Research to identify Merino and crossbred sheep which are less susceptible to flystrike could soon see Australian wool producers tailoring their breeding programs according to the environment.
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Department of Primary Industries (DPI) research officer at the Trangie Agricultural Research Centre (TARC), Tracie Bird-Gardiner said flystrike was a serious issue for the wool industry.
"Chemical resistance in fly populations and pressure to eradicate mulesing is driving the need to develop a better understanding of the genetics which make sheep prone to flystrike," Mrs Bird-Gardiner said.
"DPI's study at Trangie has investigated flystrike in a very specific environment - the non-seasonal rainfall areas of NSW, which extend across western NSW from the Queensland border to the Victorian border.
"Flystrike had similar heritability to estimates made in other environments and in other rainfall areas breech strike research found that key indicator traits could be environmentally determined.
"Now the focus is to identify the key indicator traits which determine breech strike resistance in this specific environment.
"Once identified, easy-to-measure traits could be used in local breeding programs to select flystrike resistant sheep."
Significantly for western NSW producers, investigations are exploring the correlations between flystrike and visually assessed indicator traits and production traits in a low rainfall environment.
The study has used extensive records from Cooperative Research Centre for Sheep Industry Innovation (Sheep CRC) national Information Nucleus (IN) program to develop a better understanding of the genetic links.
Flystrike records of progeny from the IN program included data from the flock based at TARC, where flystrike occurred at a rate of 16 per cent in young animals and 29 per cent in yearlings and older sheep.
Trangie recorded good rains in spring through to autumn during this time, which created favourable flystrike conditions compared with drier years.
Approximately 80 per cent of the strikes occurred on the breech of Trangie-born sheep, while the remaining strikes occurred on the body.
Mrs Bird-Gardiner is continuing to investigate the inheritance of flystrike susceptibility and resistance, specifically for breech strike, as part of a scholarship from the Sheep CRC postgraduate program.
Chosen as one of seven Sheep CRC postgraduate students in 2012, she is working on her Master of Science degree at TARC through the University of New England at Armidale.
