Smallholder dairy technology in coastal Kenya. An adoption and impact study

This study examines the factors influencing adoption of three related dairy technologies in coastal Kenya, and assesse the impacts of dairy adoption on household income, employment generation and nutritional status of pre-school children. The technologies studied were adoption of grade and crossbred dairy animals, planting of the fodder Napier grass and use of the infection and treatment method of immunisation against East Coast fever. A series of household surveys was conducted from mid 1997 to mid 1998. The descriptive results from surveys of 202 households in Coast Province indicate that adoption of a grade or crossbred dairy animal may result in substantial increases in household income, can generate paid (secondary) employment, and may improve the nutritional status of pre-school-age children in the household. Econometric analyses, which controlled for numerous confounding factors, provided less consistent support for the impact of adoption on household income and paid employment. It appears that neither the adoption nor productivity of dairying are constrained by poor availability of technology options. For dairy development activities on the coast, two areas merit attention: mechanisms for easing access to grade and crossbred dairy cattle, either through credit schemes or through self-help smallholder co-operatives, and reducing the disease risks associated with grade and crossbred dairy animals

Breeding for resistance to gastrointestinal nematodes - the potential in low-input/output small ruminant production systems

AbstractThe control of gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) is mainly based on the use of drugs, grazing management, use of copper oxide wire particles and bioactive forages. Resistance to anthelmintic drugs in small ruminants is documented worldwide. Host genetic resistance to parasites, has been increasingly used as a complementary control strategy, along with the conventional intervention methods mentioned above. Genetic diversity in resistance to GIN has been well studied in experimental and commercial flocks in temperate climates and more developed economies. However, there are very few report outputs from the more extensive low-input/output smallholder systems in developing and emerging countries. Furthermore, results on quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with nematode resistance from various studies have not always been consistent, mainly due to the different nematodes studied, different host breeds, ages, climates, natural infections versus artificial challenges, infection level at sampling periods, among others. The increasing use of genetic markers (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms, SNPs) in GWAS or the use of whole genome sequence data and a plethora of analytic methods offer the potential to identify loci or regions associated nematode resistance. Genomic selection as a genome-wide level method overcomes the need to identify candidate genes. Benefits in genomic selection are now being realised in dairy cattle and sheep under commercial settings in the more advanced countries. However, despite the commercial benefits of using these tools, there are practical problems associated with incorporating the use of marker-assisted selection or genomic selection in low-input/output smallholder farming systems breeding schemes. Unlike anthelmintic resistance, there is no empirical evidence suggesting that nematodes will evolve rapidly in response to resistant hosts. The strategy of nematode control has evolved to a more practical manipulation of host-parasite equilibrium in grazing systems by implementation of various strategies, in which improvement of genetic resistance of small ruminant should be included. Therefore, selection for resistant hosts can be considered as one of the sustainable control strategy, although it will be most effective when used to complement other control strategies such as grazing management and improving efficiency of anthelmintics currently

Genetic resistance to gastrointestinal nematode parasites in Red Maasai sheep in Kenya

This study is evaluating the resistance of Red Maasai sheep to endoparasite infections relative to Dorper sheep and a range of Red Maasai x Dorper crosses. The results confirm previous reports that both Red Maasai ewes and lambs are more resistant to endoparasites (predominantly Haemonchus contortus) than Dorper sheep. Resistance was shown by the ability of the Red Maasai to maintain higher packed cell volume levels (i.e. to resist anaemia), lower faecal egg counts and markedly lower lamb mortality. Heritabilities for PCV and FEC in lambs were low at weaning (3 months of age) but ranged from 0.20 to 0.30 for FEC in 10-month old lambs. From a preliminary assessment of total flock productivity it is found that sheep producers could double their lamb off-takes if they used Red Maasai or Red Maasai-crosses instead of Dorpers

Genetic resistance to gastrointestinal nematode parasites in Red Maasai sheep in Kenya

This study is evaluating the resistance of Red Maasai sheep to endoparasite infections relative to Dorper sheep and a range of Red Maasai x Dorper crosses. The results confirm previous Reports that both Red Maasai ewes and lambs are more resistant to endoparasites (predominantly Haemonchus contortus) than Dorper sheep. Resistance was shown by the ability of the Red Maasai to maintain higher packed cell volume levels (i.e. to resist anaemia), lower faecal egg counts and markedly lower lamb mortality. Heritabilities for PCV and FEC in lambs were low at weaning (3 months of age) but ranged from 0.20 to 0.30 for FEC in 10-month old lambs. From a preliminary assessment of total flock productivity it is found that sheep producers could double their lamb off-takes if they used Red Maasai or Red Maasai-crosses instead of Dorpers

Evidence for multiple anthelmintic resistance in sheep and goats reared under the same management in coastal Kenya

Four experiments, two with sheep and two with goats, were carried out to determine the efficacy of ivermectin, fenbendazole, levamisole, closantel and some of their combinations by faecal egg count reduction tests. In the first experiment, injectable ivermectin, oral ivermectin, fenbendazole and levamisole were tested in 6-month-old lambs, and their reduction percentages were 77 percent, 13 percent, 42 percent and 92 percent, respectively. In the second experiment, with yearling sheep, the reduction percentages were 35 percent for injectable ivermectin, 32 percent for fenbendazole, 99 percent for levamisole, 48 percent for closantel, 92 percent for injectable ivermectin combined with fenbendazole, 99 percent for injectable ivermectin combined with levamisole, and 100 percent for fenbendazole combined with levamisole. In the study with 18-month-old goats given the same does rates as those recommended for sheep, the reduction percentages were 73 percent for injectable ivermectin, 25 percent for fenbendazole, and 78 percent for levamisole. another group of 14-month-old goats was treated with does rates 1.5 times those recommended for sheep and the reduction percentages were 93 percent for levamisole, 92 percent for injectable ivermectin, and 97 percent for a combination of levamisole and ivermectin. In all experiments with sheep and goats the gastrointestinal nematode parasites identified by larval cultures were Haemonchus contortus, Trichostrongylus spand Oeso-phagostomum spThe gastrointestinal nematodes of both sheep and goats on this farm are resistant to ivermectin and fenbvendazole, whereas levamisole is still effective in sheep, but not in goats. The results are discussed in relation to the farm as a source of breeding stock to smallholder farmers and its potential to spread anthelmintic resistance

Genetic resistance to gastro-intestinal nematode parasites in red Maasai, Dorper and Red Maasai X Dorper ewes in the sub-humid tropics

Resistance to naturally acquired gastro-intestinal (GI) nematode parasite infections (predominantly Haemonchus contortus) was studied in 166 Red Maasai; 230 Dorper and 294 crossbred (Red Maasai X Dorper) ewes in the sub-humid coastal region of Kenya. Live weights (LWT), blood packed-cell volume (PCV) and faecal egg counts (FEC) were recorded at mating, 3 months post mating, 1 week before lambing and 1, 2 and 3 months post lambing for four separate lambings that took place between 1993 and 1996. The Red Maasai ewes were more resistant to GI nematode infections than Dorper ewes as shown by their significantly lower FEC and significantly higher PCV at most of the sampling times over the reproductive cycle. The breed difference for FEC was significant in the lactating ewes but not in the non-lactating ewes. At most sampling times, the crossbred ewes were as susceptible as the Dorper ewes in terms of both PCV and FEC, particularly at the 1 and 2 month post-lambing samplings. Resistance was also mainfested by a lower proportion of ewes having to be treated with an anthelmintic and a lower mortality rate in the Red Maasai than the Dorper. The Red Maasai ewes were significantly lighter by about 1 to 2 kg than the Dorper ewes at all sampling times. There was a significant increase in FEC and decrease in PCV over the first 2 months of lactation in lactating ewes compared with non-lactating ewes. This peri-parturient increase in FEC occurred in both breeds and the crossbred but was more marked in the susceptible Dorper ewes