Study of Wool Characteristics in the Aranese Ovine Breed

SUMMARY: To date, no ethnological study on the wool characteristics of the Spanish Aranese ovine breed has been published.Fifty three animals belonging to this breed are tested as fleece samples. Each sample is analyzed for fleece type and length, yield byisoalcohol scouring, fiber length for each kind of fiber, variation in fiber diameter, and proportions of non-medullated and me dullated orkemp fibers. Fiber length appears shorter than that previously reported for the breed by other authors. Fleeces of the Aranese sheep breedcan be described as square, simple, "semi-open" and short with a relatively high yield by isoalcohol scouring and low medullati on levels,thus indicating good potential quality and greater suitability for potential processing than other similar meat breeds. KEY WORDS: Fiber diameter; Fleece; Kemp; Medullation; Sheep; Yield. INTRODUCTION The Aranese sheep breed is one of the three local sheepbreeds that exist in Catalonia (NE Spain). The other two sheepbreeds common in the country are Ripollesa and Xisqueta(Esteban, 2003). Although all of these breeds are used mainlyfor meat production as wool is sold as a by-product at a verylow price, even so, wool data from the Aranese must be seenas an important contribution to the breed ethnologicalcharacterization which is precisely the purpose of this study.The native region of the breed is the Aran Valley.The Aran Valley is a small region (620.47 km