Fading with light and greying with age in the fleece of black Australian Polwarth sheep

In order to measure the variation of colour related to some external and internal factors, 136 samples of wools were collected in 1979 and 1980 in a flock of black Polwarth sheep kept in the South of Victoria State, in Australia, 38 " latitude South in open air all year long. The genetic formula of these animals at Agouti, Brown and Extension loci was probably aa, B+B+, E+E+. The animals were female or wethers, they were rugged for control or non rugged with a coat opaque to visible and U.V. radiations and cut off at 2.5, 3.5 months or one year of wool growth. The colour measurements were made with a colour atlas based on the D.I.N. System. Except for very rare cases, the growing wool (at the base of the staple) was in the grey scale (which goes from pure white to jet black, without a hue component). With age one could see a greying or silvering of the coloured fleece. This is due to an increase in the number of white fibers and seems independant from light exposure. Due to exposure to solar radiation there was a fading of the staple to the range ot browns. This means the addition of a spectral colour component: the hue, orange in this case. The fading first affects the tip on the staple, about 2 cm after one year of exposure

Procedures for listing loci and alleles of ruminants: 1991 proposals

The following procedures for listing loci in ruminants were proposed at the 1991 1st Workshop on Genetic Nomenclature of Farm Ruminants organised by COGNOSAG (Committee on Genetic Nomenclature of Sheep and Goats): identification of locus, genomic location, gene effect classification (24 entries), summary of alleles and, for each allele, after identification, phenotypic effect, inheritance and breeds implied. This set of procedures is intended for the first edition of the MIS, MIG and MIC catalogues (mendelian inheritance in sheep, goats and cattle, respectively) and is a basis for future data banking.Au cours du premier Atelier de Nomenclature Génétique des Ruminants de Ferme organisé par le COGOVICA (Comité de Nomenclature Génétique des Ovins et Caprins) en 1991, les procédures suivantes de listage des loci chez les Ruminants ont été proposées: identification du locus, localisation sur le génome, effet du gène (24 entrées), tableau des allèles et, pour chaque allèle, outre l’identification, l’effet phénotypique, l’hérédité et les races concernées. Conçue pour être utilisée dans la première édition des catalogues MIS, MIG et MIC (Mendelian Inheritance in Sheep, Goats and Cattle resp), cette grille peut servir de base pour une future banque de données