the effect of age and different parts of the body on physicochemical characters of ostrich leather

the aim of the present study was to investigate the physicochemical performances at three sites on skin, namely the diagonal, neck and leg based on different age groups. eighteen skins pieces in 6 m, 6 m to 1 yr and 1 yr to 1.5 yr of age were selected to represent means of the respective age groups with regard to skin area. the skin area were7.4±1.41, 13.5±1.4 and 18.2±1.1 ft2 for the ostriches, respectively. the diagonal region, neck and leg parts were approximately 81.5, 10.1 and 8.4 percent of the skin area. the areas increased with an increased chronological age at all sites. average skin area increased at a rate of 0.9 ft2 per each months of age. average and range of thickness of the leather were 1.5±0.1 (0.6 to 3.0) mm, breaking load 22.2±3.3 (4.9 to 49.2) kgf, tensile strength 146.3±17.1 (70.5 to 269.7) kgf/cm2, percentage extension 58.7±4.9 (21.5 to 93.3) % and density were 0.6±0.05 (0.4 to 0.9) g/cm2. it was evident that leather thickness increased with age. a similar tendency was observed for tensile strength (p