Abstract:
The tensile strength of the wool grown on six regions on each of eight
sheep was determined. Significant differences between the regions were obtained.
In all eases the tensile strength of the belly wool was considerably lower
than that of the rest of the fleece.
This point was further investigated with six groups of ten sheep each, and
it was found that in the case of every group the shoulder sample had a higher
tensile strength than the belly sample, the mean difference being highly significant.
This finding strengthens the National Wool Growers' Association's
recommendation that belly wool should be baled and sold separately from the
rest of the fleece. It was further suggested that the belly wool should be
excluded in assessing the average tensile strength of the wool of a sheep.
Differences in tensile strength between the wool from other regions of
the sheep were found to be insignificant, but the highest values were obtained
on the shoulder and back and the lowest on the thigh.
It was concluded that the shoulder sample should be used for assessing
the tensile strength of the wool grown by a sheep, especially in comparisons
between different sheep, since differences between the value for the shoulder
sample and that of the whole fleece showed the smallest variability.
The total correlation coefficient between tensile strength and fibre fineness
was -0•4168, a highly significant value.
