Phenotypic and genetic diversity of domestic yak (Bos grunniens) in high-altitude rangelands of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan.

Due to climate change, irrigated agriculture may become restricted in the mountain valleys in northern Pakistan in the future. Hence, the importance of yak (Bos grunniens) keeping in the mountain ranges as risk-mitigating strategy for mountain dwellers will potentially increase. However, little is known about the current status of the domestic yak in this region.

Development of a breeding program for improving the milk yield performance of Butana cattle under smallholder production conditions using a stochastic simulation approach.

Butana is one of the local dairy cattle breeds of Sudan commonly kept by smallholder producers. This breed has been strongly promoted to advance the dairy production sector in the country. The main problem, however, is the lack of a systematic breeding program that involves smallholder producers.

Exploration of production conditions: a step towards the development of a community-based breeding program for Butana cattle.

In Sudan, many Butana cattle farmers practice indiscriminate crossbreeding to improve the milk yield performance of cows, as organized breeding programs are lacking. Objectives of this study were to identify the current production conditions of Butana cattle and to determine farmers' production objectives and trait preferences using a field survey. The overall aim was to explore the possibility of establishing a community-based breeding program for the genetic improvement of the breed.

Selection Decisions and Trait Preferences for Local and Imported Cattle and Sheep Breeds in Peri-/Urban Livestock Production Systems in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

Background: Participatory approaches of designing livestock breeding programs for tropical production systems have been extensively applied for rural livestock, whereas the peri-/urban livestock production sector tends to be widely neglected. In order to ensure the viability of the commercial cattle and sheep production sector in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, structured breed improvement programs are needed. The study aims to better understand selection decisions of cattle and sheep breeders and their trait preferences for local and imported breeds.

Genetic and nongenetic factors affecting on-farm performance of peri-urban dairy cattle in west Africa.

Population growth and urbanization lead to an increasing demand for milk in sub-Saharan Africa, but the production potential of the 65.9 million dairy cows in the region is far from being fully exploited to meet this demand. With the aim to support decision-making for breeding and management of dairy cattle in commercial farms, we performed a comparative study of daily milk offtake, chemical composition of milk, prevalence of metabolic disorders, and body weight development of local and crossbred cattle genotypes in peri-urban commercial farms in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

Phenotypic diversity, major genes and production potential of local chickens and guinea fowl in Tamale, northern Ghana.

Objective: Our study provides information on phenotypes of local chickens and guinea fowl and their body measures as well as on major genes in local chickens in northern Ghana.

Methods: Qualitative and morphometric traits were recorded on 788 local chickens and 394 guinea fowl in urban households in Tamale, Ghana.

Results: The results showed considerable variation of color traits and numerous major genes in local chickens, while color variations and related genotypes in guinea fowl were limited.

Constraints and challenges of meeting the water requirements of livestock in Ethiopia: cases of Lume and Siraro districts.

Compared to the total water use in livestock production systems, water for livestock drinking is small in amount but is an important requirement for health and productivity of animals. This study was carried out to assess constraints and challenges of meeting drinking water requirements of livestock in rural mixed smallholder crop-livestock farming districts in the Ethiopian Rift Valley area. Data was collected by individual interviews with randomly selected respondents and farmer group discussions.

Production objectives and breeding goals of Sahiwal cattle keepers in Kenya and implications for a breeding programme.

The Sahiwal breed has been used for upgrading the East African Zebu (EAZ) for improved milk production and growth performance in the southern rangelands of Kenya. Main users of this breed are Maasai pastoralists. Until now, there has been no deliberate effort to understand why these pastoralists specifically prefer to keep Sahiwal genetic resources as well as which traits are considered important by them and what is the underlying reason for this.