Livestock feed production and marketing in Central and North Rift Valley Regions of Kenya

Availability and access to feed resources are important constraints to livestock productivity in East Africa. This study examined the production and marketing of livestock feeds in Central and North Rift regions in Kenya. Looking at existing fodder value chains to assess constraints and opportunities using the value chain approach, a rapid reconnaissance survey was conducted in which 93 actors were interviewed along the value chain in November 2010. Fodder marketing takes place at two levels: location (a cluster of 2-3 villages) and district. Trading at location level involved input sellers, producers selling directly to rural retailers, rural consumers, or if they were near major district towns, to wholesalers. District level trading involved traders who sourced for fodder outside the district and retailed to wholesalers in major consumer markets within districts and to a lesser extend retailed in local areas. Service providers such as transporters and feed processors operated at all levels. Input providers comprised of agrovet and general retail shops. Traders comprised of individual traders and cooperative societies. Feed trading is seasonal commonly occurring during the dry season with seasonal price variations at all levels. Feed price have increased by about 15% within the past year. In all the sites, local feed markets are dominated by livestock keepers selling excess fodder. There are few “specialized” fodder sellers, i.e. non livestock keepers who grew fodder as a source of income. Commonly traded feeds in the dry season were Rhodes grass, maize stovers, oat straws and Lucerne hay that were preferred due to longer storage period. Others forages were Napier grass and roadside harvested grass. Most traded fodder had low gross margins (GM) although foodfeed crops such as oats, sweet potato, etc tended to have higher GM. Actors reported an increasing demand for purchased fodder although they all operated in uncoordinated manner. Cooperative societies played a key role in linking buyers and sellers, stimulating demand and providing credit. Lack of input capital is perceived as a major constraint more than lack of market because demand for feed is strong during the dry season. This study concludes that there is need to promote feed marketing as a package alongside feed conservation, feed processing as well creating platform for that provide linkages for all actors to operate in coordinated way. Processing of feed is important to reducing bulkiness and handling costs hence easy storage and transportation. Provision of market information to producers and buyers is important to enhance and improve feed marketing systems

The Effects of Cultivation Site on Forage Quality of Calliandra calothyrsus var. Patulul

An in vitro experiment was performed to compare the forage quality of foliage of Calliandra (Calliandra calothyrsus Meissner var. Patulul) cultivated on either low or medium-fertility soils in Colombia and Kenya, respectively. A grass-alone diet, with and without urea supplementation, and five legume-supplemented diets (1/3 of dietary dry matter) were tested with the rumen simulation technique (Rusitec) (n=4). The legume supplements consisted of Cratylia (Cratylia argentea), Calliandra from Colombia or Kenya, or 1:1 mixtures of Cratylia with Calliandra Colombia or Kenya. The tannin content of Calliandra Colombia was almost twice as high as that of Calliandra Kenya. Supplementation with urea or Cratylia alone, but not with Calliandra alone, increased ammonia concentration in the fermenter fluid. Unlike Calliandra Colombia, Calliandra Kenya in mixture with Cratylia increased ammonia concentration. The apparent degradation of organic matter increased with all types of supplementation, except with Calliandra Colombia alone. Although the foliage of Calliandra from the two cultivation sites had similar contents of organic matter, crude protein and neutral detergent fibre, they differed in␣nearly all fermentation properties. The material from Kenya showed a higher apparent nutrient degradability. These results indicate that C. calothyrsus var. Patulul cultivated at the Kenyan site had a clearly higher forage quality than foliage from the same variety cultivated in Colombia. However, both materials had a much lower forage quality than Cratylia. The Cratylia-related effects on ruminal fermentation were mainly the results of an increased supply of fermentable nitrogenous compounds as was obvious from the comparison with the urea-supplemented gras

Circulating concentrations of vitamin D in relation to pancreatic cancer risk in European populations

Evidence from in vivo, in vitro and ecological studies are suggestive of a protective effect of vitamin D against pancreatic cancer (PC). However, this has not been confirmed by analytical epidemiological studies. We aimed to examine the association between pre-diagnostic circulating vitamin D concentrations and PC incidence in European populations. We conducted a pooled nested case-control study within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) and the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study's second survey (HUNT2) cohorts. In total, 738 primary incident PC cases (EPIC n = 626; HUNT2 n = 112; median follow-up = 6.9 years) were matched to 738 controls. Vitamin D [25(OH)D2 and 25(OH)D3 combined] concentrations were determined using isotope-dilution liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Conditional logistic regression models with adjustments for body mass index and smoking habits were used to estimate incidence rate ratios (IRRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). Compared with a reference category of >50 to 75 nmol/L vitamin D, the IRRs (95% CIs) were 0.71 (0.42-1.20); 0.94 (0.72-1.22); 1.12 (0.82-1.53) and 1.26 (0.79-2.01) for clinically pre-defined categories of ≤25; >25 to 50; >75 to 100; and >100 nmol/L vitamin D, respectively (p for trend = 0.09). Corresponding analyses by quintiles of season-standardized vitamin D concentrations also did not reveal associations with PC risk (p for trend = 0.23). Although these findings among participants from the largest combination of European cohort studies to date show increasing effect estimates of PC risk with increasing pre-diagnostic concentrations of vitamin D, they are not statistically significant