Characterization of the fineness of she-camel’s wool in the Wilaya of Nâama and El Bayadh

Abstract

To further understand productive characteristics and explore economically valuable signs of the wool’s camels in Algeria, we studied the wool’s fineness of a population of 27 adults female camels. The studied breeds are Ouled sidi cheikh, Targui and Reguibi at the level of the Wilaya of El Bayadh in El Keither commune and the Wilaya of Naama in Naama commune. We took wool samples from different parts of the she-camel’s body: the head, the hump and the tail. The measurement of each wool fiber have been done with a binocular loupe glass equipped with an acquisition software, the collected data have been then analyzed using Rstudio software. The results showed how the diameter of the studied she-camels can vary according to different breeds going from super fine for Ouled sidi cheikh and Reguibi she-camels (9.03-11.7 µm and 9.5-10.2 µm, respectively) to fine for Targui she-camels (21-22.8 µm). This study can suggest the application of Ouled sidi cheikh and Reguibi’s wool in the textile industries for the production of sweaters and baby clothes, and the application oh Targui’s wool in shawls and rugs