Characterization of camel fibers in regions of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan

To generate information on Central Asian camel fiber quality, fiber samples of 712 camels
from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan were characterized. Fixed effects involved geographical
location, animal age, sex, coat color and species. Camel species are Bactrians (Camelus
bactrianus), dromedaries (Camelus dromedarius) and crosses between both species, hereafter
referred as hybrids. Fiber traits included clean fine fiber yield (CY), mean fine fiber
diameter (MFD), mean fine fiber diameter coefficient of variation (MFD CV), fine fiber curvature
(Curv) and fine fiber staple length (SL). The arithmetic averages of CY, MFD, MFD CV,
Curv and SL were respectively 37.3%, 18.0 m, 30.6%, 87.7 ◦/mm and 46.0 mm for Bactrians;
29.1%, 21.2 m, 30.3%, 78.2 ◦/mm and 52.7 mm for dromedaries; and 42.7%, 17.9 m, 29.5%,
89.9 ◦/mm and 47.2 mm for hybrids. Significant age by species interaction was detected for
all traits. Overall, Bactrian camels had higher CY, lower MFD, higher Curv and lower SL than
dromedaries (P < 0.05). The geographical locations significantly differentiated CY and Curv
but not the other traits; thus, for the locations studied little could be gained by looking into
location variability when planning genetic improvement programs. There were no significant
sex differences for all the studied traits, whereas significant differences due to the
color of the coat were found only for Curv. The residual phenotypic correlations among CY,
MFD and Curv were all high and would be favorable for selection purposes. Likewise, the
residual phenotypic correlations between each of these variables with SL would be unfavorable
if selection targets an increased SL. The study detected heterogeneity for most fiber
quality traits, suggesting that a base is in place for fiber quality improvement.