94
INDIAN
WOOL
III.
QUALITY
[Vol. XXIII, Part II,
in Rajasthan (Shekhavati) and in certain parts of Saurashtra, Kutch and North
Deccan.
However, it only by a chance that a few good individuals in each of these breeds
survive, for no attempt has ever been made on a large scale to increase the number
of good breeds. The few individuals of the better types are always in danger of
being contaminated on account of the primitive conditions of indiscriminate breeding,
ignorance of the breeders and the migration of the flocks to the more fertile parts of
the country during seasons of pasture scarcity often involving long journeys. These
factors allow sufficient scope for the mixing of pure breeds of good wool with inferior
types. Sheep breeding farms established by the Government and some States
do help to identify, isolate, conserve and breed the good types of sheep, but they
alone could not be expected to undertake large scale breeding operation, which
should be done under the present conditions with the co-operation of the private
enterprises.
The Government of India has for sometime been directing its attention through
the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, to the problem of improve-
ment of Indian wool. Several experimental sheep breeding farms have been
established for this purpose where, sheep selected from local breeds are maintained
under controlled conditions and breeding experiments are carried out with animals
showing relatively good type of .wool. Work on cross-breeding with established
breeds of stud rams, Indian as well as foreign, is also undertaken at the farms while
in some cases observations on wool quality are also made with changes in feeding
and under various genetic conditions.
In all cases, however, laboratory tests on the physical characteristics of the
fibres such as length, diameter, crimp, hairy portion (medullation), density, tensile
strength are necessary in order to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion regarding
the progress of wool improvement experiments of the farms. Such tests also give
all information about the quality of wool produced in the country.
Under the auspices of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, the Bombay
University Wool Research Scheme is going on at the Department of Chemical Techno-
logy, Matunga, since August 1940. Under this Scheme wool samples from local
sheep of various parts of the country and also of various experimental sheep farms
are being examined for the principal fibre characteristics and their qualities reported
upon. The progress of farm experiments is judged accordingly by the officer-in-
charge at the respective station.
The present paper deals with the existing breeds of Kashmir State, Madras
State, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Bombay State. The discussion
on the breeds of Rajasthan is purposely omitted as sufficient data is- available in
the printed report; Report of Jaipur Wool Analysis Scheme, sanctioned by the Indian
Council of Agricultural Research from 1 September, 1949 to 31 August, 1950,
by Mr. N. C. Narayan, and Mahals paper [1951] on Bikaner wool. (J. Text.
Res. 21, 94).
All the data in the present paper is tabulated in identical forms. Column
1 gives the sources from which the samples were received and columns 2 and 3 give
the particulars of the samples as nature, breed, etc. and the total number of samples
of the particulars, in column 2. Columns 4, 5, 6 and 7 give the analysis of the data.