Sources of variation in fibre production and quality traits source of variation in down-bearing Patagonian goats and implications for developing a cashmere industry

RUSSANO, D.L.; FRANK, E.N.; CASTILLO, M.F.; FRANK, E.N.; AISEN, E.G.; CASTILLO, M.F.; RUSSANO, D.L.; AISEN, E.G.; HICK, M.V.H.; PRIETO, A.; HICK, M.V.H.; PRIETO, A.

JOURNAL OF SMALL RUMINANT RESEARCH

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2017 vol. 150 p. 60 - 69

0921-4488

tEven though mohair production in Argentina is well known, data about fibre production from double-coated regional native goats?generically referred to as Patagonian Cashmere-remains scarce. The aimof this paper was to determine the production of down fibres and to assess the quality and variabilityof the fleece characteristics of the Northern Patagonian Creole goats. From late winter to early spring of2005?2008, 2397 fibre samples were collected from five areas of NW Neuquén in Northern Patagonia. Theaverage of down fibre diameter (DFD), down fibre length (DFL), down weights (DW) yields to dehairing(Y%), ratio of coarse fibre length (CFL) on down fibre length (DFL) (R:CFL/DFL), crimp/cm and the degreeof curvature (C◦) of the fibre were measured. For DFD an average of 20.4 ± 3.6 m, DFL of 7.9 ± 3.2 cmand C◦of 38.1 ± 5.8◦/mm, a Y% of 32.5 ± 13.9% and a DW of 255.7 ± 66.0 g were obtained. In an attemptto reduce the variability of the fibre variables studied, locality, herds, age, fleece types and finenesswere included as external effects in ANOVA. All the variables measured were greatly affected by style:long cashmere (LC) was the most frequent style (41.5%) followed by cashgora (CG) (22.2%). The mostcommon grade of fineness (57.5%) was >19.0 m, indicating that 42.5% of the fibre was below 19 m inDFD. The other variables were significantly different within LC, short cashmere (SC) and intermediatecashmere (IC) styles when the grade of fineness was compared. The styles with lustre effect (CG and L)showed very low crimp as compared to the other styles. Taking styles as numerical, a Spearman?s rankcorrelation coefficient (rs) was calculated with numerical grade of fineness (rs= 0.45), DFD (rs= 0.58),DFL (rs= 0.56) Y% (rs= 0.61), R: CFL/DFL (rs= −0.60); DW (rs= 0.56); C◦/mm (rs= −0.27). It was concludedthat the classification by styles and fineness could determine more than 42% of fleece complies with thecashmere textile industry requirements.