Traditional Chicken Production System and Marketing in Ethiopia: A review

In Ethiopia, the agricultural sector is a corner stone of the economic and social life of the people. The sector employs 80-85 percent of the population and contributes 40 percent to the total GDP. Livestock production, as one component of agriculture, covers 40 percent of agricultural output and it also plays an important role in the national economy as it contributes 13-16 percent of the total GDP. Poultry production, as one segment of livestock production, has a peculiar privilege to contribute to the sector. Similarly, households in Ethiopia keep birds for household consumption, sale and reproduction purposes including other social and cultural roles. Estimating the economic value of rural poultry is more difficult than for other livestock because of the lack of reliable production data. Rural chicken in Ethiopia represents a significant part of the national economy in general and the rural economy in particular and contribute to 98.5% and 99.2% of the national egg and chicken meat production, respectively. However, the economic contribution of the sector is still not proportional to the huge chicken numbers, attributed to the presence of many technical, organizational and institutional constraints. It is difficult to design and implement chicken based development programs that benefit rural people without understanding traditional chicken production systems and marketing. This paper is to review traditional chicken production system and marketing in Ethiopia. Keywords: Chicken, marketing and traditiona

Quality Assessment of Cattle Milk in Adea Berga and Ejerie Districts of West Shoa Zone, Ethiopia

This study was conducted in Adea Berga and Ejerie districts. The objectives of the study were to assess raw milk hygienic handling practices and constraints associated with milk quality. A total of 180 smallholder milk producers farmers, two dairy cooperatives, one dairy cooperative union, two milk processors and ten consumers were interviewed to collect the required information using semi-structured questionnaires and focused group discussions. About 65% the respondents were removed manure daily While 35% were removed three times a week. Most of the interviewed dairy producers 69.4% washed their hands before milking while the rest 30.6% did not wash their hands. About 62.2% of the dairy producers washed their cow’s udder before milking and 37.8% were not washing. Nearly half of the respondents 46.7% were did not use towels for udder drying, 15.6% used common towel and 37.7 % reported they did not practice udder washing and drying. All of the interviewed milk producer farmers were used plastic made milk containers during milking and transported the milk to collection centers. Dairy cooperatives, Dairy cooperative union and processors used aluminum container for milk transportation and storage. Almost all of the dairy producers 98 % and milk collectors washed milking utensils after every use. In Ejerie district 3.3% of smallholder dairy producers were cleaned their milking utensil before and after usage. About 77% of the respondent washed their milk container with cold water and soap while 23% used hot water and soap. All primary dairy cooperatives and 70 % of consumers were washed their milk container with cold water and soap. The remaining 30% of the interviewed consumers were washed their milk utensils with warm water and soap. Smallholder producers used different water sources used for cleaning purpose tap water 55%, river 28% and Hand dug well 17%. All small holder milk producers used traditional cooling method. Chemical composition (fat and water) content were the major milk quality criteria to accept or rejected the milk. Major milk quality constraints in the study areas were limited awareness on hygienic handling of milk, lack of cooling facility, shortage of clean water , lack of effective quality control system and absence of quality based payment system. Thus, Awareness creation and trainings should be needed milk hygienic handling practices and introduce quality based payment improving milk quality

Feed intake, milk yield and composition, and profitability of Horro Cows fed Rhodes grass hay supplemented with Ficus sur (Cv. Forssk) fruits

An experiment was conducted in Horro Guduru Wollega Zone, at Guduru Animal  Production and Research Center (GAPRC) of Wollega University to evaluate the effect of Ficus sur (Cv. Forssk) fruits (FSF) supplementation on feed intake, milk yield, composition and profitability of Horro cows. Twelve healthy lactating Horro cows of similar lactation stage, body weight and condition were selected from  GAPRC. All of the selected cows were in early (one weak to 10days) lactation stage. The experiment had three treatments with four replications arranged in a randomized complete block design to which 2-5 parities were used as blocking factor, and three cows were used per parity. The treatments were: T1, Rhodes grass hay +1.7kg Oat grain +0.8kg Noug seed cake, T2, Rhodes grass hay +0.56kg Noug seed  cake+0.97kg oat grain +0.97kg FSF and T3, Rhodes grass hay +0.8kg Noug seed cake+ 1.7kg FSF. The experiment was conducted for 60 days, including 15 days of adaptation. Except for crude protein intake, there were significant (P<0.05)  differences in total dry matter, organic matter, neutral detergent fiber and acid  detergent fiber intakes among treatment groups. Milk yields were increased with  increase in levels of FSF in the diets. Except Lactose content, the compositions of milk were significantly differed (P<0.05) among treatment groups. Milk fat was highest for cows fed T1 diet. Supplementation of FSF was more profitable than those supplemented with oats grain (OG). In conclusion, supplementation of Horro cows with different proportion of FSF and OG maintained on basal diet of Rhodes grass hay has increased feed intake, milk yield and milk composition of dairy products. Due to high cost of agro industrial by products and cereal grains, it is advantageous to use FSF as supplement to improve milk production and composition, and profitability of Horro cows. Since FSF is promising energy supplement, further research is suggested to study the propagation and management of Ficus sur trees and estimation of their fruit yields.Keywords: Feed intake Ficus sur Milk yield Composition Horro cow

Effects of different proportions of dried cafeteria leftover inclusion in a concentrate mix on performance of growing pigs

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of inclusion of dried Cafeteria leftover (DCLO) at various levels in concentrate mix (CM) on feed intake, digestibility, average daily gain (ADG), feed conversion ratio (FCR), carcass characteristics, and economic benefits of weaned pigs at Haramaya university piggery. Twenty Yorkshire pigs with initial live weight of 19.89±0.297kg (mean±SE) were randomly assigned to four dietary treatments in a completely randomized block design each with five replicates. The experimental rations were sole CM (mixture of maize grain, wheat short, wheat bran, noug seed cake, soybean mill, vitamin premix and salt), replacement of the concentrate with DCLO at different proportions as (33%CM and 67% DCLO; 67% CM and 33% DCLO) and feeding with only sole DCLO. The mean feed intake ranged 1.6-1.82kg/day and ADG was 0.4-0.64kg/day. The least feed intake was for sole DCLO (P<0.05) and the highest for 67% CM:33%DCLO. The FCR (w/w) was lowest (P<0.05) for pigs fed 33% DCLO diet, and pigs fed 67% DCLO:33%CM achieved highest FCR. Crude protein digestibility did not differ between treatments, but DM, EE and CF digestibility increased with increasing level of DCLO in the diets. The mean carcass weight (43.7kg-57.02kg) was highest in 67% CM but lowest in sole DCLO. Back fat thickness (2.4cm-3.2cm (SEM=±0.03)) was lowest in sole CM but highest in sole DCLO. The highest and lowest (P<0.05) rib eye area (23.9 cm2-31.9cm2 (SEM=±0.81)) were recorded for sole CM and sole DCLO, respectively. Cost of feed per kg weight gain was declined significantly (P<0.01) with increasing level of DCLO. Despite the lower production cost of sole DCLO groups, the pigs showed lower performance and this must have contributed to lowest net return of the groups. Thus, it is concluded that DCLO can replace the conventional concentrate mix up to 67% without adverse effect on pig performance.Keywords: Carcass Digestibility Live Weight Gain Nutritive Value Profitabilit