Publications by authors named "Athumani Nguluma"

Global warming caused by climate change is a challenge for dairy farming, especially in sub-Saharan countries. Under high temperatures and relative humidity, lactating dairy cows suffer from heat stress. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects and relationship of heat stress (HS) measured by the temperature-humidity index (THI) regarding the physiological parameters and milk yield and composition of lactating Holstein Friesian crossbred dairy cows reared in the humid coastal region of Tanzania.

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Heat stress is an important problem for dairy industry in many parts of the world owing to its adverse effects on productivity and profitability. Heat stress in dairy cattle is caused by an increase in core body temperature, which affects the fat production in the mammary gland. It reduces milk yield, dry matter intake, and alters the milk composition, such as fat, protein, lactose, and solids-not-fats percentages among others.

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Breeding programs involving either centralized nucleus schemes and/or importation of exotic germplasm for crossbreeding were not successful and sustainable in most Africa countries. Community-based breeding programs (CBBPs) are now suggested as alternatives that aim to improve local breeds and concurrently conserve them. Community-based breeding program is unique in that it involves the different actors from the initial phase of design up until implementation of the programs, gives farmers the knowledge, skills and support they need to continue making improvements long into the future and is suitable for low input systems.

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Dairy cattle are highly susceptible to heat stress. Heat stress causes a decline in milk yield, reduced dry matter intake, reduced fertility rates, and alteration of physiological traits (e.g.

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Tanzania has a goat population of about 24.8 million most of which belong to the Small East African breed distributed in almost all agro-ecological zones. The different goat populations and the production system in which they are raised are not well characterized depriving animal breeders useful information in designing and running improvement and conservation programs.

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The Small East African (SEA) goat are widely distributed in different agro-ecological zones of Tanzania. We report the genetic diversity, maternal origin, and phylogenetic relationship among the 12 Tanzanian indigenous goat populations, namely Fipa, Songwe, Tanga, Pwani, Iringa, Newala, Lindi, Gogo, Pare, Maasai, Sukuma, and Ujiji, based on the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) D-loop. High haplotype ( = 0.

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