Improving hydrocarbon toxicity tolerance in poultry: role of genes and antioxidants.

Sustenance of smallholder poultry production as an alternative source of food security and income is imperative in communities exposed to hydrocarbon pollution. Exposure to hydrocarbon pollutants causes disruption of homeostasis, thereby compromising the genetic potential of the birds. Oxidative stress-mediated dysfunction of the cellular membrane is a contributing factor in the mechanism of hydrocarbon toxicity.

Haemonchotolerance in West African Dwarf goats: contribution to sustainable, anthelmintics-free helminth control in traditionally managed Nigerian dwarf goats.

West African Dwarf (WAD) goats are extremely important in the rural village economy of West Africa, but still little is known about their biology, ecology and capacity to cope with gastrointestinal nematode (GIN) infections. Here, we summarise the history of this breed and explain its economic importance in rural West Africa. We review recent work showing that Nigerian WAD goats are highly trypanotolerant and resist infections with Haemonchus contortus more effectively than other breeds of domestic goat (haemonchotolerance).