Morphometric parameters of Rex rabbits' hairs

S. Lapinski, B. Barabasz , M. Magiera, S. Kornas

The paper presents the results of measurements of the structure of Rex rabbit fur coat representing varieties: Castor, Blue, Chinchilla, Orange, Black, Havana, Lynx, Brown Marten, Blue Marten. Hair samples were collected from live animals being in a similar age, from the hindquarters, at the time of a full fur coat maturity. Performed measurements showed that the color variety influences statistically significant (p<0,01) on the fur coat morphometric parameters such as the hair diameter and length. Among the tested varieties the Blue Marten Rex was characterized by the shortest hair (guard hairs - 2,52 cm, wool hairs - 2,40 cm) and the Black Rex by the longest (guard hairs - 3,45 cm, wool hairs - 3,09 cm). Most equal fur coat was found in a variety Chinchilla Rex, where the difference between wool hairs and guard hairs was -0,01 cm. The diameter of the base part of hairs slightly differed between varieties. Larger differences were recorded in the apical part of the hair. The smallest diameter of the guard hair was found in the varieties Black Rex (54,33 µm) and the biggest in Lynx Rex (80,33 µm). The thinnest wool hairs were found in the variety Castorex (12,80 µm) and diameterest in Orange Rex (22,00 µm).

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