Fiber quality at dehairing and characterization of skin follicle parameters in Peruvian Q'ara llamas

Virgilio Machaca^1*RUBÉN PINARES^2*Franklin Lozano¹ARTURO QUISPE¹Alex David Machaca¹Alfonso Víctor Bustinza¹

• ¹National University Micaela Bastidas of Apurimac, Abancay, Peru
• ²Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco, Cusco, Peru

Although the Q'ara llama fleece was believed to lack quality attributes, the down fiber obtained during the first shearing is high quality. However, little is known about skin follicle parameters in Peruvian Q'ara llamas. In this context, the objective of this research was to compare fiber quality submitted at manual dehairing and to characterize skin follicle parameters by body site, age and sex.Methods: A total of 240 fiber samples were collected from the shoulders, sides, and rump of 80 Q'ara llamas, taking into account their age category and sex. Each of the 240 unprocessed fiber samples was manually dehaired, yielding two subsamples of 240 each: down fibers and guard hairs. Only the unprocessed and down fibers were used for fiber measurements. According to IWTO-47 standards, an OFDA 2000 was used to measure the mean fiber diameter, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, comfort factor, and fiber curvature. Likewise, skin biopsies were collected from 65 llamas under local anesthesia using an 8 mm punch to analyze follicle densities and the secondary-to-primary ratio. We performed ANOVA Type I and the Tukey test (α = 0.05) on the transformed data. Spearman's correlation was used without data transformation.Results and discussion: Manual dehairing improved the textile quality of the fiber, reducing the diameter by 1.91 µm and its coefficient of variability by 3.05%, also increasing the comfort factor by 4.79% and the fiber curvature by 3.49 °/mm). Secondary follicle density (16.80 follicles per Eliminado: L However, skin follicle density decreased in older llamas. There was a strong correlation (-0.82) between mean fiber diameter and comfort factor. Mean fiber diameter was negatively correlated with fiber curvature, total follicle density, and secondary to primary follicle ratio. However, comfort factor was positively correlated with fiber curvature, total follicle density and secondary to primary follicle ratio. Similarly, total follicle density was positively associated with secondary to primary follicle ratio (0.52).Dehairing improves fiber quality. The main factor affecting fiber quality and skin follicles is age. Young Q'aras have a high follicle density and produce down fiber with a diameter of 22.61 µm. However, body site and sex do not influence quality.