J. Agric. Sci.

(1965), 65, 223 223

Printed in Great Britain

Wool characteristics of Iraqi Awassi sheep

BY M. A. SHARAFELDIN
Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture,
University of Cairo

(Received 9 March 1965)

The Awassi breed of sheep is widely distributed RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

in many of the Middle East countries, the greatest
number of which is found in Iraq (Mason, 1951). Fleece weight and clean wool percentage
Similar to most of the other breeds of sheep in this The results in Table 1 show that the wool produc-
area, the Awassi sheep of Iraq as described by tion of Awassi sheep was very poor compared to the
Asker (1964) are of fat-tail carpet wool type, which temperate breeds of sheep. This was mainly due to
could be considered as a feature of functional the lower density of wool follicles and to the limited
adaptivity of this breed to its environment (Wright, surface area covered with woolfibres.The wool pro-
1954). duction of this breed lies within the range of the
The purpose of the present investigation was to other carpet-wool breeds such as the Ossimi, Mon-
study the physical wool characteristics of this sheep golian, Rahmani, Kazakh and Barki sheep as re-
at different ages, beside the relationships which spectively reported by Sidky (1948), Krymskii
could exist between these characters. This study will (1955), Ragab, Asker & Ghoneim (19566), Cernjeav
throw light on the wool quality of the Awassi sheep (I960) and Ragab & Ghoneim (19616). However,
of Iraq compared with the other coarse-wool sheep Slee (1959) estimated the fleece weight of Scottish
and hence its suitability to the different wool Blackface sheep as 5-03 lb.
industries. Table 1 also shows that the clean wool percentage
ranged from 84-0 to 85-6. This low shrinkage is due
to the comparatively small number of sudoriferous
MATERIAL AND METHODS and sebaceous glands in the wool-follicle structure
This work was carried out in April 1963, on wool of the carpet-wool sheep. The results were in agree-
samples taken from the Awassi ewes raised at Abu- ment with those of Hamada (1959) who found that
Ghraib farm of the Ministry of Agriculture near the clean wool percentage was 85-19 for Ossimi
Baghdad. For estimating the grease fleece weight, sheep, 85-43 for Rahmani sheep and 86-95 for
each fleece was weighed at shearing time to the Libyan coarse wool. Also Ragab & Ghoneim
nearest 0-1 lb. Before shearing, wool samples were (19616) reported that Barki sheep gave a clean wool
cut close to the skin from the right shoulder of each percentage of 87-65 and 75-84 at the ages of 6 and
animal. The methods reported by Chapman (1960) 12 months respectively, while it was 61-62 % for
were used for determing the clean wool percentage Rilo sheep as reported by Balevska & Ralcev
and measuring the staple length. In order to esti- (1954).
mate fibre length, subsamples of 200 fibres each
wore measured, using the fibre-length apparatus. Staple length and fibre length
For estimating fibre diameter the wool sample was The mean staple length ranged from 16-39 to
degreased in a wax solvent, xylol. A pile of fibres 16-57 cm., and the mean fibre length ranged be-
about 1 cm. in length was cut from the base of tween 16-94 and 17-68 cm. (Table 1). Therefore, the
the staple. The fibres were transferred to a drop of Awassi wool could be classed as long wool. The
Canada Balsam on a microscope slide and mounting same conclusion was drawn by Badreldin, Oloufa &
was completed with a cover-slip. Thereafter slides El-Labban (1952), Ragab, Asker & Ghoneim (1956a,
were dried in an electric oven at 60° C. for 3 days. 6) and Ragab & Ghoneim (19616) working on
Then the slide was investigated on the fibre diame- Ossimi, Rahmani and Barki breeds of sheep.
ter apparatus ' Lanameter \ The diameters of 100 The small differences between fibre lengths and
fibres were measured and the mean was calculated. the corresponding staple lengths indicate poor
The method reported by Hunt etal. (1952) was used elongation as a result of the small number of
to examine the degree of crimpness in 2 cm. The crimps characteristic of the carpet wool sheep.
methods after Snedecor (1961) were vised for analy- These results agree with the findings of Ragab et al.
sing the data. (1956a).
224 M. A. SHARAFELDIN
Table 1. Means of different wool traits at different ages
Grease
fleece Clean Staple Fibre Fibre
Age No. of weight wool length length diameter Crimps ]per
(months) animals (lb.) <%) (cm.) (cm.) (M) 2 cm.
18 75 3-81 + 0-08 85•60 + 0-58 16-57 + 0-94 17-47 + 0-25 33-97 + 0-52 4-16±0- 14
24 73 3-88 + 0-10 84-04 + 0-26 16-44 + 0-36 17-68 + 0-25 32-81 + 0-56 4-40 + 0-12
36 69 3-73 + 0-09 84-27 + 0-52 16-49 + 0-30 17-41 + 0-31 33-90 + 0-32 4-38 ±0-10
48 51 3-67 ±0-14 85-49 + 0-21 16-39±0-40 16-94±0-60 32-78 ±0-41 3-80 ±0- 10
Overall average 3-77 84' 85 16-47 17-37 33-32 4-18

Table 2. Analysis of variance for wool characters of Awassi sheep

Wool character ... Grease Clean
fleece wool Staple Fibre Fibre No. of
weight (%) length length diameter crimps
i
Source of variation... D.F. M.S. D.F. M.S. D.F. M.S. D.F. M.S. D.F. M.S. D .F. M.S.
Total 267 0-67S! 267 0-210 267 5-472 267 7-835 267 15-232 267 1-067
Between ages 3 0-341' 3 0-417 3 1-500 3 5-530 3 24-177 3 10-387
Within ages 264 0-685! 264 0-208 264 5-520 264 7-860 264 15132 264 9-625

Table 3. Phenotypic correlations between wool traits of Awassi sheep

Grease
fleece Fibre No. of Clean wool
Character D.F. weight diameter crimps (%)
Fibre length 266 + 0-285* - 0 - 058 -0-070 -0-466*
Fibre diameter 266 — + 0-176* —
* Significant at 0-05.

Fibre diameter and crimps number characteristics are those which exist between the
The average fibre diameter ranged from 32-78 first and subsequent years. In the present investiga-
+ 0-41 to 33-90 ± 0-32/i at the different studied ages, tion the first samples were taken at the age of 18
which class the Awassi wool within the fineness of months. The lack of any age effect could be taken
the carpet wools. The mean number of crimps per as an indication that the follicle structure of this
2 cm. ranged from 3-80 to 4-40 (Table 1). This indi- breed seems to reach its full development at an
cates that the Awassi wool, being a carpet wool, has early age, and does not significantly change after-
not the elasticity of wools of other classes. wards.
Sharafeldin & Ghoneim (1963) reported 12-8 as the Phenotypic correlations between
number of crimps per 2 cm. in fine wool (Fleisch some wool characters
Merino). A significant positive correlation existed between
fibre length and grease fleece weight (Table 3)
which agrees with the results reported by Morley
Age effect on different wool characteristics (1951), Beattie (1956) and Laurincik (1961). Table
Age proved to have no significant effect on any of 3 also shows a highly significant negative correla-
the characters studied (Table 2). These results dis- tion between fibre length and clean wool percentage.
agree with most of the previous works, i.e. Woehling This could be explained on the assumption that the
& Henning (1949) and Karam & Ragab (1959) deal- longer fibres may get more impurities, wax and
ing with grease fleece weight; Slen & Banky (1961) suint than the shorter ones. These results were in
and Sharafeldin & Ghoneim (1963) concerning clean agreement with Ghoneim (1959). The significant
wool percentage; Terril, Kyle & Hazel (1950) and positive correlation found between fibre diameter
Ragab et al. (1956a) on staple length; Roberts & and crimps, agrees with the findings of Sharafeldin
Dunlop (1957) and Sliwa, Kozal & Stachowski & Ghoneim (1963) and disagrees with those of Hunt,
(1962) dealing with fibre diameter; and Sharafeldin Ghanem, Lawson & Brown (1952) and Ragab &
& Ghoneim (1963) on the number of crimps. Ghoneim (1961a). Non-significant negative corre-
The non-significant effect of age on the wool lation coefficients were found between fibre length
characteristics of the Awassi sheep could be due to and both fibre diameter and number of crimps
the fact that most of the age differences in wool (Table 3).
 Wool characteristics of Iraqi Awassi sheep
SUMMARY
The physical wool characteristics of 268 Iraqi
Awassi ewes were studied in 1963, as well as the
relationship between some of these traits. The over-
all average grease fleece weight, clean wool percen-
tage, staple length, fibre length, fibre diameter and
degree of crimp were 3-77 lb., 84-85 %, 16-47 cm.,
17-37 cm., 33-32/t and 4-18 crimps per 2 cm. re-
spectively. These attributes class the Awassi wool
as a carpet wool.
Age proved to have no significant effect on any of
225
the traits examined. Significant positive correla-
tions were found between grease fleece weight and
fibre length and between number of crimps and
fibre diameter, while a significant negative correla-
tion was found between clean wool percentage and
fibre length.
The author is indebted to Prof. Dr A. A. Asker,
F.A.O., Animal Husbandry expert in Iraq, for provi-
ding the material of this work and for his guidance.
Thanks are also due to Mr N. Makled for his valuable
assistance.

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