100
INDIAN WOOL III. QUALITY
[Vol: XXIII, Part II,
bred animals wherein 46 out of 55 samples, have diameter below 25 microns and 23
and 32 samples fall within the first two ranges of C. V. Medullation also successively
decreases. In local, medullation is uniformly spread over the range 0 to 3 per cent
whereas in ½ bred, 93 out of 119 samples, are non-medullated and in 3 / 4 bred, 54
out of 55 are non-medullated. It clearly shows that the cross-breeding definitely
improves wool quality as far as all the three important characteristics are concerned.
The fibre lengths cannot be considered since the shearing intervals are not constant.
The reproducibility of the data in the successive lots gives confirmation about the
accuracy of the analysis. As far as ⅞ bred are concerned, there are only two samples
and so it cannot be definitely said whether it makes any further improvement in
the quality of wool.
Rams local, ½ and 3 / 4 bred
The data consists of the analysis of the samples from 17, ½ bred and 21, 3 / 4 bred.
All the local animals have diameter between 26-40 microns whereas in ½ bred, 12 out
of 17 and in 3 / 4 bred, 15 out of 21 have diameters below 25 microns. The samples
also show more homogeneity as 6 and 10 in ½ bred and 9 and 12 in 3 / 4 bred lie within
the first two ranges of C. V. as compared to seven in the second range and nil in
first range in local ewes. Fourteen and 20 samples are non-medullated in the ½
bred and 3 / 4 bred respectively, which is a remarkable improvement over the medullated
fibres of the local breed.
Local ¼ bred
The analysis of 65 of ¼ bred animals shows an improvement over the local
samples. Fifty-two out of 65 from¼bred animals have diameter between. 26-40
microns as compared to 26 out of 41 in case of local ewes, They also show greater
degree of homogeneity and a remarkable improvement in medullation. Thirty-seven
out of 65 samples are free from medullation. As compared to ½ bred,¼bred show
a deterioration in the quality, both in the fibre fineness and amount of medullation.
In ½ breds 61 out of 119 have diameter below 25 microns whereas in J bred 11 out
of 65 have fineness below 25 microns and majority are between 26-40 microns.
Similarly 93 out of 119 samples of ½ breds are non-medullated whereas only 37 out
of 65 are free from medullation in ¼ bred.
Local and F 1 bred
There are only 18 samples of F 1 generation. The analysis shows that they
are much superior to local samples with 12 out of 18 having diameter below 25
microns and 17 out of 18 free from medullation. These figures show that they are
comparable to ½ bred samples.
In general the comparison of the various fibre characteristics shows that in
the case of cross-bred rams, with the introduction of more Merino blood the wool
quality improves in all respects, though the change is not marked between ¼ and
½ bloods. The 3 / 4 bred rams show much greater improvement in the fibre character
istics over either the ¼ or ½ bloods, the general wool quality produced being of medium
Merino kind. The ½ blood ewes wool is finer than the corresponding rams wool
while the medullation has practically disappeared in this case. Similarly the 3 / 4
blood ewes wool is little superior to the § blood ram wool with total absence of