Reproductive Performances of Local Pigs in West African Countries: A Review

The local pig is reared in all West Africa countries, and especially in small farms, playing so an important role in its preservation. This article reviews work done on reproductive performances of local pigs in West Africa. These performances focus on age at puberty, estrus and sex cycle, gestation length, prolificity, viability and growth before piglets weaning. Factors that can influence these parameters are included. Finally, the contribution of animal biotechnology to these performances improvement is discussed

CHARACTERISTICS OF AFRICAN DWARF SHEEP REARING SYSTEMS USED IN THE NORTH AND SOUTH OF BENIN

peer reviewedThe study aims to compare the rearing system characteristics of Djallonke sheepin the North and South of Benin. Data were collected on 133 sheep breeders in the North and 154 farms in the South of Benin from September to November 2015. It comes out from the survey that the sheep breeders were predominantly a man (p <0.001). Fulani represent the more important ethnic group of shepherds in the North while in the South zone, Fon ethnic group predominate. The sheep owners of the two zones are married. The rate of nonschooled farmers is more important in the North (79.70%) than in the South (38.96%; p <0.001). Their main activity was essentially livestock breeding in the North region (63.91%) to agriculture (46.75%) in the South. The majority of farmers in the North (75.94%) and South (59.74%) raise the animals as savings (p <0.001). The sale and consumption constitute the main production goals (45.86% and 69.93%, respectively in the North and South; p <0.001). Animal feeds in both areas are provided by fodder, crop residues, and kitchen residues. Only a few farmers (26.62% - 29.32%) store some feeds for the dry season. Herd size is highest in the North than in the South (31.51 vs 17.67 heads; p <0.001). 69.17% of surveyed farms in the North have no habitat while 66.23% of the surveyed farms south have traditional shelters. The grazing time is longer in North than in south (7.92 vs 7.09 hours, p <0.001). The management of the farms are based on the owner or itfamily financing support with a predominance in the North (p. <0.001). Several species including poultry, goats and cattle were associated to the sheep rearing. The diversity of these systems of production must be taken into account for purposes of Djallonke sheep development

Inventory of biosecurity measures and antibiotics therapy practices on laying hen farms in Benin

Background and Aim: Laying hen breeding is on the rise in Benin; nevertheless, there are several sanitary constraints to its development, including bacterial diseases. Faced with this situation, breeders mainly resort to different means of treatment. The objective of this study was to assess the current state of hygiene measures, the bacterial diseases commonly encountered, and antibiotic therapy practices on laying hen farms in Benin. Materials and Methods: A total of 200 laying hen farms were randomly selected from lists of laying hen farms obtained from veterinary offices, territorial agricultural development agencies, and the Benin National Union of Professional Aviculturists. Each visited farmer was subjected to a semi-structured questionnaire by direct interview. The results were compared using the bilateral Z-test. Results: The results of this survey revealed that 99.5% of the surveyed farms had a health and medical prophylaxis program although only 88.5% of them reported strictly adhering to it (p<0.001). About 25.0% of them reported that the dominant bacterial diseases they commonly encountered on their farms were salmonellosis, colibacillosis, and chronic respiratory disease. Only 7.0% of farmers said that they confirmed their diagnosis outside of clinical signs through laboratory analysis. To control these pathologies, 14.5% of farmers used only oxytetracycline, while 39.0% used other antibiotics such as colistin, enrofloxacin, tylosin, tylodox, flumequine, and norfloxacin. In comparison, 13.5% used a trimethoprim-sulfadimethoxine and sulfadimidine combination, while 32.0% said that they used erythromycin, oxytetracycline, streptomycin, neomycin, and colistin (p<0.001) combination. Conclusion: This study highlights the inadequacies of hygiene and antibiotic therapy practices implemented on Benin's laying hen farms

Crossbreeding and consanguinity management in pig farms in the departments of Ouémé and Plateau in Benin

Background: The improvement in pig zootechnical performances is a common practice in Benin. This improvement of the performances is made by the choice of the best reproducers in farms and the crossbreeding between the different breeds. Aim: This study aims to characterize practices related to consanguinity management in pigs reared in Ouémé and Plateau. Materials and Methods: Crossbreeding and consanguinity data were collected from 60 farms in these two departments. Frequencies and averages were calculated and compared between departments, genetic types, and origin of progenitors. Results: The majority of the investigated pig farmers in both departments were married men of primary or secondary education level. Most of them cross animals without a specific crossbreeding scheme. These crossings were performed to a greater extent (p<0.05) in Ouémé (94.28%) than in Plateau (52%). In general, farmers cross improved animals of high breeding values with the crossbred ones. These crossings were mainly performed to improve zootechnical performances. Renewing animals were commonly chosen from the farm or were provided from nearby farms. The majority of pig breeders in Ouémé (100%) and Plateau (86.67%) obtained reproductive animals from nearby farms. Males and females were sometimes bought from the same farm or from farms that pig breeders have sold reproductive animals in the previous years. In the case of selection within their own farm, male and female progenitors are separated at puberty by the majority of the breeders of Plateau (42.11%) and Ouéme (50%). Inbred mating was reported by breeders. More than half of breeders mate animals having a parental link in both departments. The mating was performed between animals of the same mother in 37.93% of farms in Ouémé and in 45.46% in Plateau. The main consanguinity consequences mentioned by the breeders were the high mortality at birth and weaning, piglets’ weakness at the birth, the slow growth, and the decrease in litter size. Sows with at least one parent from external farm had a litter size at birth and weaning and a live-born piglets’ number significantly higher than sows with both parents from the same farm. Conclusion: Rigorous monitoring of crossing and the filial links are necessary for pig farms for ensuring the improvement of zootechnical performances. Dotché, et al. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated