Genetics in wool clothing

2003/05/13 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Materialak
• Abeltzaintza
• Genetika

One of the unfavorable areas of wool is the flood. To avoid it they use chlorine and resins in the wool industry. Now they have asked for help to the genetics.

In fact, by immersing themselves in the water, scientists at the Australian research organization CSIRO have found that some sheep's wool maintains their structure and length better than others. Therefore, it has occurred to them to study the genes of 2,000 sheep of the merino breed to see in which gene this characteristic is found.

The objective of the researchers is to know the sheep with better wool to launch a program of improvement of the breed. With this, the wool industry is expected to save a lot of money.