SKIN AND FOLLICLE CHARACTERS II. CORRELATIONS WITH OBJECTIVELY MEASURED AND SUDJECTIVELY ASSESSED WOOL CHARACTERS

Phenotypic and genetic correlations between skin and follicle characters and both objectively measured and subjectively assessed fleece characters were estimated. The strongest genetic correlations of skin and follicle characters with objectively measured fleece characters were between: fibre area and fibre diameter (0.89), standard deviation of fibre area and standard deviation of fibre diameter (0.71), standard eviation of fibre area and fibre diameter (0.69), skin quality and clean fleece weight (0.65), skin quality and staple length (O-62), follicle density and clean fleece weight (0.54), and fibre area and staple strength (0.51). The strongest genetic correlations of skin and follicle characters with subjectively assessed fleece characters were between: skin quality and condition (0.87), follicle density and crimp definition (-0.62), skin quality and visual colour (0.60), skin quality and lock (0.55), and standard eviation of fibre area and lock (0.5 1). From these results, the following skin and follicle characters were thought worthy of further scrutiny: follicle density, fibre area (or standard eviation of fibre area) and skin quality