Twenty four adult Barki eweswere used to investigate the effect of addition of rumen protected amino acids, lysine or/and methionineon some wool characteristics. This study was carried out from September 2016 to February 2017. Animals were divided into four groups (6ewes/group). The first group (Control): fed only the control diet, second group (LYS): fed the control diet and rumen protected lysine (6g Lysi pearl /kg concentrate, 3g /animal/day), third group (MET): fed the control diet and rumen protected methionine (14g Smartamin/kg concentrate, 7g /animal/day) and fourth group (LYS+MET): fed the control diet and mixture of (3g LYS and 7g MET/animal/day) for six months. Some wool measurements were investigated such as fiber length, fiber diameter, staple strength and wool growth per 10 cm 2 and clean wool yield. Results showed that supplementing methionine caused significant (P<0.05) increase in fiber length, fiber diameter, staple strength and clean wool yield. Lysine increased fiber length significantly (P<0.05), but did not affect clean wool yield and caused small increase in both staple strength and fiber diameter. Supplementing of (mixture of methionine and lysine) increased significantly fiber length, wool yield and staple strength, but caused insignificant increase in clean wool production per 10cm 2 , but had no significant effect on fiber diameter.From these results, it can be concluded that addition of rumen protected methionine (7g Smartamin/animal/day) forsix monthsenhanced significantly wool characteristics of Barki ewes (fiber length, fiber diameter, staple strength and clean wool yield).

Twenty-five non-pregnant adult Barki ewes were used to investigate the effect of the addition of various levels of rumen-protected methionine as a feed additive on some wool characteristics, blood components, and wool ultrastructure. Animals were divided according to live body weight and wool measurements into 5 groups. The control group (G1) was fed a basal diet without any supplementations, while G2, G3, G4, and G5 were fed the basal diet supplemented with 6, 9, 12, and 15 g methionine /head/day, respectively, for six months. Wool samples were collected at the end of the experiment to record some wool measurements, such as fiber diameter, staple length, staple strength, elongation, point of break, and clean wool yield. Blood samples were collected to determine some blood biochemicals. Results showed that adding rumen-protected methionine for six months significantly enhanced the wool characteristics of Barki ewes, such as staple length, staple strength, elongation, point of break, fiber diameter, and clean wool yield. Supplementing dietary methionine affected coarse fiber wool scale properties of Barki ewes. The minimum value of scale width was recorded in G2, while the maximum value of scale width was recorded in G5. Also, G2 showed the highest value of scale distance to the edge. Wool of G4 recorded the lowest value of coarse fiber diameter. Methionine supplementation resulted in a slight effect on the values of some blood biochemical parameters. The a propriate dietary methionine supplementation was 12 g /head/day.