TECHNOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LLAMA FIBER (Lama glama) BEFORE AND AFTER DEHAIRING

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out at the Center for Research and Development of South American Camelids - Lachocc (CIDCS - Lachocc) and in the Textile Fibers Area of the Genetic Improvement Laboratory of the National University of Huancavelica with the objective of evaluating the technological characteristics of the fiber of Chaku llamas, when dehaired and without dehairing, the fiber samples were obtained from the average rack of 40 llamas. For the analysis of the fiber samples, the OFDA 2000 equipment was used, with the characteristics studied being the average fiber diameter (MDF), the coefficient of variation of the MDF (CVMDF) and the comfort factor (FC). Data were processed using descriptive statistics and Student's T test for related samples. The results show that, by subjecting the fibers to the manual dehairing process, fine fibers of good textile quality are obtained, since statistically significant differences (P<0.05) were found between the technological characteristics of the fiber before and after dehairing; demonstrating the decrease of the MDF by 12.03 μm, the CVDMF by 16.89% and increasing the FC by 39.73%. It is concluded that the dehairing process is an alternative to improve the most important aspects of the technological characteristics of the fiber, achieving greater fineness, comfort and less variation.