Study On The Effect Of Light Control On Cashmere Growth Of Shanbei White Cashmere Goat

With the increasing demand of cashmere in recent years, the prices of cashmere products increase continually, which makes Shanbei White Cashmere goat becoming the main source for increasing farmers’ income in Shanbei region. Thus, improving cashmere yield and quality of Shanbei White Cashmere goat is very important now. The growth of cashmere is influence by light and short light can accelerate the growth of cashmere. Hence, the growth of cashmere can be controlled by controlling the light. This research was conducted by controlling the light to improve cashmere yield of Shanbei White Cashmere goat.Exp 1: Effects of illumination conditions on body weight and cashmere growth of Shanbei White Cashmere goatA total of 34 non-pregnant Shanbei White Cashmere goat ewes with similar age, weight and parity were selected and divided randomly into 2 groups, test group and control group. Ewes in test group were suffered with dark condition from 16:30 to 9:30 of the next day, while those in control group were with natural light. Ewes were free access to feed and water. The results showed that: illumination condition had no significant influences on body weight of Shanbei White Cashmere goat(P>0.05), but ADG of test group was slightly higher than control group. Controlling the illumination condition increased the whole yield of cashmere and hair of Shanbei White Cashmere goat, which might be caused by the increase in the length of cashmere.Exp 2: Effects of concentrate level on body weight and cashmere growth of Shanbei White Cashmere goat under light-control conditionA total of 42 Shanbei White Cashmere goat ewes with similar age, weight and parity were selected and divided randomly into 2 groups, test group and control group. Ewes in test group were fed with concentrate 15% higher than control group. Both groups were under light control condition and free access to feed and water. The results showed that: there was no significant differences between two groups on body weight, which indicates that increased 15% concentrate cannot increase body weight of Shanbei White Cashmere goat(P>0.05). Under light control conditions, increasing the feeding amount of concentrate did not affect the fiber fineness of cashmere(P>0.05), but it had a thickening trend.Exp 3: Effects of ventilation measures on the temperature and NH3 concentration in goat stable.A total of 22 non-pregnant Shanbei White Cashmere goat ewes with similar age, weight and parity were selected as study object. Coupled with light-control, fecal cleaning frequency and sheep activities were also taken into consideration when determining temperature and NH3 concentration in goat stable under different ventilation measures. The results showed that: under light control conditions, the proper mechanical ventilation can significantly reduce the concentration of NH3 in stable and keep the temperature in a suitable range.Based on the results above, it could be concluded that light-control technology could increase growth of cashmere in Shanbei White Cashmere goat; Under light control conditions, increasing concentrate level did not affect fiber fineness of cashmere, but it had an thickening trend;Appropriate mechanical ventilation in light control technology can improve air quality and reduce temperature.