• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.20 no.11
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• pp.1761-1769
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• 2007

This experiment was conducted to determine the extent to which susceptibility to cortisol-induced follicle shutdown is influenced by fleece phentotype. Twenty Finewool (10 sheep low fibre diameter, low coefficient of fibre diameter-LL and 10 low fibre diameter, high coefficient of variation of fibre diameter-LH) and twenty Strongwool (10 low fibre diameter, low coefficient of variation of fibre diameter-HL and 10 high fibre diameter and high coefficient of variation of fibre diameter-HH) sheep of 9 months of age were individually penned in an animal house and were injected intramuscularly with an aqueous suspension of hydrocortisone acetate at a rate of 1.42 mg/kg body weight for a period of two weeks. Fibre diameter was measured from clipped tattooed patch wool samples. Follicle activity was measured by histological changes in skin biopsies taken weekly. Blood samples were collected at two-week intervals and plasma cortisol measured. Increased plasma cortisol concentration significantly (p<0.05) reduced clean wool production and mean fibre diameter dropped to its lowest level four weeks after commencement and two weeks after the cessation of cortisol injection. Elevation of plasma cortisol concentration significantly (p<0.0001) increased the percentage of inactive follicles two weeks after injection started. High fibre diameter groups (Strongwool sheep; i.e. HL+HH) had significantly (p<0.0001) higher percentage of follicle shutdown than low fibre diameter groups (Finewool sheep; i.e. LL+LH). Average percentage of shutdown follicles for Finewool (LL+LH) and Strongwool (HL+HH) Merino sheep was $9.8{\pm}0.9$ and $13.5{\pm}0.9$ respectively. Shutdown of primary follicles was more pronounced in Finewool than Strongwool sheep. There was no significant effect of coefficient of variation of fibre diameter on propensity to follicle shutdown induced by exogenous cortisol. It is concluded that elevation in plasma cortisol concentration is inhibitory to the normal activity of follicles in Strongwool sheep but that variation in fibre diameter has little or no effect.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.10
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• pp.1428-1432
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• 2002

Thirty-six (20 wethers and 16 rams) adult Gansu highland finewool sheep with an average liveweight of $19.42{\pm}1.83kg$ were used. The sheep were allocated to 4 treatments and confined in individual feeding stalls. The 80 day feeding trial was divided into 2 periods of 38 and 42 days. The sheep had access to clean water and were fed chopped wheat straw ad libitum. Daily supplemented diets of 150 g for the first period and 200 g for the later period were provided. The 4 types of supplements were: Wheat bran type (I), which is the traditional feeding practice in the area and the control group; Linseed cake type (II); Linseed cake+poultry litter type (III); Poultry litter+distiller grains type (IV). The digestibility trial was conducted using a total collection method at the end of the first period in the feeding trial. The results showed that the digestibilities of DM, OM, CP, CF, NDF and ADF in group II and III were increased to more than 50%. CP and NDF digestibility in group II were significantly increased by 23.6% and 25.5% respectively over group I (p<0.01) and by 10.1% and 13.1% respectively over group III (p<0.05). The digestibility of DM, OM, CP, CF, NDF and ADF in group IV was lower than group I by 4.4 to 8.4% (p>0.05). Compared to group I, group II and III increased straw intake by 17.6% (p<0.01) and 10.8% (p<0.05). The ADG increased from 16.2 g in group I to 45.3 g and 32.8 g (p<0.01) in group II and III respectively. The ratio of supplement intake to gain decreased from 10.7 in group I to 3.9 and 5.4 (p<0.01) in group II and III respectively. The ratio of supplement cost to gain also decreased by 60.0% and 64.3%, respectively. The wool growth rate and wool strength in these 2 groups were noticeably improved. This significantly enhanced the wool's textile value. The above parameters in group IV were lower than in group I, except the ratio of supplement cost to gain. This research indicates that local low quality nitrogen resources could be used effectively and economically to improve the utilization of wheat straw fed to sheep on smallholder farms under harsh loess plateau conditions in the winter.