Characterization of goat production systems and on- farm evaluation of the growth performance of grazing goats supplemented with different protein sources in Metema Woreda, Amhara Region, Ethiopia

The study was carried out in Metema Woreda of Amhara National Regional State. The objectives of the study were to describe the goat production systems in the study area and to identify major constraints and opportunities of goat productivity; to evaluate the effect of supplementation with different protein sources on live weight gain of grazing goats under farmers management and to evaluate the economic feasibility of the feeding system under farmers condition. The results on production and marketing systems of this study were based on survey of 135 sample households and rapid appraisal of major goat market respectively. Following the Survey work, on-farm monitoring and feed trial were carried out. Records on birth weight, weaning weight, preweaning average daily gain and mature body weight were recorded from monitored flocks. Twenty intact male local goats owned by farmers were used for on- farm feeding trial experiment to evaluate the growth performance of grazing goats supplemented with isonitrogenous protein sources. The survey results revealed that goats were the most widely reared livestock species in the study area and the overall mean holding of goats per households was 19.7 ± 6.60. The purposes of keeping goat in Metema Woreda was to generate income followed by meat production, saving and as means of ceremony, in that order. In Metema, the genotype of goat was entirely indigenous goat types. According to the respondents, the indigenous goat type dominantly (76.3%) found is locally known as “Habesha”, and small proportions of “Rutana5.2%” and “Gumu 5.9%” goat types are also present. The major feed resource was natural pasture and source of water were from rivers, wells, natural ponds and springs. Enclosures near the fence or a separate hut for goats with a suspended wooden floor, about 0.5- 1 m above the ground, shelter were the two main methods of housing. The result revealed that uncontrolled mating within the household’s flock was predominant. In both farming systems cotton and sesame based, disease, theft and, labour were the most important goat production constraints in that order. There was neither regular market in formations on prices and supplies nor grades and standards. Animals are sold on a per head basis. The present pricing system in which agreement on price is reached by a long bargaining between sellers and buyers leaves the greater opportunities for benefiting the middlemen. The primary reason for selling of goat for the Metema goat owners was to generate money for labour wage payment followed by food crop purchase, input purchase, school fee and as means of tax in that order. Buying for consumption purpose in all market places showed a higher proportion followed by buying for profit /resale, reproduction and fattening. Regarding market composition, goats less than or equal to one year were the largest proportion in all markets and the percentage of goat sold decreased as the age increase. According to farmers’ report, the overall average age at puberty in males was 7.4 ± 1.95 and 8.2 ± 1.64 months in females. Age at first kidding and kidding interval were 13.6± xx 2.44 months and 8.4± 1.37 months, respectively. The over all average birth weight, weaning weight three months and pre-weaning growth rate were 2.28 ± 0.04 kg, 12.73 ± 0.13 kg and 115.74 ± 1.55g/day, respectively. Kids born single, male and kids from later parity were heavier (P0.01). The overall body weight of mature goats from above dentition class 1 pair of permanent incisor (PPI) was 32.96 ± 0.61 kg. Sex and age group had significant effect (p<0.05) and (p<0.01), respectively on live weight. Live weight significantly (at least p<0.05) increased from goat having 1PPI to 3 PPI and then showed a decreasing trend though not significant. In the feeding trial, twenty intact male Hebesha or Dega type yearling goats with average initial live weight of 22.35± 0.12 kg were used. The experimental goats were blocked into five groups of four animals each based on their initial body weight. Dietary treatments were randomly assigned to each animal in the group. Animals which were assigned randomly in each block were given to one farmer. Each farmer possessed all treatments. The treatments comprised of grazing alone (T1), grazing + mixture of 47% noug seed cake and 53% wheat bran (T2), grazing + mixture of 31% cotton seed cake and 69% wheat bran (T3) and grazing + mixture of 40% sesame seedcake and 60% wheat bran (T4). Supplemented goats attained better BW gain which were 52.9,68 and 55.1 gm/day in T2,T3 and T4,respectively than nonsupplemented ones 34.4gm/day. All the supplement feeds significantly (p<0.01) improved final weight and average daily gain of goats. The partial budget analysis showed that supplementation with noug cake ;cotton seed cake and sesame seed cake with wheat bran mixtures for Metema goat under grazing condition was not potentially profitable compared with no supplementation (grazing only). Therefore from this finding it is conclude that, even though supplementation favor better growth rate and improved body condition it was not economically beneficial compared to unsupplemented groups

Large-scale land acquisitions, state authority and indigenous local communities: insights from Ethiopia

The convergence of diverse global factors – food price volatility, the increased demand for biofuels and feeds, climate change and the financialisation of commodity markets – has resulted in renewed interest in land resources, leading to a rapid expansion in the scope and scale of (trans)national acquisition of arable land across many developing countries. Much of this land is on peripheral indigenous peoples’ territories and considered a common property resource. Those most threatened are poor rural people with customary tenure systems – including indigenous ethnic minority groups, pastoralists and peasants – who need land most. In Ethiopia large areas have been leased to foreign and domestic capital for large-scale production of food and agrofuels, mainly in lowland regions where the state has historically had limited control. Much of the land offered is classified by the state and other elites as ‘unused’ or ‘underutilised’, overlooking the spatially extensive use of land in shifting cultivation and pastoralism. This threatens the land rights and livelihoods of ethnic minority indigenous communities in these lowlands. This article argues that recent large-scale land acquisitions are part of state strategy for enforcing political authority over territory and people. It examines the implications of such strategy for indigenous ethnic minority groups, focusing particularly on the Benishangul-Gumuz region

Nurturing Agricultural Productivity and Resilience in Drylands of Sub-Saharan Africa

Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have made substantial progress toward reducing the proportion of its population that suffers from food insecurity. Between 1990 and 2015, the prevalence of hunger in the region declined by 31 %. In countries such as Ethiopia and Mozambique, food availability increased by 41 and 31 %, respectively. However, much of Eastern and Southern Africa has been affected by recurrent drought conditions that have undermined any improvement in food security and nutrition. Dryland systems in SSA have been affected by changing climates that have been aggravated by the low institutional capacity to respond to climatic shocks, a decline in soil fertility, poor surface and ground water management, poor agronomic practices, and weak policy interventions. In this chapter, proven technologies and practices from Eastern and Southern Africa—with the potential to improve agricultural productivity, minimise drought effects and enhance the resilience of systems—are discussed. These include i) diversification and intensification of cropping systems, ii) drought resistant and improved crop varieties, and livestock management interventions, iii) improved agronomic practices that enhance water use efficiency and productivity of farms and systems, iv) the capacity to tolerate short-term shocks and develop resilient farming systems, v) integration and adoption of various water saving strategies to curb the effects of intermittent drought, and vi) favorable policies that would encourage investment and create market opportunities for dryland farmers

Pattern of Fatal Injuries in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: A One-year Audit

Background: Injury continues to account for a large number of clients attending emergency department in Addis Ababa. Reliable information on causes of death is essential to the development of health policies for prevention and control. The aim of this atudy was to identify the pattern and common causes of fatal injuriesMethods: This is prospective study analyses autopsy data related to fatal injuries handled by Menilik II Hospital between July1, 2006 –June 30, 2007. (Sene 24, 1998 - Sene 23, 1999)Results: A total of 2107 cases were analyzed. The victims were mostly male and the most vulnerable age group was found to be 15-44 years. Accidents versus homicide and accident versus suicide ratio was 1.8:1 and 5:1 respectively. Road traffic accidents were the most frequent causes of accident related death. Main means of homicide was hit by blunt or sharp object or firearm. More than 90% of victims who committed suicide use hanging or poisoning.Ninety percent of deaths occur with in 24 hours of the injury and only 105 (5%) died from the second day on wards. Eighty one percents of this patients had never received any medical care (either pre-hospital or hospital level).Conclusion: Road traffic accidents accounted for most causes of injury related deaths. Significant proportion of patients had no access to emergency medical care. The findings strongly suggest that more aggressive, regulatory, educational, and rapid emergency treatment is necessary to address the large number of injury related death

Minimal Absorption Measurements

We show that it is not possible to discriminate two close transparencies without a certain number of photons being absorbed. We extend this to the discrimination of patterns of transparency (images).Comment: 11 pages (latex

Impact of land use/cover change and slope gradient on soil organic carbon stock in Anjeni watershed, Northwest Ethiopia

Today’s agri-food systems face the triple challenge of addressing food security, adapting to climate change, and reducing the climate footprint by reducing the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG). In agri-food systems, changes in land use and land cover (LULC) could affect soil physicochemical properties, particularly soil organic carbon (SOC) stock. However, the impact varies depending on the physical, social, and economic conditions of a given region or watershed. Given this, a study was conducted to quantify the impact of LULC and slope gradient on SOC stock and C sequestration rate in the Anjeni watershed, which is a highly populated and intensively cultivated area in Northwest Ethiopia. Seventy-two soil samples were collected from 0–15 and 15–30 cm soil depths representing four land use types and three slope gradients. Soil samples were selected systematically to match the historical records (30 years) for SOC stock comparison. Four land use types were quantified using Landsat imagery analysis. As expected, plantation forest had a significantly (p \u3c 0.05) higher SOC (1.94 Mg ha−1) than cultivated land (1.38 Mg ha−1), and gentle slopes (1–15%) had the highest SOC (1.77 Mg ha−1) than steeper slopes (\u3e 30%). However, higher SOC stock (72.03 Mg ha−1) and SOC sequestration rate (3.00 Mg ha−1 year−1) were recorded when cultivated land was converted to grassland, while lower SOC stock (8.87 Mg ha−1) and sequestration rate (0.77 Mg ha−1 year−1) were recorded when land use changed from cultivation to a plantation forest. The results indicated that LULC changes and slope gradient had a major impact on SOC stock and C sequestration rate over 30 years in a highly populated watershed. It is concluded that in intensively used watersheds, a carefully planned land use that involves the conversion of cultivated land to grassland could lead to an increase in soil C sequestration and contributes to reducing the carbon footprint of agri-food systems

A novel quantum key distribution scheme with orthogonal product states

The general conditions for the orthogonal product states of the multi-state systems to be used in quantum key distribution (QKD) are proposed, and a novel QKD scheme with orthogonal product states in the 3x3 Hilbert space is presented. We show that this protocol has many distinct features such as great capacity, high efficiency. The generalization to nxn systems is also discussed and a fancy limitation for the eavesdropper's success probability is reached.Comment: 4 Pages, 3 Figure

Evaluation on the Potential Use of Pulverized Natural Subbase Dust as Alternative Filler Material for Hot Mix Asphalt Design, Jimma Town

A well-designed asphalt mixture is expected to serve effectively for many years under a variety of loading and environmental conditions. Bituminous concrete is one of the highest and costliest types of flexible pavement. One of the main problems in the construction of asphalt paving mixture is obtaining a sufficient amount of filler material and the high cost of the use of ordinary Portland cement, hydrated lime, or marble dust as filler material. Asphalt Institution restricted the use of a maximum limit of 2% proportion to improve the aggregates adhesion properties only, which is not sufficient quantity to achieve the grading requirements. To alleviate this problem, it is important to come across alternative filler material that can be used in more quantity. The study has investigated the potential use of natural subbase dust (MSD)as alternative filler material, and their characteristic on the effect of hot asphalt mixture was identified. This research was conducted by using Experimental Research Design. In total, 48 samples were prepared according to ASTM D1559, of which 15 of them used to calculate the OBC and the rest to find out the effects of adding different percentages of NSD to the asphalt mixture. For this purpose, five different bitumen contents were used (4%&minus;6% with 0.5% increments). Aggregate mixtures blended without filler and with NSD filler were investigated to evaluate their Marshall properties on HMA mixtures. Four varying percentages of NSD ranging from (2% - 8% at 2% increments) were used for Marshall experiments. And for the control mix, 2% hydrated lime (HL) and 2% ordinary Portland cement used in the mixture besides, 4% Marble Dust was used as a reference. The aggregates were blended by using the Job mix formula to obtain the percentage of material proportion. As a result for aggregates blended without filler G-1 (26%), G-2 (23%), and G-3 (51%) proportion were used whereas for aggregates blended with NSD filler, G-1 (26%), G-2 (22%), G-3 (46%) and G-4 (6%) was utilized. Where G-1 is Coarse Aggregate 3/4, G-2 is Intermediate Aggregate 3/8, G-3 is Fine Aggregate, and G-4 is NSD filler. Based on Marshall&#39;s test results, the OBC was found 5.1% by the total asphalt mix. Furthermore, examining Marshall mixes containing different percentages of filler showed the optimum percentage of NSD was 6%. The Marshall properties of the experiments at 6% NDS filler resulted in high stability, low flow, lower VFB, low VMA &amp; lower air voids that are consistent with the standard specifications. The investigation of NSD filler has resulted in good effects on the Marshall properties of the asphalt mixture. Furthermore, the outcome of Marshall parameters like stability, air voids, and bulk density values was consistent with the standard specifications. Therefore, NSD filler can potentially be used as an alternative filler material in HMA with optimum filler content of 6%. Besides, it is recommended to exercise the use of NSD as filler material in HMA projects in order to ensure the quality of works, save transportation costs and save time spend importing other filler materials from far away. It is also recommended combining NSD filler with other materials may produce a better outcome on the effects on the asphalt mix properties