Relationship between domestication and genetic diversity of Oreochromis species in Malawi : Oreochromis shiranus shiranus (Boulenger) and Oreochromis shiranus chilwae (Trewavas)

Doctor of Philosoph

NEPAD / African Biosciences Initiative (ABI) network of centres of excellence in biosciences

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RIS Research and Information System for Developing Countries Status of Biotechnology in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities 2 Asian Biotechnology and Development Review

Abstract: For the past three decades Africa has been a net importer of food!! In recognition of this situation and the significant role agriculture plays in Africa's development, the continent, under the auspices of New Partnerships for Africa's Development (NEPAD), developed a number of initiatives to enhance agricultural growth, alleviate poverty and improve quality of life. Some of these initiatives are in the African Union (AU)-NEPAD Science and Technology Consolidated Plan of Action in which the flagship programmes on indigenous crops are contained and the NEPAD Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP). Agricultural biotechnology alone will not solve the multitude of problems that farmers in Africa face; however, it has the potential to make crop breeding and crop management systems more efficient thereby generating improved crop varieties and higher yields. The challenges facing the continent on biotechnology and biosafety include lack of fund; loss of trained technical expertise; slow development of the biotechnology sector; inadequate Intellectual Property Rights infrastructure; government not taking a more active political role in promoting the technology and the issue of public acceptance brought about by activism. The lag in development of a governance capacity for biotechnology is seen in the current status of the development of national biosafety frameworks (NBFs) in Africa. Out of the 53 countries of the African Union, only 16 countries have laws, regulations, guidelines or policies related to modern biotechnology. Of these, only South Africa, Burkina Faso and Egypt have had experience in the assessment of applications for commercialization of any biotech crops. The combination of inadequate policies and legal frameworks require urgent attention that is led primarily by Africans if it is to achieve credibility in the eyes of African governments, African civil society and African people

Genetic variation of Taeniolethrinops praeorbitalis (Chisawasawa) in the central and southern Lake Malawi

Lethrinops spp flock is one of the major commercially important fish species exploited in Lake Malawi. It contributes a large portion of inshore and deep-water catches yet little is known about its population genetics, which could provide information for making management decisions for sustainable exploitation and conservation. This study was carried out to determine the genetic diversity and population structure of Taeniolethrinops praeorbitalis populations in traditional fisheries of central and southern Lake Malawi. A total of 10 populations of 40 individuals each were analyzed at six microsatellite DNA loci. The populations were not in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium possibly due to inter-deme mixing leading to Wuhland effect. This is supported by inter-deme migration of more than seven individuals per generation as determined by Slatkin's private allele method. Mean FST value was 0.15. Allelic diversity as a measure of genetic variation was not significantly different between populations in Mangochi district and those in Nkhota-kota district (p> 0.05) despite high fishing pressure in the former. The genetic relationships among the populations appear to be less influenced by geographical distance, normalized Mantel's statistic Z = 0.06, implying that T. praeorbitalis does not occur in discrete populations in Lake Malawi. UNISWA Jnl of Agric Vol 10 2001: pp 30-3

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Relationship between Local and Scientific Names of Fishes in Lake Malawi/Nyasa

An interview survey was carried out in 20 Malawian lakeside villages from 1999 to 2000 to clarify the relationship between local and scientific names of the fishes in Lake Malawi/Nyasa. Fishermen in various localities responded with 536 local fish names for photographs shown of 106 fish species and color morphs. Similarity analysis of local name usage produced three groups of localities corresponding with the Tonga, Tumbuka, and Nyanja/Yao languages. A single scientific fish species had 10.2 local fish names, while one local fish name covered 2.0 scientific fish species, and 64.3 % of local fish names were used only for one scientific species. A few local fish names were used widely irrespective of language, although 69.5 % of local fish names were collected only from one locality. These facts suggest that lakeside residents identify fish at the biological taxonomy level, although the naming was specific to a particular locality. Most fishes with a high variety of local names were shallow-water dwelling species with low local market values, whereas fishes with fewer local names were mainly offshore species of high commercial value