Application of biotechnology in genetic improvement, characterization and conservation of livestock

Among agricultural and allied fields, animal production and health have probably benefited the most from biotechnology. Successful application of biotechnology has generally been limited to developed countries. Specifically, there are hardly any success stories of the application of biotechnology in the improvement of livestock production in Africa. This paper reviews available biotechnologies with current and/or potential application in genetic improvement, characterization and/or conservation of domestic animal genetic resources and attempts to identify those technologies which have been, or may be, applied in developing countries

African animal genetic resources: Their characterisation, conservation and utilisation. Proceedings of the research planning workshop

Addresses different papers presented on the workshop organised by ILCA, as part of the research planning process on a project of characterisation, conservation and utilization of Africa's indigenous animal genetic resources. In taking on this challenging task, ILCA recognised that it could not succeed without substantial collaboration with NARS colleagues. However, it also recognised the need to work out standard characterisation methodology and to outline the implementation process. Workshop participants reached the consensus that this project was timely and that activities should be initiated to document Africa's animal genetic resources, with a view to developing strategies for their conservation and sustainable utilisation. While stressing the importance of breed characterisation, participants reiterated that those breeds identified as currently endangered should be conserved even if their value is not presently apparent. Considerable attention was given to development of experimental designs which would optimise collection of data on population dynamics, physical characteristics and phenotypic and genetic parameters of biological performance traits

Innovations to Achieve the Millenium Development Goals

Speech delivered by Ren Wang (IRRI) and Ed Rege (ILRI) on the occassion of Centers and Members Day October 25, 2004 during the CGIAR annual general meeting 2004

The unique Kuri cattle of the Lake Chad Basin

The Kuri cattle breed is found on the shores and islands of Lake Chad. Its main habitat is in southern Chad and north-eastern Nigeria but the breed is also found in northern Cameroon, in Niger and, to a limited extent, in the Central African Republic. The Kuri are also known as the Baharie, Bare, Borrie, Boudouma, Dongolé, Koubouri, Buduma or White Lake Chad. The importance of the Kuri lies not only in its unique physical characteristics but also in its meat and milk production potentials. The breed is so acclimatised to the environs of Lake Chad that it is unable to survive elsewhere. This unique African breed is being threatened by extinction

Monitoring of Sahiwal and Friesian cattle genetic improvement programmes in Kenya

Livestock genetic improvement programmes aim at identifying superior animals for specific traits and allowing only these animals to be parents of the next generation. The use of genetically superior animals is expected to result in improvements in the efficiency of production, which in turn ensures that livestock products are more cheaply available to the human population. It is important to monitor breeding programmes in order to check if targeted improvements are realised for the desired traits and to quantify the impact of the programmes on genetic variation and diversity. Working examples of livestock improvement programmes in sub-Saharan Africa are, however, limited. The aim of this paper is to show the importance of monitoring genetic improvement programmes using the examples of an improvement programme for the Sahiwal breed in Kenya and a progeny testing scheme for Friesian cattle in Kenya. The paper is based on reports by Rege et al. (1992) and Rege and Wakhungu (1992) for the Sahiwal project and Rege (1991a and 1991b) for the progeny testing scheme for Friesian cattle