1. Chapter presentation for the course:
Designing Animal breeding programs (AnGB7021)
Implemented Breeding Programs Options in
Ethiopia: In case of Dairy Cattle, Sheep and Chicken
Birhan Kassa (BDU1500178)
Supervisor: Prof. Kefaylew Alemayehu (PhD)
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2. Presentation outline
Introduction
Breeding programs options
Breeding program implementation approaches
Major achievements of implemented breeding programs
Straight breeding (selection)
ā¢ Fogera and Boran cattle, Horro and Tilili chicken
Community based breed improvement
ā¢ Fogera cattle, Menz and Bonga sheep
Cross breeding
ā¢ local Vs HF, Jersey and semental
ā¢ Chicken cross breeding
Breed substitution????
ā¢ Different layer, Broiler and dual purpose chickens
Summary and Ways forward
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3. Introduction
Breeding programs for different livestock species in temperate climates have shown
the opportunities to increase the output per animal within/after a few decades of
breeding
More remarkable results, especially for Meat production with different species,
have been obtained in well-designed crossbreeding schemes in the short-term
o These programs have been favored by resourceful environments and well
developed infrastructure and markets
The issue now is how to design efficient breeding schemes for indigenous breeds
in the tropics, where resources are limited and feed availability varies in harsh
climates
How could productivity, fitness and adaptive traits, be maximised without
adversely affecting the environment
Since the diversity needed for the unknown/unseen future?
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4. Introduction contā¦ā¦
Furthermore, such programmes must be developed in the context of prevailing
cultural and socio-economic conditions, i.e. be parts of the livestock use in the
total development of a community
Thus, aspects of developing genetic improvement programmes for tropical
conditions are far more complex than for breeds in temperate climates of the
developed world
Designing a breeding programme is much more than genetic theories and increased
productivity
It is a matter of infrastructure, community development and an opportunity for
improved livelihood of livestock owners through better animals and markets for
their products
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5. Introduction contā¦ā¦
The major problems of previous breeding programs in developing countries are
Too complicated in terms of logistics, technology and requirements of
resources without considering the infrastructure available
Indiscriminate crossbreeding of indigenous breeds with exotic breeds without
enough consideration of environmental conditions for production (Payne, 1997).
Lack of plans on how to maintain a suitable level of āupgradingā or on how to
maintain the pure breeds for future use in crossbreeding contribute to non-
sustainability.
High levels of upgrading have generally led to animals with less resistance to
diseases and impaired ability to withstand environmental stress (Philipsson
et al., 2005)
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6. Introduction contiā¦..
Lack of analysis of the different socio-economic and cultural roles that
livestock play in each situation, usually leading to wrong breeding objectives
and neglect of the potentials of various indigenous breeds of livestock.
Lack of comprehensive approaches to design simple, yet effective
breeding strategies in low-input environments.
Lack of awareness of what genetic improvement schemes may achieve in both
the short and long terms with different methods and species.
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7. Introduction contiā¦..
Breeding program options in tropics
Payne and Hodges (1997) reviewed in detail the past developments of genetic
improvement programmes for cattle in the tropics and what could be seen as the
major options available for the future in seeking sustainable breeding systems.
These differ for many reasons from the programmes designed for temperate
breeds in Western countries.
In summary five major options are proposed:
Crossbreeding indigenous breeds with temperate breeds
Improving indigenous breeds????
Progressively substituting the breed with another indigenous breed???
Forming a composite (synthetic) breed.
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8. Introduction contiā¦..
In general, Breeding program options should aim at being simple enough to allow
programmes to be launched without many resources.
In most such cases the schemes are based on open nucleus herds where the
indigenous breeds are kept under selection.
From these herds males, either purebred or crossbred, are distributed for use in
smallholder or village farming systems.
In this way, the indigenous breeds chosen for improvement will be conserved for
the future.
Depending on breed characteristics, the level of management and development
one may choose a simpler or more advanced scheme.
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9. Introduction contiā¦..
Ideally, sustainable breeding programs (Aynalem Haile et al., 2016):
Meet breeding objectives of the individuals, communities and nations for
which they were established;
Are self-sufficient (technically, economically and socially);
Are environmentally friendly (locally and globally).
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10. Introduction contā¦ā¦
This presentation paper aims:
To review the breeding programs option implemented in Ethiopia
To review the past achievements of each breeding program in selected
livestock species
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11. Livestock Breeding Program Implemented in Ethiopia
Straight breeding (selection)
Community based breed improvement
Cross breeding
Breed substitution
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13. C
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2000-2007
High within
variability
Egg number
Body weight
AFL
Survival
Setup breed
improvement
program (2008) vs
(2021)
2nd generation
promising result
Man power and
facility
2006-2010
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Scheme and
Achievements
Tilili, Horro,
Chefe, Jarso,
Tepi (Tadelle,
2003)
Tilili, Gellilia,
Debre-Ellias,
Mello-Hamusit,
Gassay,
Guangua, Mecha
(Halima, 2007)
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1 Phenotypic Genotypic
2 Aklilu et al., 2013 Alemayehu et al., 2003
3 Alemayehu et al., 2003 Mwacharo et al., 2007
4 Bekele, 2015 Hassen et al., 2009
5 Bekele, 2015 Goraga et al., 2011
6 Bogale, 2011 Wragg et al., 2012
7 Dana et al., 2010 Bekerie et al., 2015
8 Desta et al., 2013 Desta et al., 2015
9 Duguma, 2006 Adebabay, 2018
10 Getachew et al., 2016
11 Getu et al., 2014
12 Hailu et al., 2013
13 Halima et al., 2007
14 Kibret, 2008
15 Lemlem and Tesfaye, 2010
16 Melesse and Negesse, 2011
17 Moges et al., 2010
18 Moges, 2014
19 Muhiye, 2007
20 Negassa et al., 2014
21 Nigussie et al., 2013
22 Yisma, 2015
23 Yitbarek and Zewudu, 2013
23 Zewdu et al., 2013
Aproaches/ procedures
14. Straight Breeding (Selection): Chicken
40 cocks 400 hens
2080 DOC
(200 *0.5 *0.65 hatching rate*8days*4
batch)
1248 growers (2080*0.6)
624 cockerels (Wk16)
If= 40/624= (7-10%)
624 pullets (Wk16)
If= 400/624= (50-60%)
Breeding scheme of Tilili and Horro chicken in Ethiopia: Closed breeding scheme
Egg number
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Body
weight
Body
weight
16. Horro chicken from DZARC
The selective breeding program had brought about
Increase growth by 95%
Increase egg number of 123 %
over the six generations of mass
selection on body weight at 16 weeks
and egg number at 45 weeks of age
(Wondmeneh, 2015).
Survival rate improved from less than 50% in
the first generation to 98% in the seventh
generation.
Straight Breeding (Selection): Chicken
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17. Straight Breeding (Selection): Horro Chicken
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Body weight improvement of Horro chicken across generations
18. Straight Breeding (Selection): Horro Chicken
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G_0 (Dana,
2011)
G_4
(Wondmeneh
et al., 2014)
G_6
(Wondmeneh
et al., 2014)
G-7 (Dessie
and
Wondmeneh,
2020
G-8 (Dessie
and
Wondmeneh,
2020
G-9 (Dessie
and
Wondmeneh,
2020
G_11 (Kedija
et al., 2020)
Egg number 34 63 76 84 87 94 82.68
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Egg
number
Egg production improvement of Horro chicken across generations
19. Straight Breeding (Selection): Horro Chicken
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Age at first laying improvement of Horro chicken across generations
20. Straight Breeding (Selection): Horro Chicken
Principal component analysis plot on 24 indigenous chicken populations
of Ethiopia (Adebabay, 2018)
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Genomic evidence for
improvement
A total of 595 candidate genes
showed high evidence of positive
selection in indigenous chicken
populations, including genes were
related to traits such as growth and
egg production.
Hugub ecotype
Jarso ecotype
Improved Horro
21. Tilili Chicken from ALRC Poultry Research and Multiplication
Farm (3rd generation of selection)
A similar selective breeding was started with Tilili ecotype
at Andassa Livestock Research Center in 2021 (Esatu et al.,
2022) .
Breeding goal traits: growth rate and egg number,
indirectly age at first laying and survival
The mean body weight of the day-old base population of
Tilili chicken was 30.4 gram with high variation between
the smallest and highest birds (Esatu, W et al., 2022).
The male body weight of selection candidates at the time
of selection decision at week 16 was 1100 grams (Esatu et
al., 2022)
Straight Breeding (Selection): Chicken
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23. Straight Breeding (Selection): cattle
Boran cattle
Boran, a popular cattle breed, is predominantly
utilized and widely distributed across various
countries of Africa (DAGRIS 2006).
The Boran cattle at present are found in the Ogaden,
Sidama and Bale areas of Ethiopia and the
adjoining regions of Somalia and Kenya.
Boran cattle are reasonably large and have a good
general body conformation.
Their colour is mainly white, light gray, fawn or
light brown with gray, black or dark brown shading
on head, neck, shoulders and hindquarters.
Improved Boran cow and bull
from the Abernossa cattle
improvement and multiplication
centre, Rift Valley of Ethiopia.
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24. Straight Breeding (Selection): cattle
Performance of the improved
Boran as a beef breed has been
successful in Kenya, South
Africa, USA and Australia
(Aynalem Haile, 2011).
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25. Straight Breeding (Selection): cattle
The Adami-Tulu and Abernossa cattle improvement and multiplication centre
The Adami Tulu ranch was the first such ranch to be established in Ethiopia on an
area of 1534 ha (Aynalem Haile, 2011).
establishment herd of 351 Boran cows and 12 Boran bulls purchased from the
then Borana and Arrero Awrajas of Sidamo Administration Region in southern
Ethiopia.
The objective was genetic improvement of Boran cattle under ranch
management conditions.
In 1975, The breeding program was interrupted and all the ranch land and
almost all its facilities were given to surrounding farmers.
Half of the herd was distributed to farmers, while the other half was
transferred to Abernossa ranch
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26. Straight Breeding (Selection): cattle
In 1975, the Adami Tulu and Abernossa ranches were
amalgamated and named Adami Tulu and Abernossa Cattle
Improvement and Multiplication Center.
The objectives of the multiplication centre were redefined
as follows:
Conserve and improve Boran cattle through selection
and controlled breeding;
Provide foundation and replacement heifers to the
Abernossa crossbreeding unit and to other interested
organizations;
Produce and distribute Boran Ć Friesian in-calf heifers
to farmers to improve dairy production
Demonstrate the importance of improved livestock
management and modern ranching systems under
tropical conditions.
A herd of Boran and Boran Ć Friesian
cows at the Abernossa cattle
improvement and multiplication
centre, Rift Valley of Ethiopi
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27. Straight Breeding (Selection): cattle
The Boran breed has been improved at Abernossa ranch
through selection, controlled breeding and better
management
Ethiopian Boran breed can be used for beef or dairy
production
Better and comparable potential of Boran with other beef
breeds (Ayenalem et al., 2011)
The milk production potential of Ethiopian Boran has
not been improved.
Improved Boran cow and bull from
the Abernossa cattle improvement
and multiplication centre, Rift
Valley of Ethiopia.
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28. Straight Breeding (Selection): cattle
As a result of natural and artificial selection, the Boran breed has developed greater
ability
to survive, grow and reproduce in conditions of high ambient temperature, poor
feed quality, water shortage and disease including tick infestations (Getachew et
al., 2014).
Boran cattle is characterized as beef breed in Ethiopia (DAGRIS, 2007).
But currently the Boran breeding program in Ethiopia had in a big problem and the
population is declined due to:
repeated pleasure of drought and
closing of ranches where the breed was conserved
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29. Straight Breeding (Selection): cattle
Fogera cattle
well adapted to wet soils and swampy areas and copes well
with the heavy fly, parasite and disease well with the heavy
fly, parasite and disease infestations, as well as low quality of
feed, that characterizes this challenging environment
Fogera cattle are one of the promising milk type local breed
of Ethiopia that is widely adapted around Lake Tana of Amhara
region.
The breed in known for its relatively higher milk yield and
traction power, better resistance to internal parasites
infestation, and sound adaptability to water logged area
attributed to its long legs (A. T. Sendeku, 2015).
The breed had under ex-situ conservation at Andassa LRC and
Chagni CBR.
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30. Straight Breeding (Selection): Fogera cattle
Breeding strategy : Open nucleus
breeding scheme (A. T. Sendeku,
2015).
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32. Straight Breeding (Selection): cattle
Estimated genetic trend for daily and lactation milk yield of Fogera cows at ALRC
The inconsistency in genetic improvement trend indicated inefficiency in selection, varying
environmental stresses, low quality and quantity of nutrition and lack of accurate pedigree
structure (Demelash et al., 2020).
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33. 2. Community Based Breeding (Sheep and cattle)
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Community Based Breeding: sheep
Bonga sheep
34. Community Based Breeding Contiā¦
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Implementation Guidelines
Selecting target breeds and communities
Selection of breeds
Selection of community
Characterization of target sites and breeds
Description of the production system
Breed characterization
Definition of breeding objectives
Personal interview
Choice cards experiment
Ranking of live animals
Assessment of alternative breeding plans
Developing adequate breeding structures
The breeding program
Animal identification
Data recording and management
Selection of candidate rams/bucks
Reproductive technologies for scaling up the benefits
from CBBP
Monitoring and evaluation
35. Community Based Breeding :
Started in 2008: sheep CBBP
Ensures a community ownership
Organizing farmers:
Allows to create large flock,
Capacitate community
Genetic improvement and measurement directly start at a community flock:
Disease risk reduced :
Shorten process
Based on their particular situation and capacity: Fits low input
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36. Community Based Breeding contā¦.
Currently, CBBPs focusing on local genotypes are being advocated as the strategy
of choice for genetic improvement of small ruminants (Haile et al., 2011;
Kosgey and Okeyo, 2007; Sƶlkner, Nakimbigwe, & Valle-Zarate, 1998).
There are breeding programmes underway for Menz, Horro, Bonga, Washera,
Doyogena and Atsbi sheep
All CBBP programs, if critical follow-up is emplace, are fruit full and bring
economical change for the livelihood of the farmers (Ayenalem et al., 2020).
The solution has resulted in genetic gain of economically important traits, shown
an increase in farmer income by 20% and helped the community triple
consumption of animal source food (ICARDA, 2021).
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37. Community Based Breeding contā¦.
Menz sheep (Growth, lamb survival and fleece
weight)
ā¢ The breeding program in Menz sheep was open
nucleus breeding scheme (done above 20 years).
ā Nucleus herd at DBARC
ā Village herd at different districts
ā¢ CBBP had also started with ILRI- 15 years back and
appreciable genetic improvement has been achieved
in the village program.
ā¢ Body weights at birth, 3, 6 and 12 months of age
increased by 0.42, 2.29, 2.46 and 5.24kg,
respectively, in the third generation over those in the
base generation (Gizaw et al., 2013).
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38. Community Based Breeding contā¦. Menz sheep ā¦
Growth performance of menz sheep (Aschalew et al., 2020)
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2
6
%
2
8
%
39. Community Based Breeding contā¦.
Menz sheep (Growth, lamb survival and fleece weight)
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40. Community Based Breeding contā¦. Menz sheep ā¦
(Aschalew et al., 2020)
(Ayenalem et al., 2020)
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41. Bonga sheep (Growth, lamb survival,
Lambing rate)
Bonga sheep are reared for mutton and have a
higher body weight at maturity and the ewes
are moderately prolific (Metsafe et al., 2017)
Considerable within breed variability encouraging
selective breeding
CBBP at Bonga was started in 2009 with ICARDA
(Ebadu, 2019).
Community Based Breeding contā¦. Bonga sheep ā¦
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42. Community Based Breeding contā¦. Bonga sheep ā¦
The Bonga CBBP had the examplenary
type for other breeds because:
The regional government fully
involve
It reaches above 13 legal
cooperatives
The coops had organized as farmers
union (2011).
The breeds had recognized as a
national improved sheep breed
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43. Community Based Breeding contā¦. Bonga sheep ā¦
Growth performance of Bonga sheep across different year (Ebadu Arab, 2019)
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44. Community Based Breeding contā¦. Bonga sheep ā¦
Ebadu Arab, 2019
(Ayenalem et al., 2020)
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45. Community Based Breeding contā¦..
Fogera cattle
Enables to establish a linkage between ex-situ
and in-situ herds ,
Allows to maximizes the retention and
continued evolution of the genetic qualities of
farmersā varieties
Aims to avoid the loss of variation during
rejuvenation
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46. Community Based Breeding: cattle
Least squares means (+SE) of growth change in on-farm level (Assemu et al.,
2019)
Parameters N Birth weight N Weaning weight
Overall 567 23.77Ā±0.21 293 85.89Ā±1.07
District * **
Fogera 372 24.01Ā±0.26 190 86.44Ā±1.29
Gondar zuria 195 23.31Ā±0.33 103 84.54Ā±1.92
Year ** *
2015 207 23.08Ā±0.33ab 108 86.16Ā±1.53b
2016 158 24.17Ā±0.34a 87 85.56Ā±1.48b
2017 107 24.52Ā±0.36a 98 87.49Ā±3.05a
2018 95 21.75Ā±0.62c - -
Sex * NS
Male 277 24.15Ā±0.30 137 86.60Ā±1.84
Female 290 23.45Ā±0.27 156 85.30Ā±1.24
Season NS *
Dry 388 23.27Ā±0.35 209 84.27Ā±2.35
Wet 179 23.75Ā±0.56 84 87.51Ā±1.05
Across year and period had shown an inconsistence result; which might be attributed to the presence of
variable management practices adopted by the center.
On the other hand, the result had indicated an improvement in the production performance of the
breed that indicated the potential for selection is higher in the breed (Assemu et al., 2019)
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47. Community Based Breeding: cattle
ā¢ With the CBBP approach
ā age at first mating was reported to be 25 month and 36 month as age at first
calving.
ā¢ This result compared with the farmers calve is improved by an average of one year,
which indicates the positive response of selection done on the breeding strategy.
ā As traction power is the selective trait of the farmers, calves born through the
CBBP starts plowing in their 31 month while the farmers local bull do the same
work at its 41 months age (10 month reduction).
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48. Breeding programs in Ethiopia
1. Cross breeding
Crossbreeding has principally been applied in the tropics to exploit breed complementarity.
Specifically, specialized exotic (mainly temperate) breeds have been crossed with
indigenous breeds to combine the high productivity of exotic with adaptive attributes of
indigenous breeds
Despite potential benefits from crossbreeding, there are not too many success stories in the
tropics
Most crossbreeding programmes have either lacked long-term strategies on how to maintain
a suitable level of upgrading or have been too complicated to conduct in practice
As a result, uncontrolled crossbreeding has been identified as a major cause of loss of genetic
diversity in indigenous breeds,
primarily through replacement of pure indigenous breeds by crossbreds but also
through loss of certain traits, hence genes, not included in the breeding objectives
at that time
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49. Dairy cattle:
Genetic improvement of dairy cattle has been mainly focused on cross breeding in order
to combine high milk yield potential of exotic breed with adaptive potential of local
breeds.
Objective: Increase productivity of indigenous cattle breed, milk and milk products
through crossbreeding with exotic dairy cattle breeds
Crossbreeding for dairy cattle improvement in Ethiopia was initiated in the early 1950s.
Using improved dairy cattle breeds and its associated technological packages
Genetic improvement of cattle through crossbreeding has been started by the Institute
of Agricultural Research.
using Friesian, Jersey and Simmental sires that were crossed with the local Fogera,
Horro, Boran and Barka dams (EARO, 2001; IBC, 2012; Chencha and Kefyalew, 2012).
Cross breeding contā¦.
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50. Cross breeding contā¦.
Artificial insemination, estrus synchronization and embryo transfer were
implemented as a technological option (Gizaw et al., 2016; Ahmed and Mohammed,
2017).
Artificial insemination is the one that has made the greatest contribution to genetic
improvement programs (Ahmed and Mohammed, 2017)
Due to high cost of semen, liquid nitrogen and, technical problems it interrupted
many times.
Currently these problems were solved and liquid nitrogen and bull semen was
processed in NAGII at national level and regional AI centers
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51. Breeding program Location Objective
Fogera cattle genetic
improvement
Western Ethiopia
Amhara region
Crossbreeding with HF * for milk production
Conservation of pure Fogera and
Increase milk production of Fogera breed through pure
breeding and Community based breeding
Holetta Research center
crossbreeding Borena cattle
with HF
Central Ethiopia, Holetta Evaluation of different crossbred animal for milk production,
reproduction adaptation
Increase milk production through crossbreeding,
Production of selected crossbred bulls for AI,
demonstration and pre-scaling up F1 & 75% female
Adaberga Jersey cattle breed
improvement pure breeding of
jersey cattle
Central Ethiopia,
Adaberga
Increase milk production through pure breeding
Production of pure breed Jersey bulls for AI and NM
Fogera cattle breed
improvement and
multiplication
Chagni Western Ethiopia
Ahmara regio
Production of pure Fogera and
HF* Fogera crosses for milk production
Dairy cattle cross breeding and pure breeding programs in Ethiopia
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52. Debre Zeit Research
center herd crossbreeding
HF with local Borena
Cattle breed
Central Ethiopia, D/zeit Evaluation of performance of high grade dairy cattle for
Increase milk production and reproduction
development of
composite breed HF* Arsi
breed
Adami tulu research
center
Development of composite breed from two breed
crossing
Borena cattle breed
improvement and
conservation ranch
Didu Tuyra in Southern
Ethiopia Oromia region
Production of pure Borena cattle
Conservation of Borena breed
Begait cattle breed
conservation and
improvement
Humera North western
Ethiopia Tigray Region
Production of pure Begait and HF* Begait crosses for milk
production
Distribution of F1 females
Horro cattle breed
improveent ranch
Oromia region, horro
guduru district
Production of pure horro cattle and
Jersey*horro cattle crossbreeding for milk production
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54. Cross breeding: cattleā¦.
Friesian, Simmental and Jersey crosses with exotic
inheritance of 50 to 62.5% are appropriate for
smallholder dairy production in Ethiopia (Beyene,
1992).
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55. Cross breeding: cattleā¦.
An increase in annual milk yield by 300% in
F1 crosses as compared to Fogera was
observed (Goshu and Mekonnen, 1996).
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56. Cross breeding: cattleā¦.
Boran cattle: Improvement of Boran cattle with crossbreeding strategy (Ayenalem et al., 2011)
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57. Cross breeding: cattleā¦.
Over all performance of crossbred in Ethiopia (Million et al., 2012)
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58. Cross breeding: cattleā¦.
Over all performance of crossbred in Ethiopia (Million et al., 2012)
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59. Cross breeding: sheep
Sheep Crossbreeding was started with Menz sheep for its wool production potential
in 1967 using Corriedale, Hampshire and Romney Marsh as sire breeds (Gizaw et al.,
2013).
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60. Cross breeding: sheep
Approaches
Sheep cross Breeding program have three main components
Breeding and multiplication units, Dissemination unit, Production unit
Breeding and multiplication units
Including breeding, evaluation and multiplication of pure and cross breeding
Ram multiplication in the breeding unit was less efficient
Technical and infrastructural limitation
Higher level of mortality (liver flock, feed shortage) for both local and
crossbreds
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61. Cross breeding: sheep
Dissemination unit
Tstatus of disseminated ram in most cases exposed that this unit is totally failed
(Tasefaye et al., 2015)
No apparent breeding ram engaged in breeding
Rams were either sold or castrated
No preparation in site/area and farmer selection Rams were sold for the non-real
farmer
Lack of awareness
Selling ram to individual farmer
Under utilize the genetic potential
Appealing farmers to sell for short term benefit
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62. Cross breeding: sheep
Production unit
Ram sharing scheme (rams were disseminated to groups of organized farmers
based on their neighborhood and joint use of communal grazing land)
Better monitoring system were adopted
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63. Cross breeding: sheep
Crossbreeding was started with Menz sheep for its
wool production potential in 1967 using Corriedale,
Hampshire and Romney Marsh as sire breeds (Gizaw et
al., 2013).
The most widely used crossbreeding program was
distribution of different blood level Awasi and Dorper
sheep
ā in the north shewa and south wollo areas where the
local breed at these areas was neglected.
Several studies from the on-station confirmed that
the crossbreds are superior to their local
counterparts (Getachew et al., 2016).
Awasi, and Dorper crossbreds
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64. Growth performance of Dorper and its cross with
different Ethiopian sheep breeds (Desalegn, 2019)
Cross breeding: sheepā¦.
Dorper crossbreds ā¦
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67. Cross breeding: sheep
Both Awsi and Dorpers sired cross breeds have been well performed under low input
station and framers management
Birth weight, growth, weaning weight, carcass and wool production increased as exotic
level increased (Hassen et al., 2004; Tibbo, 2006)
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68. Cross breeding: sheep
ā¢ In all the measurements, crossbreds performed better
than local breed (Tesfaye, 2015) and Village based
cross-breedĆng program is successful
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69. Cross breeding: chicken
Designed cross breeding program in chicken except DZ-White were not run in
Ethiopia.
ā DZ-white: (synthetic breed from Lohman silver, KK and RIW).
ā The BW (BW8 and BW16), the DZ-white exhibit the highest BW8 (540.78g) and
BW16 (1433.07g) and the lowest BW8 (469.55g) and BW16 (1179.87g) was
recorded in Improved Horro.
Some experimental works and assessment works were done, how ever compressive
result were not reported.
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70. 3. Breed substitution: Chicken
Even if there is no recorded, it is widely believed that the
importation of exotic breeds of chicken goes back to the early
1950s ( Avery A, 2004).
This introduction of exotic breeds can be occurred through importing
Day-old chicks (DOC) which were either imported from Egypt,
Germany, Holland and other countries, pure exotic pullets,
Cockerels, Fertile eggs to farmers from abroad as well as to poultry
breeding and multiplication centers
Improved exotic breeds that are better in terms of productivity
use of the Rhode Island Red (RIR) breed that could serve as a
dual-purpose for egg and meat production.
Fayoumi breed has been imported with the expectation of better
productivity, adaptation and disease resistance than the other
exotic breeds in rural setting of Ethiopia (Wilson R, 2010).
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71. 4. Breed substitution: Chicken_ Approaches
Candidate importation
D/nt production system)
Production purpose
Evaluation
evaluating only a single imported strain (layers, broilers, or dual
purpose) at a time, concluding that this single strain is accepted or
not based on the results observed on-station and on-farm
conditions, without valid comparisons to alternative strains
Recommendation;
Demonstration and promotion
Multiplication
Dissemination
Parent importation
Specialized layers and broilers
Multiplication;
Dissemination
Research and higher learning institution Privet poultry farms
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72. 4. Breed substitution: Chicken
The total breeder flock in Ethiopia is about 449,750 (Wondmeneh et al., 2017):
layer (87.9%, Dual (6.89%), Broiler (5.1%)
The number of breeder farms(parent stock): farms producing DOCs
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73. 4. Breed substitution: Chicken
Least square means of egg production performances of 7 parent stocks
DR = Dominant Red Barred (CR); DS = Dominant Sussex (CR); KK = Koekoek; LB = Lohmann
Brown (Germany); LD = Lohmann Dual (Germany); NB = Novo Brown (France); NC = Novo
Color (France).
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74. 4. Breed substitution: Chicken
Performance of the ACGG test strains as
compared to the IC under on-station conditions
of Ethiopia, (ACGG BMGF report , 2017 )
Performance of the ACGG test strains as
compared to the IC under on-farm
conditions of Ethiopia, (ACGG BMGF report ,
2017 )
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76. Summary and the way forward
The genetic improvement breeding programs in Ethiopia mainly conducted in
selective breeding (cattle and chicken), community based breeding program
(sheep and cattle), cross breeding (cattle, sheep and Chicken), and breed
substitution (Chicken).
However, Crossbreeding in cattle and sheep and selective breeding (CBBP) in
small ruminants and chicken had bring tangible results.
Results in sheep CBBP at Menz and Bonga sheep brings economic benefit for
their keeper and icon for the country which will in the coming future brings
dollar for the sell of improved genetics.
From the review it is clearly observed that involvement of all stakeholders in the
genetic improvement program brings better result and assure sustainability.
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77. Summary and the way forward
Chicken Selective breeding programs should be supported with GWAS to fasten
the genetic improvement; the breeding program should be included
Selective breeding programs should consider the production environment
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