experimental biology is performed.