Non­ Genetic Factors Affecting Annual Wool Yield in German Angora Rabbits

Wool yield data on first and second annual wool clips and cumulative yield over first two years on 588 German Angora rabbits of either sex, maintained at Angora Rabbit Breeding Farm, Kandwari, Palampur (HP) in sub­ temperate, mid­hill region of Himachal Pradesh at altitude of 1300 mts above MSL over a period of 8 years (2000 to 2007) were analysed to study the effect of year and season of kindling and sex of the animal on performance for these wool yield traits. All rabbits were farm bred progeny obtained during subsequent generation mating of a foundation stock (8 bucks and 32 does) of an improved imported strain of German Angora breed. The overall least squares means estimated were 594.22 ± 67.13 g, 591.82 ± 193.67 g and 1185.96 ± 202.96 g for first annual, second annual and cumulative wool yields respectively. The year of kindling effect was observed significant (P<0.01) on all wool production traits under study while seasonal influence was significant (P<0.05) for first annual wool clip only. The sex differences were observed statistically non­significant. From the results, it can be concluded that among different non­genetic factors, the period of kindling is the single largest effect influencing performance of German Angora rabbits for annual and cumulative wool production traits.