Wooley Wonder
A number of years ago, I was involved with a micro-encapsulation research program related to increased wool grow in sheep. The idea was to micro-encapsulate methionine so that it could survive the conditions in the front end of the rumen and be incorporated into the digestion taking place in the abomasum (the fourth compartment of the stomach of a ruminant). When digested at that point, methionine was shown to contribute to a significant increase in wool production.
The latest research reports coming out from down under indicates that such a costly and complex system may not be necessary to increase wool production.
The May 14, 2007 issue of the AllAboutFeed Newsletter indicates that increased dietary salt can increase wool growth across a range of sheep diets. These results suggest that increasing salt in the feed ration may be a viable strategy to increase wool production efficiency.
In trials carried out over 2 months, 18 month old Merino wethers were individually penned and offered one of l6 different diets. The feeds were formulated with four levels of added sodium chloride (nil, 7%, 14%, and 21%) and four levels of organic matter digestibility (55%, 62%, 69%, and 76%). Treatment feeds were offered ad libidum for seven weeks and at maintenance during the final week. Researchers found that clean wool growth, corrected for digestible organic matter intake, increased by 16%, 18% and 27% as added sodium chloride was increased by 7%, 14% and 2l% respectively. On the other hand, liveweight gain was reduced from increasing dietary sodium chloride, mostly as a result of reduced feed intake at the higher salt levels.
While higher levels of dietary salt may be favourable for wool production efficiency, the decrease in the feed intake of sheep needs careful management for commercial livestock production.
Now, if the same mechanism worked for hair, we might have a highly palatable cure for baldness.
