• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.200-205
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• 2012

Although a large number of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been identified from the bovine genome-sequencing project, few of these have been validated at large in Bos indicus breeds. We have genotyped 192 animals, representing 5 cattle populations of Ethiopia, with the Illumina Bovine 8K SNP BeadChip. These include 1 Sanga (Danakil), 3 zebu (Borana, Arsi and Ambo), and 1 zebu ${\times}$ Sanga intermediate (Horro) breeds. The Hanwoo (Bos taurus) was included for comparison purposes. Analysis of 7,045 SNP markers revealed that the mean minor allele frequency (MAF) was 0.23, 0.22, 0.21, 0.21, 0.23, and 0.29 for Ambo, Arsi, Borana, Danakil, Horro, and Hanwoo, respectively. Significant differences of MAF were observed between the indigenous Ethiopian cattle populations and Hanwoo breed (p < 0.001). Across the Ethiopian cattle populations, a common variant MAF (${\geq}0.10$ and ${\leq}0.5$) accounted for an overall estimated 73.79% of the 7,045 SNPs. The Hanwoo displayed a higher proportion of common variant SNPs (90%). Investigation within Ethiopian cattle populations showed that on average, 16.64% of the markers were monomorphic, but in the Hanwoo breed, only 6% of the markers were monomorphic. Across the sampled Ethiopian cattle populations, the mean observed and expected heterozygosities were 0.314 and 0.313, respectively. The level of SNP variation identified in this particular study highlights that these markers can be potentially used for genetic studies in African cattle breeds.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.9
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• pp.1393-1400
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• 2018

Objective: This study was carried out to assess the haplotype diversity and population dynamics in cattle populations of Ethiopia. Methods: We sequenced the complete mitochondrial cytochrome b gene of 76 animals from five indigenous and one Holstein Friesian${\times}$Barka cross bred cattle populations. Results: In the sequence analysis, 18 haplotypes were generated from 18 segregating sites and the average haplotype and nucleotide diversities were $0.7540{\pm}0.043$ and $0.0010{\pm}0.000$, respectively. The population differentiation analysis shows a weak population structure (4.55%) among the populations studied. Majority of the variation (95.45%) is observed by within populations. The overall average pair-wise distance ($F_{ST}$) was 0.049539 with the highest ($F_{ST}=0.1245$) and the lowest ($F_{ST}=0.011$) $F_{ST}$ distances observed between Boran and Abigar, and Sheko and Abigar from the indigenous cattle, respectively. The phylogenetic network analysis revealed that all the haplotypes detected clustered together with the Bos taurus cattle and converged to a haplogroup. No haplotype in Ethiopian cattle was observed clustered with the reference Bos indicus group. The mismatch distribution analysis indicates a single population expansion event among the cattle populations. Conclusion: Overall, high haplotype variability was observed among Ethiopian cattle populations and they share a common ancestor with Bos taurus.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.63 no.2
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• pp.248-261
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• 2021

Attributable to their major function in pathogen recognition, the use of bovine leukocyte antigens (BoLA) as disease markers in immunological traits in cattle is well established. However, limited report exists on polymorphism of the BoLA gene in zebu cattle breeds by high resolution typing methods. Thus, we used a polymerase chain reaction sequence-based typing (PCR-SBT) method to sequence exon 2 of the BoLA class II DRB3 gene from 100 animals (Boran, n = 13; Sheko, n = 20; Fogera, n = 16; Horro, n = 19), Hanwoo cattle (n = 18) and Bangladesh Red Chittagong zebu (n = 14). Out of the 59 detected alleles, 43 were already deposited under the Immuno Polymorphism Database for major histocompatibility complex (IPD-MHC) while 16 were unique to this study. Assessment of the level of genetic variability at the population and sequence levels with genetic distance in the breeds considered in this study showed that Zebu breeds had a gene diversity score greater than 0.752, nucleotide diversity score greater than 0.152, and mean number of pairwise differences higher than 14, being very comparable to those investigated for other cattle breeds. Regarding neutrality tests analyzed, we investigated that all the breeds except Hanwoo had an excess number of alleles and could be expected from a recent population expansion or genetic hitchhiking. Howbeit, the observed heterozygosity was not significantly (p < 0.05) higher than the expected heterozygosity. The Hardy Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) analysis revealed non-significant excess of heterozygote animals, indicative of plausible over-dominant selection. The pairwise FST values suggested a low genetic variation among all the breeds (FST = 0.056; p < 0.05), besides the rooting from the evolutionary or domestication history of the cattle. No detached clade was observed in the evolutionary divergence study of the BoLA-DRB3 gene, inferred from the phylogenetic tree based on the maximum likelihood model. The investigation herein indicated the clear differences in BoLA-DRB3 gene variability between African and Asian cattle breeds.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.9
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• pp.1237-1246
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• 2013

The objective of this study was to estimate variance components and genetic parameters for lactation milk yield (LY), lactation length (LL), average milk yield per day (YD), initial milk yield (IY), peak milk yield (PY), days to peak (DP) and parameters (ln(a) and c) of the modified incomplete gamma function (MIG) in an Ethiopian multibreed dairy cattle population. The dataset was composed of 5,507 lactation records collected from 1,639 cows in three locations (Bako, Debre Zeit and Holetta) in Ethiopia from 1977 to 2010. Parameters for MIG were obtained from regression analysis of monthly test-day milk data on days in milk. The cows were purebred (Bos indicus) Boran (B) and Horro (H) and their crosses with different fractions of Friesian (F), Jersey (J) and Simmental (S). There were 23 breed groups (B, H, and their crossbreds with F, J, and S) in the population. Fixed and mixed models were used to analyse the data. The fixed model considered herd-year-season, parity and breed group as fixed effects, and residual as random. The single and two-traits mixed animal repeatability models, considered the fixed effects of herd-year-season and parity subclasses, breed as a function of cow H, F, J, and S breed fractions and general heterosis as a function of heterozygosity, and the random additive animal, permanent environment, and residual effects. For the analysis of LY, LL was added as a fixed covariate to all models. Variance components and genetic parameters were estimated using average information restricted maximum likelihood procedures. The results indicated that all traits were affected (p<0.001) by the considered fixed effects. High grade $B{\times}F$ cows (3/16B 13/16F) had the highest least squares means (LSM) for LY ($2,490{\pm}178.9kg$), IY ($10.5{\pm}0.8kg$), PY ($12.7{\pm}0.9kg$), YD ($7.6{\pm}0.55kg$) and LL ($361.4{\pm}31.2d$), while B cows had the lowest LSM values for these traits. The LSM of LY, IY, YD, and PY tended to increase from the first to the fifth parity. Single-trait analyses yielded low heritability ($0.03{\pm}0.03$ and $0.08{\pm}0.02$) and repeatability ($0.14{\pm}0.01$ to $0.24{\pm}0.02$) estimates for LL, DP and parameter c. Medium heritability ($0.21{\pm}0.03$ to $0.33{\pm}0.04$) and repeatability ($0.27{\pm}0.02$ to $0.53{\pm}0.01$) estimates were obtained for LY, IY, PY, YD and ln(a). Genetic correlations between LY, IY, PY, YD, ln(a), and LL ranged from 0.59 to 0.99. Spearman's rank correlations between sire estimated breeding values for LY, LL, IY, PY, YD, ln(a) and c were positive (0.67 to 0.99, p<0.001). These results suggested that selection for IY, PY, YD, or LY would genetically improve lactation milk yield in this Ethiopian dairy cattle population.

• Journal of Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.80-86
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• 2022

The ability to determine the sex of bovine embryos before the transfer is advantageous in livestock management, especially in dairy production, where female calves are preferred in milk industry. The milk production of female and male cattle benefits both the dairy and beef industries. Pre-implantation sexing of embryos also helps with embryo transfer success. There are two approaches for sexing bovine embryos in farm animals: invasive and non-invasive. A non-invasive method of embryo sexing retains the embryo's autonomy and, as a result, is less likely to impair the embryo's ability to move and implant successfully. There are lists of non-invasive embryo sexing such as; Detection of H-Y antigens, X-linked enzymes, and sexing based on embryo cleavage and development. Since it protects the embryo's autonomy, the non-invasive procedure is considered to be the safest. Invasive methods affect an embryo's integrity and are likely to damage the embryo's chances of successful transformation. There are different types of invasive methods such as polymerase chain reaction, detection of male chromatin Y chromosome-specific DNA probes, Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), cytological karyotyping, and immunofluorescence (FISH). The PCR approach is highly sensitive, precise, and effective as compared to invasive methods of farm animal embryonic sexing. Invasive procedures, such as cytological karyotyping, have high accuracy but are impractical in the field due to embryonic effectiveness concerns. This technology can be applicable especially in the dairy and beef industry by producing female and male animals respectively. Enhancing selection accuracy and decreasing the multiple ovulation embryo transfer costs.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.85-97
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• 2019

Background: Despite the increasing role of dry forests in climate change adaptation and mitigation, these versatile resources has got less attention in the national and regional planning, their potential to enhance the local and national economy has been overlooked, and their contribution to sustainable environmental management has not been recognized. Hence, the objective of this study was to assess the socioeconomic contribution of dry forests and forest products to climate change adaptation in the Liben Woreda, Southern Oromia region of Ethiopia. Methods: For this study, an integrated qualitative and quantitative approach was used. A total of 74 households from villages in the Bulbul, Boba, and Melka-Guba kebeles were randomly selected for the household survey. Results: Results showed that 75% of the respondents in the area indicated that climate change has become their major sources of vulnerability, where drought has been manifested in the form of crops failure and massive death of livestock particularly cattle species. The main income strategies of the study households include livestock, crop, forests such as gum and resins, firewood and charcoal and non-farm activities such as in the form of petty trade, wage and aid. The average total household income was ETB 11,209.7. Out of this, dry forest income constituted 15% of the total income. In addition to using dry forests as rangeland for livestock, the communities collect wood for construction, fodder, traditional medicine, and forest food both for subsistence and for sale. On the other hand, dry forest products could be considered as less vulnerable, rather resilient livelihood strategies to climate- and environment-related risks compared to livestock and crop production such as in the face of drought periods. More than 48.6% of the households argued that the income generated from dry forests increased substantially due to increment in the level of engagement of family members in forest based income activities. On the other hand, 35.8% of the households responded that livestock production, particularly camels and goats, have been making the livelihood strategies of the respondents more resilient indicating the shift made from grazers browsers to livestock. In general trends show that, the trends of livelihood dependency on dry forest were highly increasing indicating the importance of dry forest income in responsse to frequent droughts. Conclusions: Dry forest income has been becoming crucial livelihood staretgy in response to frequent droughts in the study area and hence, it is important to improve the management of dry forests for livelihood enhancement, while also securing their long-term ecological functions.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.8
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• pp.1415-1424
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• 2021

Objective: Portable laser methane detectors (LMDs) may be an economical means of estimating CH₄ emissions from ruminants. We validated an LMD-based approach and then used that approach to evaluate CH₄ emissions from indigenous dairy cows in a dryland area of Ethiopia. Methods: First, we validated our LMD-based approach in Simmental crossbred beef cattle (n = 2) housed in respiration chambers and fed either a high- or low-concentrate diet. From the results of the validation, we constructed an estimation equation to determine CH₄ emissions from LMD CH₄ concentrations. Next, we used our validated LMD approach to examine CH₄ emissions in Fogera dairy cows grazed for 8 h/d (GG, n = 4), fed indoors on natural-grassland hay (CG1, n = 4), or fed indoors on Napier-grass (Pennisetum purpureum) hay (CG2, n = 4). All the cows were supplemented with concentrate feed. Results: The exhaled CH₄ concentrations measured by LMD were linearly correlated with the CH₄ emissions determined by infrared-absorption-based gas analyzer (r² = 0.55). The estimation equation used to determine CH₄ emissions (y, mg/min) from LMD CH₄ concentrations (x, ppm m) was y = 0.4259x+38.61. Daily CH₄ emissions of Fogera cows estimated by using the equation did not differ among the three groups; however, a numerically greater milk yield was obtained from the CG2 cows than from the GG cows, suggesting that Napier-grass hay might be better than natural-grassland hay for indoor feeding. The CG1 cows had higher CH₄ emissions per feed intake than the other groups, without significant increases in milk yield and body-weight gain, suggesting that natural-grassland hay cannot be recommended for indoor-fed cows. Conclusion: These findings demonstrate the potential of using LMDs to valuate feeding regimens rapidly and economically for dairy cows in areas under financial constraint, while taking CH₄ emissions into consideration.