Skin Quality and Physical Properties of Leather Based on Sex, Age and Body Parts of Goats Reared on Sub-Humid Hill Country

To investigate the characteristics of skin and leather of hairy goats according to their sex and age, 120 goat skins were selected from the western part of Iran. Results indicated that sex and age had significant effects on weight and area of skin and leather. Moreover, sex and age had significant effects on thickness in differ-ent parts of skin except the belly. In this regard, the overall mean weight of skin and leather were 1074.8 ± 27.9g and 427.2 ± 25.9 g, respectively. High coefficients of variation (28.3 and 66.3 percent, respectively) were found in these traits. The ranges of skin and leather area were from 30 to 80 dm2 and 38 to 115 dm2, respectively. Parts of the body (shoulder, hip and ribs) and sample position (parallel and perpendicular) significantly affected the mean of breakage force, tensile strength and elongation of tested pieces. A wide range of breakage force, tensile strength and elongation 4.5-66.0 kgf, 63.4-558.3 kgf cm-2 and 22.0-141.3% were found in the goat leathers, respectively. The results of this study indicated that there are differences between quantitative and qualitative traits of skin and leather of different goats. To achieve better quality goat products, attention should be paid to differences in skin quality of different sexes and ages of goats.