The Association of Fleece Characters and Susceptibility to Dermatophilosis

The association of fleece characters with susceptibility to dermatophilosis was studied in two flocks located on the south coast of Western Australia. The characters examined were wax content, suint content, wax to suint ratio, suint pH, yield, fleece wettability, fibre diameter, coefficient of fibre diameter variation, suint direct extract, direct extract pH and electrical conductivity. The results showed that wax to suint ratio was the only fleece character significantly (P < 0.05) different in both flocks for sheep with dermatophilosis as compared to sheep without dermatophilosis (flock 1:2.0 v 2.7; flock 2:1.4 v 1.8). These differences were markedly influenced by the wax content (13.5 v 16.6%, P < 0.01) in flock 1 and the suint content (9.7 v 8.18, < 0.05) in flock 2. Both the electrical conductivity (1.30 v 0.91 siemens/cm, P < 0.01) and suint content of the direct extract (8.2 v 6.4%, P < 0.05) were significantly greater in sheep with dermatophilosis than in sheep without dermatophilosis for flock 1. The remaining fleece characters measured were not significantly different for both flocks.