Groundwater Recharge, Evapotranspiration and Surface Runoff Estimation Using WetSpass Modeling Method in Illala Catchment, Northern Ethiopia

Hydrometeorological information is important in planning and management of natural resources. The northern Ethiopia in general and Illala sub-basin in particular is lacking reliable information with regard to groundwater recharge, evapotranspiration and surface runoff. The main objective of the study is to estimate the distributed groundwater recharge, surface runoff and evapotranspiration amount of Illala sub basin using WetSpass modeling method. Long term mean hydrometeorological data and physical characteristics of the catchment such as land use/land cover, soil type, topography, groundwater level and slope are used as an input to the model. The mean annual groundwater recharge, evapotranspiration and runoff were found to be 66, 440 and 40mm respectively. Accordingly, recharge accounts for 12% of the precipitation while the rest 81% and 7% becomes evapotranspiration and surface runoff respectively. The study area is characterized by low groundwater recharge due to the presence of high evapotranspiration rate associated with high temperature, dry wind, low rainfall and relative humidity though it is a little bit large compared to some parts of the northern Ethiopia.Keywords: Groundwater, WetSpass, Recharge, Illala, Catchment, Tigray, Ethiopi

Genomic markers associated with antibody response to Newcastle disease virus of Sasso chickens raised in Ethiopia

Newcastle disease virus (NDV) is one of the highly contagious avian pathogens that threatens poultry producers in endemic zones due to its epidemic potential. Selection for antibody (Ab) response can effectively improve disease resistance in chickens. However, the molecular basis of the variation in Ab response to NDV is unclear. This study aimed to detect genomic markers and genes modulating Ab response to NDV in chickens reared under tropical, outdoor conditions. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted on Sasso T451A chickens that were naturally exposed to infectious diseases from 56 to 112 days of age to identify regions associated with Ab response to NDV. Phenotypic immune data from 935 chickens, monitored in two batches, and genotyping data of these chickens based low-pass sequencing (2,676,181 single nucleotide polymorphisms, SNPs) were used. BioMart data mining and variant effect predictor tools were used to annotate SNPs and candidate genes, respectively. A total of five SNPs (rs316795557 (FOXP2), chr 1; rs313761644 (CEP170B), chr 5; rs733628728, chr 13; and two unnamed SNPs, chr 30 and chr 33) were associated with the chicken antibody response to NDV at the suggestive significance level. These SNPs are located on chromosomes 1, 5, and 13 and are in genomic regions that contain several genes with roles in the regulation of the immune response. The results of this study pave the path for more investigation into the host immune response of chickens to NDV.</p

Effect of a self-care educational intervention to improve self-care adherence among patients with chronic heart failure: a clustered randomized controlled trial in Northwest Ethiopia

Background: As the burden of cardiovascular disease increases in sub-Saharan Africa, there is a growing need for low-cost interventions to mitigate its impact. Providing self-care health education to patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) is recommended as an intervention to prevent complications, improve quality of life, and reduce financial burdens on fragile health systems. However, little is known about health education’s effectiveness at improving CHF self-management adherence in sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore the present study aimed to assess the effectiveness of an educational intervention to improve self-care adherence among patients with CHF at Debre Markos and Felege Hiwot Referral Hospitals in Northwest Ethiopia. Methods: To address this gap, we adapted a health education intervention based on social cognitive theory comprising of intensive four-day training and, one-day follow-up sessions offered every four months. Patients also received illustrated educational leaflets. We then conducted a clustered randomized control trial of the intervention with 186 randomly-selected patients at Debre Markos and Felege Hiwot referral hospitals. We collected self-reported data on self-care behavior before each educational session. We analyzed these data using a generalized estimating equations model to identify health education's effect on a validated 8-item self-care adherence scale. Results: Self-care adherence scores were balanced at baseline. After the intervention, patients in the intervention group (n = 88) had higher adherence scores than those in the control group (n = 98). This difference was statistically significant (β = 4.15, p < 0.05) and increased with each round of education. Other factors significantly associated with adherence scores were being single (β = − 0.25, p < 0.05), taking aspirin (β = 0.76, p < 0.05), and having a history of hospitalization (β = 0.91, p < 0.05). Conclusions: We find that self-care education significantly improved self-care adherence scores among CHF patients. This suggests that policymakers should consider incorporating self-care education into CHF management

Phenotypic characterisation of African chickens raised in semi-scavenging conditions

In sub-Saharan Africa, most poultry production is traditional with birds being raised by smallholders in free-range semi-scavenging conditions. The aim of our project is to extensively characterise phenotypes of chickens raised in typical African farming conditions, by measuring production, immunity and survival characteristics. In total, 2,573 chickens were raised in five batches in the poultry facility at ILRI in Ethiopia. These chickens were phenotypically characterised and sampled across an eight-week period. Traits measured included weekly body weight, growth rate, breast muscle weight in carcass, mortality/survival, and immunological titres. The population of chickens had extensive variance at these phenotypes. For body weight, 65% of the total phenotypic variance was attributed to the individual birds providing an excellent source of variation for identifying potential selection markers. This data will subsequently be used along with whole genome sequencing data of these birds to identify selection targets to underpin future breeding programs

Diversity of LEI0258 microsatellite locus in indigenous Ethiopian chickens

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundatio

Integrating genetic and genomic analyses of combined health data across ecotypes to improve disease resistance in indigenous African chickens

Poultry play an important role in the agriculture of many African countries. The majority of chickens in sub-Saharan Africa are indigenous, raised in villages under semi-scavenging conditions. Vaccinations and biosecurity measures rarely apply, and infectious diseases remain a major cause of mortality and reduced productivity. Genomic selection for disease resistance offers a potentially sustainable solution but this requires sufficient numbers of individual birds with genomic and phenotypic data, which is often a challenge to collect in the small populations of indigenous chicken ecotypes. The use of information across-ecotypes presents an attractive possibility to increase the relevant numbers and the accuracy of genomic selection. In this study, we performed a joint analysis of two distinct Ethiopian indigenous chicken ecotypes to investigate the genomic architecture of important health and productivity traits and explore the feasibility of conducting genomic selection across-ecotype. Phenotypic traits considered were antibody response to Infectious Bursal Disease (IBDV), Marek’s Disease (MDV), Fowl Cholera (PM) and Fowl Typhoid (SG), resistance to Eimeria and cestode parasitism, and productivity [body weight and body condition score (BCS)]. Combined data from the two chicken ecotypes, Horro (n = 384) and Jarso (n = 376), were jointly analyzed for genetic parameter estimation, genome-wide association studies (GWAS), genomic breeding value (GEBVs) calculation, genomic predictions, whole-genome sequencing (WGS), and pathways analyses. Estimates of across-ecotype heritability were significant and moderate in magnitude (0.22–0.47) for all traits except for SG and BCS. GWAS identified several significant genomic associations with health and productivity traits. The WGS analysis revealed putative candidate genes and mutations for IBDV (TOLLIP, ANGPTL5, BCL9, THEMIS2), MDV (GRM7), SG (MAP3K21), Eimeria (TOM1L1) and cestodes (TNFAIP1, ATG9A, NOS2) parasitism, which warrant further investigation. Reliability of GEBVs increased compared to within-ecotype calculations but accuracy of genomic prediction did not, probably because the genetic distance between the two ecotypes offset the benefit from increased sample size. However, for some traits genomic prediction was only feasible in across-ecotype analysis. Our results generally underpin the potential of genomic selection to enhance health and productivity across-ecotypes. Future studies should establish the required minimum sample size and genetic similarity between ecotypes to ensure accurate joint genomic selection