AMAZING RESULTS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 18 December 1936, Page 5

AMAZING RESULTS

DETECTION OF HAIRINESS IN WOOL MASSEY COLLEGE EXPERIMENTS ADDING £1,000,000 TO WOOL CHEQUE (By Telegraph— Press Association > PALMERSTON N„ This Day. Though it has been operating for only two years amazing results are attending the service established and organised by Massey College for detection of hairiness in wool by the application of the benzol test. To date over 20,000 fleece samples have been booked for examination. By improving the raw material through proper selection methods based on information obtained, and carrying out activities on a national basis, it is claimed that a million sterling can be added to the Dominion’s wool cheque within a very few years. The service is the only one of its kind in the world and is expanding at a tremendous rate under the direction of Mr R. Waters, lecturer in micro biology and wool biology at the College. Mr Waters recently concluded his second visit to Southland. Staples from G,500 sheep in this area have been booked for examination, and 3,000 of these have been dealt with.

By classifying the sheep according to the hairiness of the wool, studmasters are enabled to cull out the worst and mate the best, securing the maximum number of high class progeny.

Though the activities have been principally directed to studs, already ordinary flock owners have interested themselves. In one case a complete lot of two hundred flock rams has been booked for examination.

By using rams of improved quality, crossbred owners, it is stated, will be able to advance the quality of the wool to medium class. Inquiries have been received from Australia and India concerning the possibilities of establishing a similar service there. Three hundred test outfits have been sent to various sheep' owners in the Dominion, and one each to Uruguay, South Africa, Australia and England. A remarkable statistical system has been evolved at the College where the results of the examinations are filed. Samples are taken from eighteen positions on the ram and six on the ewe and every animal is eartagged for life. This enables systematic records to be maintained so that the level of stud breeds can be raised. Proper heredity records are being encouraged on a true genetic basis, so that vendors can state positively not only the degree of hairiness in the animal’s wool but also the characteristics of the wool in the ancestors. Immersed in benzol in a tray, the staple to be examined is placed under a photo electric cell sensitive to a thin line of white light by which the hair is distinguished under benzol. This light activates the electric impulse to a galvanometer in wlhich a round mirror is set swinging. T momentum of this is recordec y light, which in turn throws a beam on a scale. The degree;of this deflection, divided by the weight of the staple, gives the percentage of hairiness in the sample.