Husbandry practices and health in smallholder dairy farms near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Our study was conducted from November 2001 to April 2002 in the Debre-Zeit area (near Addis Ababa), Ethiopia to assess the husbandry practices and to identify health constraints in 100 market-oriented smallholder dairy farms. A questionnaire survey, farm visit and animal examination were conducted. Thirty-eight percent of the smallholder farms were owned by women. Women-owned farms had more cows (median=3) than men-owned ones. The median herd size (including young animals) was four animals per farm. Median age, parity number and daily milk production of cows were, respectively, 5 years, 3 and 10l. The housing conditions were tie-stall barns for 53% and shades for the rest. About 48% of the herd were kept under poor housing conditions; land-resource limitation was mentioned as the major problem. Twenty percent of the farms were using hired labour. Mastitis (both clinical and subclinical) was the most-frequently encountered disease condition (prevalence at herd level 30%) followed by foot-and-leg problems. Farms owned by men or using hired labour had higher disease prevalences. The poor housing conditions were associated with the observed prevalences of health constraints.     

Assessing Farmers' Knowledge of Weed Species,Crop Type and Soil Management Practices in Relation to Soil Quality Status in Mai‐Negus Catchment,Northern Ethiopia

Soil quality (SQ) assessment from farmers' point of view can be used as a primary indicator for planning sustainable agriculture. Despite this fact, limited information is documented with regard to SQ indicators, for example weed species, crop types and management practices from farmers' knowledge perspectives. The aims of this study are to analyse factors that determine farmers' knowledge of SQ, identify SQ indicators of weed species and crop types across different SQ status and assess soil‐and‐crop management practices that maintain SQ in the Mai‐Negus catchment, northern Ethiopia. Fifty‐two farmer household heads were chosen randomly for questionnaire interview. The results showed significant (p ≤ 0·05) differences in the proportion of respondents who used different crop‐and‐soil management practices. The success of overall prediction by the logistic regression model (model χ² = 0·84, p < 0·01) and level of model correct predictions (86%) indicated that the explanatory variables have sufficiently explained farmers' knowledge of SQ indicators. Provided that other conditions remained constant, the odds ratio of variables such as farmer experience, access to information, farm location, education, field slope and land tenure have significantly increased the likelihood of farmers for being knowledgeable of SQ indicators. This study also demonstrated that most farmers are knowledgeable in identifying weed species, crop types and management practices across various SQ status, which suggests that such SQ indicators should be used to assess SQ status (degradation severity) while locating fields to be intervened using appropriate management strategies. © 2013 The Authors. Land Degradation & Development published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A New Simple Method to Determine Crop Coefficients for Water Allocation Planning from Satellites: Results from Kenya

Crop coefficient K_c is defined as theratio of crop potential and grass referenceevapotranspiration. This paper discussesthe estimation of crop potentialevapotranspiration from remote sensing datato deduce spatial variable and regionalscale crop coefficients. Maps of cropcoefficients avoid the need to frequentlyuse remote sensing data because grassreference evapotranspiration obtained fromroutine weather data describe the shorterterm day-to-day variation. The new methodis based on the simplified Priestley &Taylor equation for cropevapotranspiration. It is argued that thisis justified for humid conditions and thecalculation procedure is validated withfield data collected from irrigatedvegetables in Kenya. The method isthereafter applied to Landsat-TM satellitedata covering the Lake Naivasha Basin,Kenya, and the spatially variable cropcoefficients are determined. This simpletechnique improves the planning ofirrigation water resources because K_cestimations based on satellite imagesreveal the real agricultural practicesbetter than expected acreage data andtabulated K_c-values published in theinternational literature.     

Molecular diversity and population structure of the Ethiopian lentil (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Lens Culinaris</Emphasis> Medikus) genotype assessment using SSR markers

Knowledge of genetic diversity in germplasm is essential for formulating effective germplasm collection, conservation, utilization strategies in and crop improvement programs. It also provides an opportunity to take corrective steps infusing new genes to avoid risks associated with a narrow genetic bases. Genetic diversity analysis of 119 lentil genotypes of including 83 germplasm and 36 exotic genotypes from International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas was studied using 27 primers of simple sequence repeat (SSR) marker. Molecular analysis of variance showed variations of 82% within and 18% of the among population variance was explained. Degree of polymorphism observed among the populations was 100%. A total 122 alleles were detected, with 2 to 7 alleles per locus, with a mean of 4.52 alleles per locus. The estimated gene diversity value for 27 loci was 0.64. The average Shannon’s information index value of 1.19 was obtained showed the existence of high genetic variation within the genotypes. The genetic similarity indices ranged from 0.21 to 1.00. The SSR markers showed an average polymorphic information content (PIC) value of 0.58. Cluster analysis grouped the genotypes into five major clusters as distinct genetic populations. Diversity analyses revealed the existence of a high level of genetic variation among genotypes. This molecular diversity information provides a basis for future germplasm collection, utilization, and conservation strategies in gene banks and introducing exotic germplasm to widen the genetic base of the current lentil breeding population.     

Dairy technology adoption in smallholder farms in “Dejen” district, Ethiopia

Factors influencing dairy technology adoption and impact on milk yield were studied in 240 smallholder farms in Dejen district, Ethiopia. The majority of the smallholders had more than 20 years of farming experience and were living at more than 10 km distance from market or trading centers (67% and 54% in that order). The dairy technologies studied included the use of crossbred animals, improved feed technologies and improved management practices. Application of acaricides, deworming, vaccination, heat-detection and haymaking had wide application (more than 80% adoption levels) while urea straw treatment, silage making, rotational grazing and fodder beet development were the least practiced ones. Only 20 percent of the cows were crossbred animals. It has been found that higher level of technology adoption is associated with better milk yield regardless of the breed of cattle (local or crossbred) owned by the farmers. Milk yields in local breeds increased by 0.07 times when the number of technologies increased by one unit. In crossbred cows, this rate of increase was five fold higher (0.38 times for one unit increase). Correlation coefficients between and within farm household characteristics and technologies adoption were, generally, significant. Male-headed households adopted significantly higher number of technologies than female-headed households (P?<?0.001). Technology adoption rates increased significantly with increased education level and family size and decreasing distance from market or trade centers (P?<?0.01). The level of technology adoption by smallholder farmers is still unsatisfactory and is highly dependent on gender, family size and level of education of smallholder farmers and location of farms.     

Assessment of the nutritional status of indigenous scavenging chickens in Ada’a district,Ethiopia

The nutritive values of scavenging feed resource bases and effects of season and chickens age on the latter were studied in smallholder farms in Aad’a, Ethiopia. The study included 210 households and 208 chickens. The mean weight of crop contents in all age groups ranged from 26.2 to 28.2 g, while it was 29.8 g and 24.7 g in the harvesting and non-harvesting seasons, respectively. Grains represented 48–49% of the mean weight of crop contents in all age groups and it was significantly higher (P < 0.05) during the harvesting season than the non-harvesting period in both age groups. Kitchen wastes were next in abundance (26–29%) and were significantly more abundant in non-harvesting season in growers only and in hens than in growers (P < 0.001). The dry matter, crude protein, crude fiber, calcium, phosphorous and metabolizable energy levels of crop contents were 91.1–92.5%, 12.9–15.5%, 4.17–7.07%, 0.43–0.90%, 0.28–0.38% and 3404.3–3636.2 Kcal, respectively. Crude protein, calcium and phosphorus levels were below the requirements for egg production and growth. The scavenging feed resource base was critically deficient in these nutrients during the harvesting season. As these nutrients are vital for production, supplementary feeds rich in these nutrients would probably result in increased egg production and optimum growth.     

Acaricide resistance profiles of single- and multi-host ticks from communal and commercial farming areas in the Eastern Cape and North-West Provinces of South Africa

A field study (February 2000 to August 2001) was conducted on communal and commercial farms in the Eastern Cape and North-West Provinces of South Africa to detect the levels of tick resistance to commonly used acaricides. The larvae obtained from engorged females of the one-host tick Boophilus decoloratus, the two-host tick Rhipicepalus evertsi evertsi and the three-host ticks Amblyomma hebraeum and Rhipicephalus appendiculatus were tested against various concentrations of amitraz, chlorfenvinphos and cypermethrin using the Shaw Larval Immersion Test method. Ticks from the communal farms showed higher levels of resistance to cypermethrin and some resistance to chlorfenvinphos whilst no resistance was detected against amitraz. However, ticks from commercial farms were equally resistant to amitraz, chlorfenvinphos and cypermethrin. The B. decoloratus populations tested were considerably more resistant to all the acaricides tested than the R. evertsi evertsi, A. hebraeum and R. appendiculatus populations. This supports the hypothesis that single-host ticks develop resistance faster than multi-host ticks. This trend was recorded on most of the farms where single- and multi-host ticks co-existed. It was concluded that the use of acaricides at high frequencies and high concentrations was one of the main causes of tick resistance in the study areas. Possible factors which caused the resistance problems are discussed and acaricide management strategies recommended.     

Estimation of genetic parameters for growth traits and Kleiber ratios in Boer x Central Highland goat

Tropical Animal Health and Production - Accurate performance evaluation and genetic parameters estimation are the prerequisites for any successful genetic improvement program. This study was...     

Seroprevalence of contagious caprine pleuropneumonia in Kefta Humera,Alamata (Tigray) and Aba-‘ala (Afar), Northern Ethiopia

A cross sectional study was conducted to determine the sero-prevalence of contagious caprine pleuroneumonia in three districts of Tigray and Afar regions of Ethiopia namely; Kefta Humera, Alamata and Aba-‘alla. Proportions and chi-square test statistics were used to analyze the data. From a total of 863 goats and 137 sheep tested, 282 (32.68%) and 25 (18.25%) were positive for antibodies of Mycoplasma capricolum subsp. capripneumoniae respectively using complement fixation test (CFT). The seroprevalence of CCPP in goats among the three districts was statistically significant (x² = 76.00, p < 0.001). In this study there was no statistical significant variation in the seroprevalence of CCPP in both sexes (x² = 3.619, p = 0.0571) and age (x² = 0.990, p = 0.095) groups. The finding of high seroprevalence of CCPP in sheep (18.25%) could indicate that sheep are potential carriers of Mccp.