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The results of an experiment which studied the measurement of wool
staple length, fiber diameter, fiber concentration and wool growth in three different breeds of male lambs viz. Afshari, Turki and Mehraban, 7-8 month old on two different rations, namely, high energy (HE) and medium energy(ME), are presented.
Twenty-one male Afshari, 25 male Turki and 21 male Mehraban lambs, 7-8 month old purchased from different regions in Iran, were used in this experiment. At the age of purchasing, the wool staple length, fiber diameter and fiber concentration were measured on shoulder, side and rump on the right side of each sheep. Then the lambs of each breed were randomely divided into two groups, kept in two similar pens and fed with HE and ME rations for 100 days. All the lambs were shorn at the beginning of the feeding trial. At the end of the feeding period, the staple length, fiber diameter and fiber concentration were again measured as before.
The results showed that the means of staple length and fiber diameter of the breeds which were raised in different conditions are significantly different (P < 0.01). At this age, Turki lanibs had longest staple (5.48 cm)
and most concentrated fiber (1755/cm2), while Mehraban lambs had shortest
staple (3.81 cm), finest fiber diameter and least fiber concentration (1483/
cm2 ).
The data obtained at the end of the experiment showed that the
difference between means of fiber diamter and fiber concentration for the breeds are significant (P< 0.01). Also, the difference between length was found significant. The fiber concentration was increased for all the breeds during feeding trial period. The effect of feed rations on the wool quality was not significant. Also, there was no interaction effect for lamb breed x feed rations for fiber qualities and wool growth