Fading with light and greying with age in the fleece of black Australian Polwarth sheep.docVIP

Fading with light and greying with age in the fleece of black Australian Polwarth sheep Melinda J. BURRILL DepaWendy rtmentS. ofDENNIS * LN.R.A., Laboratoire de Génétique factorielle Centre de Recherches zootechniques, F 78350 Jouy-en-Josas Animal Science California State Polytechnic University Pomona, California, 91265 U.S.A. Department of Agriculture and Fisheries Box 1671, Adelaide South Australia, 5000 Australia Tarndwarncoort * Warncoort, Victoria, 3243 Australia In order to measure the variation of colour related to some external and factors, 136 samples of wools were collected in 1979 and 1980 in a flock of black Polwarth sheep kept in the South of Victoria State, in Australia, 38 latitude South in open air all genetic formula of these animals at Agouti, Brown and Extension loci was probably aa, B+B+, E+E+. The animals were female or wethers, they were rugged for control or non rugged with a coat opaque to visible and U.V. radiations and cut at 2.5, 3.5 months or one year of wool growth. the D.I.N. System. Except for very rare cases, the growing wool (at the base of the staple) was in the grey scale (which goes from pure hue component). With age white to jet black, without a greying or silvering of the coloured fleece. This is due to an increase in the number of white fibers and seems independant from light exposure. browns. This means the addition of a spectral colour component : the hue, orange in this The fading first affects the tip on the staple, about 2 cm after one year of exposure, step the middle staple is affected, after at least 3.5 months. The middle staple fading is less intense but affects a longer length : about 4 cm after one year of exposure. The brown shades after fading overlap the shades genetically induced by mutants at the Brown locus B. There were due to the light of sun but in these animals the hairy parts remained jet black or dark grey. Greying and fading