9 research outputs found
Evaluation of water productivity, stover feed quality and farmers' preferences on sweet sorghum cultivar types in the semi-arid regions of Zimbabwe
Summary Twenty sweet sorghum cultivars that included 17 improved cultivars (experimental grain, forage, dual and India released varieties) from India and 3 landraces from southern Africa were evaluated for their use as an alternative food and fodder crop for crop-livestock farmers. The trials were conducted during 2007/08 season in semi-arid conditions at Matopos Research Station, Zimbabwe. Three methods of assessment were applied to help identify suitable cultivars: grain and stover water productivity (WP), stover feed quality traits and farmers' assessment of cultivars in the field. Grain and stover WP ranged from 0.6 to 2.7 kg m -3 and 1.2 to 4.0 kg m -3 respectively. We observed significant differences in cultivar groups on plant height, time to maturity, harvest index, grain WP, nitrogen uptake, nitrogen harvest index and stover metabolizable energy and digestibility (P <0.001), and sugar (Brix %) and stover WP (P <0.05). In the improved grain and dual type cultivars, grain yield increased by 118% compared to landraces and by 69% over the forage type while in the India released variety type cultivars grain yield increased by 86% compared to landrace yields and by 44% over the forage cultivars with an increase in stover yield. The landrace type was superior to all sweet sorghum types on feed quality traits (metabolizable energy and digestibility). The farmers' assessment demonstrated the need to combine qualitative and quantitative screening methods. The farmers' combined analysis showed that forage and grain yield are important parameters to the farmers following crop-livestock production systems. Results of the three methods showed that the dual type SP1411 was the preferred cultivar. Future breeding activities should therefore be directed towards the tradeoff between grain yield potential and stover feed quality in the quest for developing a wider range of dual purpose cultivars
Farmer’s Resource Flow Decisions on Farm-Level Interventions on Livestock Water Productivity: A Conceptual Model Approach
Across sub-saharan Africa water related poverty occurs because farmers lack dependable water resources and capacity to use them. Improvement in agricultural water management offer opportunities in poverty alleviation at farm-level. An integrated framework was developed to identify sets of options as interventions for different farmer profiles in mixed crop-livestock systems. A combination of participatory rural appraisal (PRAs), household survey and gap analysis tools were used in Nkayi district, Zimbabwe to quantify the current crop and livestock production levels. The tools used identified gaps in animal health management, improved feeding, livestock sales and poor crop yields between different farmer wealth profiles in terms of mortalities, poor crop yield, reduced crop and livestock sales, poor feed quality and quantity. Interventions in terms of improved feed sourcing, improved animal health, soil fertility management and access to markets are possible solutions to the challenges faced by the different farmer profiles. If farmers’ different levels and capacities in terms of resources available are taken into consideration, there is a chance to improve the livestock water productivity at farm-level in semi-arid Zimbabwe
Evaluation of water productivity, stover feed quality and farmers’ preferences on sweet sorghum cultivar types in the semi-arid regions of Zimbabwe
Twenty sweet sorghum cultivars that included 17
improved cultivars (experimental grain, forage, dual and
India released varieties) from India and 3 landraces from
southern Africa were evaluated for their use as an
alternative food and fodder crop for crop-livestock
farmers. The trials were conducted during 2007/08
season in semi-arid conditions at Matopos Research
Station, Zimbabwe. Three methods of assessment were
applied to help identify suitable cultivars: grain and
stover water productivity (WP), stover feed quality traits
and farmers’ assessment of cultivars in the field. Grain
and stover WP ranged from 0.6 to 2.7 kg m-3 and 1.2 to
4.0 kg m-3 respectively. We observed significant
differences in cultivar groups on plant height, time to
maturity, harvest index, grain WP, nitrogen uptake,
nitrogen harvest index and stover metabolizable energy
and digestibility (P <0.001), and sugar (Brix %) and
stover WP (P <0.05). In the improved grain and dual type
cultivars, grain yield increased by 118% compared to
landraces and by 69% over the forage type while in the
India released variety type cultivars grain yield increased
by 86% compared to landrace yields and by 44% over the
forage cultivars with an increase in stover yield. The
landrace type was superior to all sweet sorghum types on
feed quality traits (metabolizable energy and
digestibility). The farmers’ assessment demonstrated the
need to combine qualitative and quantitative screening
methods. The farmers’ combined analysis showed that
forage and grain yield are important parameters to the
farmers following crop-livestock production systems.
Results of the three methods showed that the dual type
SP1411 was the preferred cultivar. Future breeding
activities should therefore be directed towards the tradeoff trade off between grain yield potential and stover feed quality
in the quest for developing a wider range of dual purpose
cultivars
An Action Plan to Assess the Current Situation of Maternal & Newborn Care at Government Health Facilities in Jharkhand, India
Management of Tetanus Neonatorum in a respiratory unit
Tetanus results from infection by clostridium tetani, which is present in the faeces of animals and man therefore also in the soil. It enters the body through a wound; in the case of a neonate, this is always the raw surface of the umbilicus. The infection of this wound occurs by contamination of cord dressings by dust or soil, but in some cases mothers apply cow dung to the umbilicus. In some cases the umbilical cord is cut with an unsterile blade or even an old broken bottle. The baby is usually born at home
The Papua New Guinea national health and HIV research agenda
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136960.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access
Response of Sorghum Cultivar’s to Nitrogen Levels on Yield, Water Productivity, Stover Nutritive Value Traits and Economic Benefits to Crop-Livestock Farmers in the Semi-Arid Areas of Zimbabwe
An experiment was conducted at Matopos Research Station, Southern Zimbabwe to determine the response of improved sorghum cultivars to nitrogen application rate on two different soil types. Two sweet sorghum cultivars, E36-1 and PVK801 and one grain sorghum variety, Macia were evaluated on clay and sandy soils at 0 (farmers practice), 9 (micro-dosing) and 69 (recommended) kg Nha-1. They were evaluated for yield, water productivity, stover nutritional quality traits and economic benefits. On clay soil, stover yield and water productivity varied significantly (pMacia. On sandy soil, cultivars varied significantly (pMacia. The gross margin analysis revealed that higher returns were observed with sweet sorghum cultivars. Sweet sorghum cultivars in combination with higher nitrogen application rates bring more returns to farmers through higher yields, water productivity, improved stover nutritional quality and livelihoods in crop-livestock production systems of semi-arid areas of Zimbabwe
VarGoats project: a dataset of 1159 whole-genome sequences to dissect Capra hircus global diversity
International audienceBackground Since their domestication 10,500Â years ago, goat populations with distinctive genetic backgrounds have adapted to a broad variety of environments and breeding conditions. The VarGoats project is an international 1000-genome resequencing program designed to understand the consequences of domestication and breeding on the genetic diversity of domestic goats and to elucidate how speciation and hybridization have modeled the genomes of a set of species representative of the genus Capra . Findings A dataset comprising 652 sequenced goats and 507 public goat sequences, including 35 animals representing eight wild species, has been collected worldwide. We identified 74,274,427 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 13,607,850 insertion-deletions (InDels) by aligning these sequences to the latest version of the goat reference genome (ARS1). A Neighbor-joining tree based on Reynolds genetic distances showed that goats from Africa, Asia and Europe tend to group into independent clusters. Because goat breeds from Oceania and Caribbean (Creole) all derive from imported animals, they are distributed along the tree according to their ancestral geographic origin. Conclusions We report on an unprecedented international effort to characterize the genome-wide diversity of domestic goats. This large range of sequenced individuals represents a unique opportunity to ascertain how the demographic and selection processes associated with post-domestication history have shaped the diversity of this species. Data generated for the project will also be extremely useful to identify deleterious mutations and polymorphisms with causal effects on complex traits, and thus will contribute to new knowledge that could be used in genomic prediction and genome-wide association studies