Variation in fibre diameter profile characteristics between wool staples in Merino sheep

Two experiments were conducted to examine the variation in fibre diameter p rofile (FDP) characteristics between staples. The mean values of all the FD P characteristics were not significantly (P > 0.05) different between stapl es prepared using the same and different staple preparation techniques. The residual correlation coefficient's between staples prepared using the same staple preparation technique for all FDP characteristics ranged from r = 0 .60 to 0.96. The correlation coefficients between staples prepared using di fferent staple preparation techniques ranged from r = 0.37 to 0.97. These r esults indicate that it may not be sufficient to segment a single staple fo r estimation of certain FDP characteristics to examine differences between individual animals. One staple is sufficient to estimate the average FDP of a group of animals. FDPs generated using different staple preparation tech niques can be accurately compared for most FDP characteristics.