Measurement of Wool Growth and its Response to Nutritional Changes

Abstract

Problems associated with the measurement of changes in the rate of wool growth are discussed. In particular, there are large errors due to the "emergence time" of the wool, that is the time required for newly keratinized portions of fibre to move out of the follicles to the point where they can be removed by clipping. The results show how the emergence time may be estimated with the aid of [35S]cystine and how clipping schedules may be altered to give a more accurate measure of changes in the rate of wool growth.