Skin and muscle protein metabolism in Merinos differing in EBVs for wool growth

Abstract

In the Australian sheep industry, Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs) are being increasingly used to select Merino sheep for excellence in traits such as high clean fleece weight (CFW), low fibre diameter (FD) and high yearling live weight (YLW). It has been proposed that genetic differences in CFW may be related to skin protein metabolism and that it is sensitive to the level of nutrition (Williams and Morley 1994; Liu et al. 1998). The underlying physiological responses to EBV and plane of nutrition are not well understood.