Evaluation of the use of milk urea nitrogen (MUN) as an indicator of nutritional status of dairy cattle in smallholder farms in Kiambu district

A survey was conducted to evaluate the use of Milk Urea Nitrogen as an indicator of nutrition status of lactating animals. Twenty-seven animals in a randomly selected sample of 21 farms in Kiambu District were monitored for nutritional status for 12 weeks. Fortnightly records were taken on feed offered, body condition, body weight and milk yield. Milk samples were collected weekly and analysed for MUN. Preliminary results indicated that there was a significant (P<0.05) negative correlation between MUN and milk yield, and a marginal correlation between MUN and body weight. There was no significant relationship between MUN and Body condition score. The data so far collected, which excludes the feed data indicate that MUN, may to an extent be a reliable indicator, of nutritional status of dairy cattle under smallholder farm conditions

Nutritive Composition and \u3ci\u3eIn Vitro\u3c/i\u3e Dry Matter Digestibility of the Most Browsed Forage Species by Lactating Camels

Camels are both grazers and browsers of a broad spectrum of forages. The objective of this study was to identify and to determine the chemical composition of the most preferred forage species by lactating Somali camels in Laikipia County, Kenya. Lactating Somali camels and their calves were observed during the wet and dry seasons while browsing for a period of two weeks. The forage species were ranked based on the bite count. The most browsed forages identified through observation were sampled for identification by the local and scientific names and laboratory analysis. They were analyzed for proximate composition, detergent fiber fractions, and in vitro dry matter digestibility. The most browsed forage species were Acacia nubica, Acacia seyal, Cucumis aculeatus, Euclea divinorum, Hibiscus parrifolia in the wet season and Barleria acanthoides, Balanites aegyptiaca, Cynodon dactycon, Lycium europium, Pollichia campestris in the dry season. Shrubs constituted 60%, trees 30%, and grasses 10% of the most preferred forage species. The preferred browsed species had high crude protein (7.1±0.4 to 25.7±1.2%) and low neutral detergent fiber concentrations (29.1±2.7 to 74.0±7%). The results of the study show camels fed on different types of forage species and that the forage nutritive value affected the selection

Delivery of technical information to smallholder dairy farmers in Kiambu District

A survey was conducted to determine the sources and delivery of technical information to smallholder dairy farmers in Kiambu District. Sixty-three farmers in three wealth groups (rich, medium, poor) of 21 farmers each from three different locations, were selected at random from maps drawn by communities. A structured questionnaire was administered to collect information on farmers’ level of exposure to different dairy information sources and their involvement in extension activities during 1997. Preliminary results indicate that most poor farmers (66%) relied on neighbors as their primary information source. Field days run by dairy cooperative societies were the most important organized information delivery channel for poor (28%) and medium (38%) farmers. Private and co-operative veterinary services concentrated on rich farms with 33% of these households having contact compared with only 14% of poor households. The government veterinary or livestock services contacted less than 20% of households either in farm visits or field days. Besides visits by private veterinary officers to wealthy farmers the frequency of contact with livestock professionals was therefore limited for all communities. Preliminary conclusions are that for Kiambu, which has a well established smallholder dairy industry, group meetings organized by cooperatives are more likely to reach the poorer sectors of the community. This coupled with frequent neighbour-to-neighbour discussions may currently be the most effective dairy information delivery channel

Enhancing Milk Production of Lactating Camels in Kenya via Supplementation of the Invasive Cactus (\u3ci\u3eOpuntia stricta\u3c/i\u3e) In the Diet

Climate change leading to prolonged and recurrent droughts, changes in land use, primarily settlement of pastoralists, followed by overgrazing and subsequent land degradation, has made the highly drought resistant opuntia flourish and be aggressively invasive in the Kenya’s rangelands. Camel keeping has increasingly replaced cattle as a climate adaptation strategy and also as a result of a steady increase in demand for camel milk due to the associated nutritional and health benefits,To address the challenge of lack of pasture during prolonged drought, there is the need to utilize the invasive cactus as fodder. The invasive cactus can be a kind of \u27Drought-Insurance\u27 in these regions due to its ability to retain its nutrition and productivity in water deficit conditions. This study reports on the incorporation of the invasive cactus together with a protein source in increasing the milk yield of lactating camels in one of the semi-arid land regions of Kenya

Total Mixed Rations Verses Traditional Feeding of Dairy Cows: Which way to go?

No abstract The Kenya Veterinarian Vol. 21 2001: pp. 12-1

Options for efficient utilisation of high fibre feed resources in low input ruminant production systems in a changing environment: A review

One of the major effects of climate change is disruption in normal weather patterns, especially an increase in long-term annual temperature, and more frequent and intense droughts and floods. These changes have impact on the natural resource base that includes plants, animals and biodiversity. Consequently, this diminishes feed and water resources which livestock depend on to survive and therefore impacting negatively on food security and household incomes of smallholder livestock producers and pastoralists, the majority of whom are found in the tropics. Efficient utilization of available feed resource by ruminants, most of it being high in fibre and low in protein content is often constrained by low digestibility and inefficient metabolism of absorbed nutrients at the tissue metabolic level. The low digestibility of high fibre forage in ruminants is mainly attributed to a high level of lignification and a deficiency of essential nutrients, especially nitrogen (N) and sulphur (S) that are required by rumen microbes for optimal growth. Furthermore, the absorbed nutrients also tend to be imbalanced in the ratio of protein to energy and/or acetogenic to glucogenic substrates. As a result the intake of high fibre forages in ruminants is often associated with a significant loss of feed energy as heat increment and methane (CH4) gas production, with the later also contributing significantly to global warming through greenhouse gas emissions. This review gives an overview of the various strategies in the form of treatment and supplementation that have been shown to improve digestion and intake of high fibre forages in ruminants, and also reducing CH4 gas production. The role of rumen degradable nutrients as well as by-pass nutrients in enhancing digestion and absorption of nutrients that are balanced in protein: energy ratio and/or acetogenic: glucogenic substrates is also reviewed and suggested as one way of increasing metabolic efficiency of absorbed nutrients at the tissue level to reduce heat increment. The role of glucogenic substrates such as propionate and protein/amino acids in ensuring an adequate supply of reducing equivalents in the form of reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) that is required for the conservation of excess acetate as fat in the adipose tissue and also for regeneration of oxaloacetate for efficient VFA energy metabolism in the body tissues is also reviewed. It is concluded that a multipronged approach combining treatment with supplementation with cheap and locally available rumen degradable nutrients (e.g. molasses-urea liquid mixture and the urea-molasses-mineral based multi-nutrient block) and bypass nutrients that are compatible with low input ruminant production systems holds the key to increasing efficiency in the utilization of high fibre-low protein forage in ruminants. This can play a major role in increasing the capacity of smallholder livestock producers and pastoralists in most parts of the tropics to adapt and therefore mitigate the adverse effects of climate change

Supplementation with Calliandra calothyrsus improves nitrogen retention in cattle fed low-protein diets

Ruminant productivity in the tropical Africa has remained low despite decades of research on animal nutrition and introduction of new breeds of animals mainly because of low-quality feeds available, especially during the dry season that is inefficiently utilised. This results in prolonged time for animals to mature and increased nutrient excretion to the environment. We conducted a study using yearling steers (n = 12, liveweight (LW) = 161.8 ± 10.89 kg) in a 3 × 3 Latin square to evaluate the effect of protein supplementation and supplementation frequency on intake, digestibility, nitrogen (N) retention and microbial N supply in cattle consuming low-protein diets. The steers were maintained on ad libitumwheat straw (DM = 877 ± 5 g/kg, crude protein (CP) = 20.0 ± 1.1 g/kg), with supplemental protein supplied as air-driedCalliandra calothyrsus leaves (DM = 897 ± 3 g/kg, CP = 257.5 ± 4.1 g/kg on a DM basis). Samples of basal diet, supplement, refusals, faecal matter and urine were collected and analysed per treatment. Supplementation increased intakes by the steers (P 0.404). Steers lost bodyweight (P < 0.05) on all treatments, but less so when supplemented. Nitrogen losses was reduced (P < 0.001) with supplementation (–33.3% vs 15.7%, s.e.m. 0.06). The increased N balance in animals receiving supplemented diets indicated that N retention actually improves with increased protein supplementation in animals fed low-protein diets, implying that improving protein supply to animals fed submaintenance diets will not only ameliorate production losses, but will actually decrease non-enteric greenhouse gas production and environmental N losses per animal product unit obtained

EVALUATION OF EARLY CALVES\u2019 WEANING DIET AS MILK REPLACER FOR SMALLHOLDER DAIRY PRODUCTION SYSTEMS IN KENYA

Small-scale dairy farmers in Kenya are interested more in selling milk to earn income, especially during dry seasons when milk prices hike. This results in depressed calves\u2019 growth rates, high calf mortality rates, late maturity and general economic losses in the smallholder dairy production systems. Innovative development of early calves weaning formulae, as milk replacers, would offer a solution in the calves\u2019 nutrition and household income in the long run. A study was conducted to determine the effectiveness and economic returns to replacing milk with formulated early calf weaning diets (EWDs) on the survival and general performance of dairy calves in Kenya. Treatments included milk feeding up to 105 days (Control) and with milk (28 days) + EWD, fortified or not fortified with effective microorganisms (EM), diamond-V or Diatomite (DT), up to 105 days. There was no (P&gt;0.05) differences in average daily weight gain of the calves as a result of the treatments. However, the EM-treatment had significantly (P&lt;0.01) higher calve dry matter (DM) intake (g kg-1 day) than in the other treatment groups. Due to feeding with EWD, total milk saved for the farmer was 9 kg-1cow-1day-1; equal to 945 kg for the 105 period, valued at US$614. For the conventional milk feeding (control), total milk saved was 5 kg-1 cow-1 day-1; equal to 525 for the 105 period, valued at US$ 341. Significant incidences of diarrhea were observed in the control (milk) and the Diamond-V fortified treatments. Signs of hair loss and discolorations were observed in DT-fortified EWDs. EM- fortification reduced disease incidences, thus, EWD fortified with this microbial feed additive can be an effective milk- replacer in smallholder dairy production systems to wean dairy calves at 28-35 days with good economic and performance results.Les petits fermiers agricoles au Kenya s\u2019int\ue9ressent plus \ue0 la vente du lait pour g\ue9n\ue9rer des revenues, sp\ue9cialement durant les saisons s\ue8ches lorsque le prix du lait est \ue9lev\ue9. Ceci r\ue9sulte en une inhibition du taux de croissance des veaux, des taux de mortalit\ue9s \ue9lev\ue9s, retard de maturit\ue9 et pertes \ue9conomiques dans les syst\ue8mes de production laitier des petits fermiers agricoles. Le d\ue9veloppement des formules innov\ue9es de sevrage pr\ue9coce des veaux en remplacement au lait pourrait offrir une solution dans la nutrition des veaux et \ue0 la longue am\ue9liorer le revenu des m\ue9nages. Une \ue9tude \ue9tait faite pour d\ue9terminer l\u2019efficacit\ue9 et le b\ue9n\ue9fice du remplacement du lait par une alimentation formul\ue9e de sevrage pr\ue9coce des veaux (EWDs) pour la survie et la performance des veaux au Kenya. Les traitements comportaient l\u2019alimentation par le lait jusqu\u2019\ue0 105 jours (t\ue9moin) et le lait (28 jours) + EWD, fortifi\ue9 ou non par des microorganismes efficaces (EM) , le diamant-V ou le Diatomite (DT), jusqu\u2019 \ue0 105 jours. Il n\u2019y avait pas de diff\ue9rences significatives (P&gt;0.05) des traitements sur la moyenne du gain quotidien de poids des veaux. Par ailleurs, le traitement de fortification avec EM avait significativement (P&lt;0.01) induit une ingestion de la mati\ue8re s\ue8che la plus \ue9lev\ue9e (DM) (g kg-1 day) par rapport autres traitements. Par l\u2019alimentation \ue0 l\u2019EWD, les fermiers ont pu gagner 9 kg vache-1jour-1 \ue9quivalant \ue0 945 kg pour toute la p\ue9riode de 105 jours et \ue9valu\ue9s \ue0 US614. Pour l\u2019alimentation conventionnelle en lait (t\ue9moin), le total \ue9pargn\ue9 \ue9tait de 5 kg par vache jour-1 \ue9quivalent \ue0 525 kg d\u2019une valeur d\u2019US 341. Des incidences de diarrh\ue9e \ue9taient observ\ue9es dans le control (lait) et le traitement EWD fortifi\ue9 avec Diamond-V tandis que les signes de perte et d\ue9coloration des poils \ue9taient observ\ue9s dans l\u2019EWD fortifi\ue9 de DT. La fortification avec les microorganismes EM a r\ue9duit les incidences de maladies. D\ue8s lors EWD fortifi\ue9 avec les microorganismes EM peut constituer un remplacement efficace du lait dans les syst\ue8mes de production laiti\ue8res pour sevrer les veaux de 28-35 jours avec des r\ue9sultats \ue9conomiques et des performances satisfaisants

Diversity and functional analysis of rumen and fecal microbial communities associated with dietary changes in crossbreed dairy cattle.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of varying roughage and concentrate proportions, in diet of crossbreed dairy cattle, on the composition and associated functional genes of rumen and fecal microbiota. We also explored fecal samples as a proxy for rumen liquor samples. Six crossbred dairy cattle were reared on three diets with an increasing concentrate and reducing roughage amount in three consecutive 10-day periods. After each period, individual rumen liquor and fecal samples were collected and analyzed through shotgun metagenomic sequencing. Average relative abundance of identified Operational Taxonomic Units (OTU) and microbial functional roles from all animals were compared between diets and sample types (fecal and rumen liquor). Results indicated that dietary modifications significantly affected several rumen and fecal microbial OTUs. In the rumen, an increase in dietary concentrate resulted in an upsurge in the abundance of Proteobacteria, while reducing the proportions of Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes. Conversely, changes in microbial composition in fecal samples were not consistent with dietary modification patterns. Microbial functional pathway classification identified that carbohydrate metabolism and protein metabolism pathways dominated microbial roles. Assessment of dietary effects on the predicted functional roles of these microbiota revealed that a high amount of dietary concentrate resulted in an increase in central carbohydrate metabolism and a corresponding reduction in protein synthesis. Moreover, we identified several microbial stress-related responses linked to dietary changes. Bacteroides and Clostridium genera were the principal hosts of these microbial functions. Therefore, the roughage to concentrate proportion has more influence on the microbial composition and microbial functional genes in rumen samples than fecal samples. As such, we did not establish a significant relationship between the rumen and fecal metagenome profiles, and the rumen and fecal microbiota from one animal did not correlate more than those from different animals