Australian scientists say they are looking for the ugliest merino lambs they can find in a study that may challenge the dominance of synthetic fibers.
The researchers from the University of Adelaide and the South Australian Research and Development Institute are looking for sheep with unusual wool that might provide the keys to unlocking the genetic pathway to superior wool quality.
Professor Phil Hynd said such lambs are usually culled because they may have uneven wool, strange fibers, or even highly wrinkled skin.
"These lambs, typically viewed as worthless, are in fact highly valuable to the industry, because one of the most efficient ways to identify the genes that impact on certain wool traits is to study animals that have rare or extreme features," Hynd said. "Ultimately (through DNA-based technology) it's the ugly sheep that will help us make quantum leaps to advance the qualities of Australian merino wool to make it more stretchy, less scratchy, shinier and easier to spin, and to compete better against synthetic fibers."
Hynd notes the wool industry makes incremental improvements to wool quality -- about 1 percent a year. But he says his study could lead to dramatic improvements in sheep genetics.
Copyright 2006 by United Press International
Related stories:
Transmitting prion diseases in milk
Scrapie can be transmitted to lambs through milk, according to new research published in the online open access journal BMC Veterinary Research. The study provides important information on the transmission of this prion-associated disease and the control of scrapie in affected flocks. Scrapie is a fatal neurodegenerative disease of sheep and goats. Clinical signs include itchiness, head tremor, wool loss and skin lesions as well as changes in behaviour and gait.
Oetzi the Iceman dressed like a herdsman
A famous Neolithic Iceman is dressed in clothes made from sheep and cattle hair, a new study shows. The researchers say their findings support the idea that the Iceman was a herdsman, and that their technique, reported today in the journal
Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, has use in the modern clothing industry.
Footrot vaccine closer than ever
Monash University scientists have started clinical trials to find a successful vaccine against footrot in sheep.
DNA test to revolutionise sheep worm control
CSIRO scientists have moved a step closer to developing a novel DNA test which has the potential to revolutionise management of one of the biggest threats to sheep health in Australia, the barber’s pole worm.
Researchers Find New Evidence of Early Horse Domestication
Soil from a Copper Age site in northern Kazakhstan has yielded new evidence for domesticated horses up to 5,600 years ago. Researchers from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the University of Pittsburgh have discovered phosphorus-enriched soils inside what appear to be the remains of horse corrals beside pit houses; the soil matches what would be expected from earth once enriched by horse manure.
Early Bronze Age Mortuary Complex Discovered in Syria
An ancient, untouched Syrian tomb that wowed the archaeological world on its discovery by Johns Hopkins University researchers nearly six years ago has revealed another secret: It is not alone.
Feds fail to protect U.S. sheep industry
Decades of federally subsidized predator control has failed to prevent a sheep industry decline, the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society says.
Smart Home exhibit mixes cool green design with easy high-tech living
Just inside the first floor of Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry's Smart Home, a 20-year-old re-covered Crate & Barrel sofa flanks a cool-to-the-touch, ethanol-burning fireplace that floats in the middle of the room. The flame can also be seen from any of the six thrift-store dining chairs revived in creamy white faux leather and tucked in around the high-sheen, rough-edged slab of a fallen Michigan ash tree given new life as a sculptural table.