Oct.-Nov.-Dec’2020. Vol. I, Issue 2 Animal Science Quarterly Animal Science Quarterly 2020, 1(2): 06-09 ANIMAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY WOOL QUALITY AND BODY WEIGHT TRAITS OF NEWLY IMPORTED MERINO SHEEP DURING 2020 M. M. Rather 1 , I. Bashir 2 , M.M Shah 3 , S.A. Ahanger 4 , B. Ashraf 5 1 In-charge- Assistant Research Officer, Kralpathri, Department of Sheep Husbandry, (J&K). 2 Veterinary Assistant Surgeon, Kralpathri,Department of Sheep Husbandry, 3 Deputy Director Research,D.I.L., Department of Sheep Husbandry(J&K). 4 DSHO-Bandipora, Department of Sheep Husbandry(J&K). 5 Deputy Director, Sheep Breeding Farm-Dachigam, Department of Sheep Husbandry(J&K). Manuscript received on 01.10.2020, accepted on 25.11.2020 ABSTRACT A study was conduct to estimate wool quality traits and body weights of 419 Merino sheep (imported in year 2020 from Austerilia). The samples were analyzed at Fleece Testing Laboratory Nowshera, Srinagar and data were analyzed with Harvey (1990). The overall estimates of % 76.07±0.27, 18.50±0.10, 4.52±0.04 and 11.37±0.08 for CWY, FD, SL and crimps/inch, respectively in the present study. The overall body weights of males and females were 76.20±0.06 and 53.76±0.02. The effect of sex was observed significant (p<0.05) on CWY, FD and SL whereas effect of age was significant on FD and SL only. It is suggested that newly imported Merino produce be used for consolidating and further improving gains in fine wool made by cross breeding programmme so far thus through cross breeding can be used as a game changer for the wool industry of the Hamaliyan region. Key words: Body weight, Merina, wool The agroclimatic and geophysical conditions along with other natural endowments of Jammu and Kashmir are well suited for sheep and goat rearing. The Himalayan region possesses vast diversity of sheep genetic resources including recently developed Kashmir Merino sheep and many native breeds like Gaddi, Karnah, Bakerwal, Gurazi etc. (Rather 2020). However, these breeds possess poor genetic worth for fast growth rate and good quality wool production. Therefore, 419 sheep (120 male and 299 female) were imported from Australia in 2020 to improve genetic worth for growth and wool traits of native sheep breeds of the Himalayan region. The present study was undertaken to estimate wool quality and body weight traits of these 419 imported sheep. Material and Method The wool samples of 419 newly imported Merino sheep were analyzed at fleece testing laboratory, Nowshera. The data so obtained was suitably classified to study them for effects of non-genetic factors of year of birth and sex. The descriptive statistics was computed statistically (Snedecor and Cochran 1994). Body weight of these animals was also measured at the time of sample collection. 6