Research Article

Characteristics of wool from Podhale Zackel sheep

Aldona Kawęcka¹ , Anna Kosiek², Jacek Sikora¹

¹ National Research Institute of Animal Production in Balice, Poland

² University of Agriculture in Kraków, Poland

1. Acta Sci. Pol. Zootechnica, 11(1), 2012, 35‒40

Abstract. The experiment used Podhale Zackel ewes maintained in a flock included in the genetic resources conservation programme for this breed in the Podhale area. Staple length, wool yield and wool thickness were measured.Average double-clip wool yield was 1.9 kg with staple length of 15.6 cm.Wool thickness was measured by microprojection using a lanameter. The wool of Zackel sheep was classified as mixed thick wool having three fractions in staple. Average thickness was 26 μm for down hair, 50.2 μm for the medium fraction, and 68.6 μm for the guard fraction. In the wool flock, the down and guard fraction exceeded 40%, and the medium fraction was 17.5%. The results obtained show that the wool of Zackel sheep differs in both fibre thickness and weight proportion of fractions. The present Podhale Zackel differs from the old-type Zackel in higher wool yield and staple length, and greater content of down fibres.

Keywords: Podhale Zackel, sheep, wool