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CONTENTS

Genetics

• The inheritance of fibre traits in a crossbred population of cashmere goats.
  S.C. Bishop & A.J.F. Russel
• A genetic database for performance parameter recording in Danish Angora goats
  M. Kielsgaard
• Development of camelid fibre production in Argentina
  S. Vinella & M. Antonini
• Seasonal and Reproductive Biology.
• The effect of temperature, season and heredity on wool production of German angora rabbits in Finland.
  L. Nurminen
• Reproduction in cashmere goats: influence of liveweight and PGF dose on ovulation ratio
  R.Celi, F. Toteda, A. Braghieri.,A.M. Facciolongo, M. Gambacorta , A. Di Trana
• Oestrus induction and synchronisation during anoestrus in cashmere goats using hormonal treatment in association with "male effect".
  F. Carnevali, G. Schino, S. Diverio & S. Misiti.
• Application of infrared thermography to evaluate the influence of the fibre on body surface temperature in llamas
  M. Gerken

Perspectives

• The state of Finnish angora wool production and the plans for the future.
  A. Simola
• Recent research and future projects on fine fibre production at INRA.
  H. de Rochambeau
• Future research plans for Angora goats in Portugal.
  L. Pinto de Andrade & P. Varcia
• Research and extension programmes on fine fibre producing animals at the University of Camerino, Italy.
  F. Pedrotti , F. Pucciarelli, & C. Renieri
• List of Participants

Preface

When the European Fine Fibre Network was created, there was a pressing need to find environmentally acceptable alternatives to existing livestock enterprises in marginal agricultural areas. It was known that speciality fibre production had the potential to have a large influence on the generation of wealth in rural communities throughout Europe, but that, in spite of a number of successful small-scale projects, this potential could not be realised without some intensive R&D work to improve the systems available to farmers. The European Fine Fibre Network, for the first time, created an international community of workers involved in this R&D work. It has provided the opportunity for each to see and understand the opportunities and constraints acting on speciality fibre development in other European countries and to see at first hand the successes and shortcomings of other work in their field. Above all, it has demonstrated the advantages to all of international cooperation and collaboration between research workers.

The need for livestock alternatives remains, and the last three years have been particularly marked by increasing interest, on the part of farmers, politicians and the research community, in fibre production, particularly cashmere and mohair in the south of Europe. Pilot projects have been established, and the preliminary results look promising. The commercial exploitation remains, though, undeveloped, and will remain so until systems are available to farmers that can be seen to be an improvement on the existing, heavily subsidised, mainstream enterprises. To achieve this situation will require further research work, particularly in the fields of genetic improvement, marketing, and the biology of fibre growth. These fields urgently require support tools, such as a rapid and cost-effective method for assessing fibre quality to identify superior breeding stock, and a European-wide genetic database of performance parameter records for the various fibre species, to be established.

This concluding workshop aims brought together representatives of all the areas of relevant research, with as wide as possible a range of interests. The objective is to identify and prioritise a series of research objectives that need to be addressed in the future; to develop ideas for interdisciplinary, collaborative research, and to integrate these ideas with the broader requirements of the European Union for future research in agriculture and rural development.

In this way, it is intended that we can prepare an action plan for future research that will be well-targeted to address the real need for research in specific areas, to the overall research objectives of the EU, and to the physical and financial resources available.