Alpaca World Magazine Summer 2005 - Classical MileEnd Alpacas

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Health and Welfare Where in the Worldyears, this is more likely an effect ofyear (confounded with age) and not atrue age effect. Fibre curvature (a directmeasure of crimp in the fully relaxedfi bres) decreased slightly as the fi brescoarsened. Note that these levels of fi brecurvature, though typical for alpaca, arevery low compared to wool from fi ne-woolsheep, for example. Staple length in thefi rst (or cria) fl eece was signifi cantlylonger than that in the second andthird fl eeces. This is not an unusualphenomenon in alpacas. Resistance tocompression followed the reverse trend,being mainly infl uenced by increasingfi bre diameter, in this particular case.Staple strength also increased with ageand even at the lowest level (fi rst fl eeces)it is well above the minimum required foreffi cient textile processing (~35 N/ktex),see Table 1.Effects of locationWe designed the diets and the treatmentsin such a way that the animalsmaintained at both locations would gainweight at a similar rate, that being 3% permonth for the Treatment 1 animals withanimals in Treatments 2 and 3 gainingat slower rates. In fact, gains across allthree treatments in Texas in the third yearof the study averaged 2.1% per monthwhile those in Alberta averaged 2.8% permonth. As explained earlier, the diets fedto the animals at the two locations werevery similar in terms of gross chemicalcomposition (% crude protein, % crudefi ber, etc.) but differed in terms of actualcomponents and therefore specifi cproteins, etc. Thus, it is unclear at thispoint whether the higher rate of gainobserved in Alberta was an effect oflocation, diet, or both.Table 2 summarises the body weightand fl eece characteristics for animalsat the two study locations. At the end oftheir third year, alpacas in Alberta were13 kg heavier than their contemporariesin Texas. The Alberta group produced morefi bre (~13 % clean) but fi bre productioneffi ciency was similar in both locations(~35g clean fi ber per kg body weight).Fibre produced by the Alberta alpacaswas coarser (~2.5 microns), longer (1.3cm), slightly weaker (7.0 N/ktex), andhad higher resistance to compression(1.5 kPa) than the Texas produced fi bre.Clean yield, fi bre curvature, and totalmedullation were not different betweenlocations.Effects of nutritionThese effects are summarised in Table 3and are potentially the most interesting.Although arithmetic differences in bodyweight are present among treatments, thedifferences were not signifi cant (eitheroverall, data shown, or within location,data not shown). In contrast, fi breproduction did respond in a positive andsignifi cant manner to intake. Treatment 1animals produced 20% more fi bre (clean)than Treatment 3 alpacas that received20% less ration and hay. Furthermore,fi bre production effi ciency declinedwith declining intake, with Treatment 1animals producing fi bre at a rate 14%higher than the alpacas in Treatment 3.Normally, one would expect greater fi breproduction to be accompanied withhigher fi bre diameters and/or longerstaple lengths. Arithmetically, fi brediameter follows the logical pattern butthe differences are not signifi cant. Thereis no indication whatsoever that staplelength was affected, so we are led to theconclusion that the increased productionis most likely a result of increased fi brediameter. Another explanation couldinvolve proportion of active follicles in anyparticular treatment group but having nofollicle data, we would only be able tospeculate.At this point, we should emphasisethat most of the data presented wereobtained from the saddle portion ofthe fl eeces (fl eece weights and fi breproduction per unit of body weight beingthe exceptions). To obtain a completepicture, the proportions and propertiesof all the other fl eece portions (neck,butt, long leg, short leg) will also haveto be accounted for. Unfortunately, thisis beyond the scope of this preliminaryreport but as mentioned previously, acomplete report will be forthcoming soon.Variability in traitsGenetic improvement for a particular traitcan only be achieved if heritability andTABLE 1 Effects of age on body weight, fiber production, and fiber properties ofalpaca malesAge1 2 3Body weight (kg) 40.0c 58.7b 76.5aWhole fl eeceGrease fl eece weight (g) 2438b 2452b 2938aClean fl eece weight (g) 2205b 2334b 2662aClean fi bre / unit of body weight (g/kg) 56.6a 40.1b 35.2cSaddle onlyClean alpaca fi bre present (%) 90.3 a 95.5 b 89.9 aAverage fi ber diameter (microns) 22.7 c 25.4b 28.5aAverage fi ber curvature (deg/mm) 37.0a 36.5a 33.1bTotal medullation (fi bres per 10,000) 1338b 1553b 2373aAverage staple length (cm) 16.3a 11.8b 11.0bAverage staple strength (N/ktex) 54.8c 81.3a 71.5bResistance to compression (kPa) 4.8c 5.2b 5.7aa,b,c within a row, means that have different superscript letters differ, P < 0.05TABLE 2 Effects of location on body weight, fiber production, and fiber propertiesof alpaca malesLocation (year 3)AlbertaTexasBody weight (kg) 82.6a 69.4bWhole fl eeceGrease fl eece weight (g) 3125a 2740bClean fl eece weight (g) 2817a 2500bClean fi bre / unit of body weight (g/kg) 34.6 36.3Saddle onlyClean alpaca fi ber present (%) 89.1 90.5Average fi bre diameter (microns) 29.7a 27.0bAverage fi bre curvature (deg/mm) 34.7 31.7Total medullation (fi bres per 10,000) 2290 2191Average staple length (cm) 11.7a 10.4bAverage staple strength (N/ktex) 68.1b 75.1aResistance to compression (kPa) 6.4a 4.9ba,b,c within a row, means that have different superscript letters differ, P < 0.0516 | Alpaca World Magazine Summer 2005
Health and Welfare Where in the Worldvariability exist for that trait. An additionaloutcome of this experiment, in which wehave measured many traits on numerousalpaca males over a three-year period,is that we have been able to documentthe variabilities in each trait. Whencomparing variabilities of traits havingdifferent mean values, the coeffi cient ofvariation (CV) is the most useful statisticbecause it is a measure of variabilitythat is independent of the mean. Table4 lists the CV’s for some of the majortraits measured during our experiment.With the exception of staple length, it canbe seen that most of the CV’s are quitehigh and the CV for total medullation isvery high.ConclusionsEffects of age, location, and nutritionhave been reported for two groups ofyoung male alpacas maintained undersimilar conditions in Alberta and Texas.Changes due to increasing age (onethrough 3 years) followed the expectedpattern. As the alpacas aged and grewlarger, fl eece weight, fi bre diameter, staplestrength, resistance to compression,and proportion of medullated fi bres allincreased. In contrast, fi bre productionper unit of body weight, fi bre curvature,and staple length showed declines. Cleanyield was not affected.Effects attributable to location maybe complicated by different diets but atthis point our data indicates that whenfed very similar diets, animals grew fasterat the northern location and attainedsignifi cantly higher body weights. Theselarger animals produced more fi brethat was coarser and longer than theircontemporaries in Texas.Finally, young alpaca males fed togain at modest rates (2–3% increase inbody weight per month) produced morefi bre that tended to be slightly coarserthan animals that received 20% lessfood. In all other measured traits, fl eecesproduced in the three nutrition treatmentswere very similar.Authors:Chris Lupton, Professor, Texas A&MUniversity Agricultural Research andExtension Center, San Angelo, USA andRuth Elvestad, Project Leader, NaturalFibre Centre, Olds College, Alberta,Canada.TABLE 3 Effects of nutrition on body weight, fiber production, and fiber propertiesof alpaca malesNutrition treatment (year 3)1 2 3Body weight (kg) 77.3 77.7 73.1Whole fl eeceGrease fl eece weight (g) 3234a 2927ab 2637bClean fl eece weight (g) 2895a 2668ab 2410bClean fi bre / unit of body weight (g/kg) 37.7a 35.7ab 32.9bSaddle onlyClean alpaca fi ber present (%) 88.6 90.1 90.7Average fi bre diameter (microns) 28.8 28.5 27.9Average fi bre curvature (deg/mm) 32.2 32.6 34.9Total medullation (fi bres per 10,000) 2530 2814 1868Average staple length (cm) 11.0 10.9 11.2Average staple strength (N/ktex) 72.2 71.8 70.7Resistance to compression (kPa) 5.8 5.5 5.7a,b,c within a row, means that have different superscript letters differ, P < 0.05TABLE 4 Variability in traits measured on three-year-old alpaca malesMean SD CVBody weight (kg) 76.3 12.4 16.3Grease fl eece weight (g) 2910 533 18.3Clean fl eece weight (g) 2641 462 17.5Clean fi ber / unit of body weight (g/kg) 35.4 6.2 17.5Clean alpaca fi ber present (%) 89.9 2.9 3.2Average fi ber diameter (microns) 28.5 3.7 13.0Average fi ber curvature (deg/mm) 33.2 6.6 19.9Total medullation (fi bres per 10,000) 2262 1200 53.1Average staple length (cm) 11.1 1.41 12.7Average staple strength (N/ktex) 71.4 13.4 18.8Resistance to compression (kPa) 5.7 1.1 19.3Clos du Jorat SAEmily BrownRte des Tavernes 291072 Forel LavauxSwitzerlandTelephone00-41-21-781-3370Fax00-41-21-781-3371Emailreberb@bluewin.chClos du Jorat SASituated in the heart of theSwiss countryside, we providethe total alpaca service package– stud services, alpacas forsale, personal follow-up/advice,livery, shearing, nail clipping,teeth trimming, vaccination andquarantine. We also purchaseand process wool at our factory.Farm and factory visits plus bedand breakfast accommodationavailable.Now available for sale – 2003and 2004 alpacas, good quality,all colours, male and female, atcompetitive prices.www.cjalpacas.comAlpaca World Magazine Summer 2005 | 17
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