Responses to fleece weight selection and heritability estimates of wool characteristics in Romney sheep (Reprinted)

The hogget live weight, fleece weight and wool characteristics of 2987 Romn ey progeny of 114 sires born over 9 breeding seasons were analysed. The hig h fleece weight-selected flock performance was higher for live weight (8.3% ), clean fleece weight (24.3%) and also for FD (by 1 mu m) than random cont rol Romneys. Heritability estimates for spring live weight, greasy fleece w eight, clean fleece weight, yield, fibre diameter, staple length, staple st rength, loose wool bulk and brightness were 0.49, 0.33, 0.34, 0.39, 0.55, 0 .40, 0.30, 0.44 and 0.14 respectively. The high selection differential achi eved in the first year resulted in a non-significant genetic gain in greasy fleece weight over the 9 years.