Multivariate characterisation of the phenotypic traits of Djallonke and Sahel sheep in Northern Ghana

The characterisation of the small ruminant populations in developing countries will play a major role in the maintenance of the genetic resources as the basis for future improvement in livestock production. The present study aimed at morphological characterisation of the two main breeds of sheep in Ghana by assessing variation within and between breed populations using principal component and discriminant analyses. The two breeds were the Sahel and the Djallonke sheep of both sexes and of two groups namely, young (1 year old, consisting of 74 animals) and mature sheep (≥2 years old, comprising 219 animals). The analysis of variance revealed significant (P?<?0.05) differences in the morphological traits of the Sahel and the Djallonke sheep breeds with higher values recorded for the former. Sexual dimorphism was in favour of male animals in all the morphological traits examined. Mature animals also had comparative advantage over the young. Two principal components were extracted to discern the structure of the two genetic groups. The most discriminating traits between the two sheep breeds were rump height, height at withers, neck girth and pin-bone width. Mahalanobis distance between the two genetic groups was 5.723 (P?<?0.0001). The developed discriminant functions clearly discriminated and classified the Sahel and the Djallonke sheep into their breeds of origin, thus yielding 100, 93.4 and 90.4 % accurate classification for the rams, ewes and the overall sheep population, respectively. The present approach would greatly help in establishing management and conservation policies for the sustainable production of the two Ghanaian sheep breeds.     

Tramadol improved the efficacy of ketamine–xylazine anaesthesia in young pigs

ObjectiveTo evaluate the influence of premedication with tramadol on xylazine–ketamine anaesthesia in young pigs.Study designProspective, randomized, blinded cross-over study.AnimalsTen young Niger hybrid pigs: mean weight 6.1 ± 0.6 kg.MethodsPigs were anaesthetized twice. Xylazine (2.5 mg kg^?1), ketamine (25 mg kg^?1) and atropine (0.04 mg kg^?1) were administered by intramuscular (IM) injection, 5 minutes after either tramadol (5 mg kg^?1)) (treatment XKT) or saline (treatment XKS). Time to loss of righting reflex (TLRR), duration of antinociception, duration of recumbency (DR) and recovery times (RCT) were recorded. Quality of induction of anaesthesia including ease of endotracheal intubation was assessed using a subjective ordinal rating score of 1 (worst) to 4 (best). Heart, pulse and respiratory rates, arterial oxygen saturations and rectal temperatures were determined over 60 minutes. Antinociception was assessed by the pigs’ response to artery forceps applied at the interdigital space. Data were compared with Student's t-test, Mann–Whitney's test or analysis of variance (anova) for repeated measures as appropriate and are presented as mean ± standard deviation.ResultsThe quality of anaesthetic induction was significantly better and duration of antinociception significantly longer (p < 0.05) in treatment XKT (3.1 ± 0.7 score; 43.7 ± 15.5 minutes) than in treatment XKS (2.8 ± 0.6 score; 32.0 ± 13.3 minutes). TLRR, DR and RCT did not differ significantly (p > 0.05) between treatment XKT (2.1 ± 0.8, 65.8 ± 17.0 and 13.2 ± 6.7 minutes) and treatment XKS (2.1 ± 1.3, 58.0 ± 14.8 and 10.3 ± 5.6 minutes). Physiological measurements did not differ between the treatments.Conclusion and clinical relevanceTramadol improved the quality of anaesthetic induction and increased the duration of antinociception in xylazine–ketamine anaesthetized young pigs without increasing duration of anaesthesia, nor causing additional depression of the physiological parameters measured.     

Influence of in ovo arginine feeding on hatching traits and post-hatch performance of FUNAAB-Alpha chickens in two housing types

Tropical Animal Health and Production - The demand for animal protein in Nigeria is so high that introduction of new management techniques to improve poultry production is relevant. This study...     

ABUNDANCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF ARBUSCULAR MYCORRHIZAL FUNGI SPECIES IN LONG-TERM SOIL FERTILITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS IN NORTHERN NIGERIA

Soil fertility management systems (SFMS) can influence the community structure of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). Hence, long-term SFMS was studied. The SFMS comprised three legume combinations, urea application and solely maize as control. Spores were extracted by wet sieving, characterized and identified using their morphology. Interrelationships between cropping systems and occurrence of AMF species were analyzed with genotype by environment (GGE) biplot. Seventeen species were identified with Glomus species (47.05%) having highest value while Gigaspora species had the least (11.76%). Legume residues significantly (P < 0.05) increased spore population with the highest spore count (120 spores/100 g soil) obtained in plot under cowpea residue. Shannon Weiner index (H′) of maize/Lablab purpureus plot was highest (1.996) while that of sole maize system was the least (1.550). The GGE indicated Glomus intraradices as a stable species across all the SFMS. Community structure of AMF and function can be preserved using appropriate SFMS.     

Haematological studies on frizzled and naked neck genotypes of Nigerian native chickens

Variation in haematological parameters of Nigerian native chickens was studied using 60 clinically normal frizzle-feathered, naked-neck, and normal-feathered native chickens. These included red blood cell count, haemoglobin, packed cell volume, white blood cell count, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration, serum glucose, urea, cholesterol, albumin, globulin and creatinine. Normal-feathered birds had higher (p < 0.05) mean values compared to frizzled and native neck genotypes except for albumin, red blood and white blood cells, and mean cell haemoglobin concentration. Males generally had higher mean values than their female counterparts across all genotypes. Correlation coefficients among the parameters were significant (p < 0.001) with r values ranging from 0.26 between red blood cell and mean corpuscular haemoglobin to 0.92 between red blood cell and cholesterol. Sufficient genetic variation therefore exists for haematological parameters among Nigerian native chickens that may represent indicator traits for further study. However, the application of molecular tools will provide better understanding and application of these differences.     

Influence of mycorrhizal inoculation and different pruning regimes on fresh root yield of alley and sole cropped cassava (manihot esculenta crantz) in Nigeria

The effect of mycorrhizal fungus inoculation on fresh root yield of cassava (Manihot esculenta crantz) cv TMS 4 (2) 1425 as influenced by two hedgerow tree species and their mixtures, subjected to 2- and 3-month pruning regimes were investigated in alley cropping experiments at three different sites within the same eco-climatic region in Nigeria. Mixture of the prunings of the two hedgerow tree species (Gliricidia sepium and Senna siamea) with mycorrhiza gave higher fresh root yield than the sole hedgerow tree with mycorrhizal inoculation. Gliricidia sepium prunings were found to give higher fresh root yield than the prunings from the Senna siamea. The 2-month prunings of G. sepium recorded higher yield than its 3-month prunings while 2-month prunings of Senna siamea recorded higher yield than its 3-month prunings. However, mycorrhiza inoculation with 2- and 3-month prunings in the two hedgerow species used were found higher than their counterparts without mycorrhizal inoculation in all the three sites. Mycorrhizal inoculation without the hedgerow prunings recorded the lowest fresh root yield but was still higher than the fresh root yield from the sole without mycorrhizal inoculation. Thus, inoculation with mycorrhiza increased alley-cropped cassava fresh root yield over uninoculated plants under both pruning regimes. Generally, this study shows that inoculation of cassava with mycorrhiza alone without mulching with prunings significantly increased cassava fresh root yield.     

An investigation of the impact of Glomus clarum (mycorrhiza) on the growth of tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum mill.) on both sterilized and non-sterilized soils

Abstract

A greenhouse experiment was carried out to investigate the influence of Glomus clarum (mycorrhiza) on the growth of tomato seedlings grown in both sterilized and non-sterilized soils. Highest growth parameter values were recorded in tomato plants inoculated with mycorrhiza but grown in sterilized soil, followed by those grown in non-sterilized soil but inoculated with mycorrhiza also. Sterilized but non-inoculated tomato plants also had growth and were closely followed by non-sterilized, non-inoculated tomato plants. There was no significant difference in all the treatments when girth of the tomato plants used was measured in this study. Nutrient uptake (N,P,K) was significantly found highest in the inoculated sterilized tomato plants while it was found lowest in the non-sterilized, non-inoculated tomato plants. Generally, mycorrhizal-inoculated tomato plants (whether sterilized or non-sterilized) showed better growth in all the treatments used.     

Effect of legume incorporation on solubilization of Ogun phosphate rock on slightly acidic soils in SW Nigeria

Most soils in Nigeria are known to be slightly acidic and very low in plant‐available P. These soils need to be fertilized for optimal crop production but cost and scarcity of mineral P fertilizers shifted attention to making direct application of indigenous phosphate rock viable alternative. Laboratory and greenhouse studies were carried out to monitor the effect of the decomposition of legume biomass on the solubilization of Ogun phosphate rock (OPR) on slightly acidic soils. Surface soil samples collected from three experimental sites in SW Nigeria were used. The fertilizer treatments were four rates of P as OPR (0, 30, 60, and 90 kg ha^–1) and one rate of triple superphosphate (TSP, 40 kg P ha^–1). The legume treatments were cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L Walp) and mucuna (Mucuna puriens L). Rice (Oryza sativa) was used in the greenhouse study as the test crop. Soil samples were analyzed for soluble P and pH after 2, 4, 6, and 10 months of incubation in the laboratory while plant tissues collected from greenhouse study were analyzed for P. In the incubation study, significant increase in water‐soluble P was observed when legume biomass was incorporated with phosphate rock at p < 0.05. Highest value in rice dry‐matter yield was recorded with pots treated with mucuna and TSP, also treatment combination of cowpea and OPR significantly increased rice dry‐matter yield by 16% over pots treated with cowpea biomass alone and 42% over control pot (no legume biomass and OPR in the green house (p < 0.05). Thus incorporation of legume biomass significantly increased rate of OPR solubilization.     

Application of principal component and discriminant analyses to morpho-structural indices of indigenous and exotic chickens raised under intensive management system

The objectives of this study were to investigate the relationships between body weight and morpho-structural indices to predict body weight from their orthogonal body shape characters using principal component analysis and to morphologically classify the chicken genotypes using multivariate discriminant analysis. Data used were from 273 randomly selected 12-weeks-old indigenous chickens of normal-feathered (NF), frizzle-feathered (FF), naked-neck (NN) and Anak Titan (AT) genotypes. Phenotypic correlation among body weight and most biometric traits ranged from 0.227-0.876, -0.7-0.901, 0.034-0.968 and -0.207-0.849 for NF, NN and AT chickens, respectively. Factor analysis with varimax rotation of interrelated traits revealed three principal components which accounted for 83.1%, 74.4%, 78.8% and 76.5% of the total variance in NF, FF, NN and AT chickens in the order listed. Breast girth, keel length, thigh length, shank length and wing length were found to be the most discriminating variables to separate the chicken genotypes. The longest distance (72.54) occurred between AT and NF genotypes while the shortest distance (4.27) was recorded for FF and NN genotypes. Classification results showed that 85.2% of AT genotype was correctly classified into their source population. However, 22.7% of NF was misclassified as NN, while 33.3% of NN was misclassified as NF chickens. These results suggest that there is high rate of gene flow between these two indigenous chicken genotypes. Information obtained from this study may be considered useful in breed improvement programmes for selection, characterization, conservation and better management of Nigerian indigenous chickens.