Authors:
Kylie Munyard¹ and Johan Greeff
1. Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Date of Publication:
June 3, 2013

Publication:
Australian Government Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC)
(Now called AgriFutures Australia)

Summary:
Some alpacas maintain fine fibre throughout life, while others suffer from significant coarsening of fibre as they age, a trait known as micron blowout. Micron blowout results in reduced productivity, through reduced yield of high quality fibre over the life of an animal.

Data from a well-established alpaca herd in Peru was used in a complex quantitative genetics analysis to determine if genetics plus environment, or environment alone was responsible for micron blowout in alpacas. This project has shown that micron blowout has a moderate heritability in alpacas, and that selection against micron blowout would be successful in reducing the extent of the problem.

This report is targeted at Australian alpaca breeders.

Read the rest of the article: http://www.agrifutures.com.au/publications/quantitative-genetic-analysis-of-micron-blowout-in-alpacas/