Speaker Notes

Written by: Dr. Tony Schlink, CSIRO Animal Production.

These scanning electron micrographs show the difference between fibres that have been broken and fibres that have been shed from the follicle. The magnification of the photos are different and both fibres actually have the same fibre diameter at the point of break. When examining staples and fleeces for shed fibres, the staples are washed in a solvent and dried, then stained with picric acid (yellow) and eosin (pink). The fibres are then examined with a microscope and the proportion of fibres with IRS (stains pink) still attached to the fibre are estimated. These fibres have been shed from follicles which have shutdown and look like the fibre in the right hand photo.