Project leader: Ewa Wredle
Sub-project 1: Improving pasture availability for dairy cows in pastoral communities in Uganda
Principal investigator at SLU: Ewa Wredle, Department of Animal Nutrition and Management
Popular summary
In Uganda, rangelands cover approximately 43% of the total land area and are of great economic importance because they support about 90% of the cattle population. Most of the local cattle are raised traditionally by pastoralists and agro-pastoralists as dual-purpose animals. The pastoralists are key contributors to Uganda’s food security and approximate 85% of the total marketed milk and beef is produced from indigenous cattle. Accesses to good pasture areas and feed for the animals are crucial for livestock productivity. Insufficient nutrition, leads to late maturity, low fertility, low offspring survival and long generation intervals. Many rangelands in Uganda are impaired due to land degradation but also the vast increase in human population has an impact on available pasture areas. Other problems common to these agricultural systems include inadequate feed resources, lack of nutrients inputs, prolonged draught periods, inadequate market opportunities etc. Given the contribution of the pastoral systems to food security in Uganda it is important that they are equipped with appropriate strategies for continued sustainability. The main objective of the present project, which will be linked to on-going projects, is to increase year round feed availability for dairy cows in Uganda’s rangeland agro-pastoral communities. The project will be carried out in collaboration with several dairy farmers in south west Uganda.
Sub-project 2: Uterine health in dairy herds in Uganda and its implications for herd profit
Principal investigator at SLU: Renée Båge, Department of Clinical Sciences
Popular summary
Reproduction is a key parameter determining the level of production and profitability in a dairy herd. Low fertility leads to productivity losses which can be directly translated into economic loss of great magnitude, and it is also the major reason for involuntary culling of dairy cows.
The project focuses on cows in the period around calving, a time associated with health disturbances that are decisive for the economy of dairy producers. Metritis, inflammation of the uterus, is common after calving with consequences for the cow’s future fertility and milk production level.
The main cause is lacking management and nutrition in this critical time period. Better knowledge of risk factors for metritis and their economic consequences is necessary for the motivation of farmers to adopt preventive measures.
Farms will be visited for gathering of information about management routines around calving. Newly calved cows will be examined for diagnosis of metritis. Practical recommendations will be suggested, adapted to prevailing circumstances. The aim is to keep the cows healthy through the calving process, during the transition from non-lactating to lactating state, for future successful breeding, optimized milk production and longevity.
Capacity-building activities like teaching of university staff (veterinarians) in diagnostic tools like gynecological ultrasonography for diagnosis of reproductive disorders will be performed. A course will be run for farmers on connection between nutrition and reproduction and management of the cow around calving. Workshops for researchers and stakeholders will be arranged.
Sub-project 3: Improved efficiency of animal production in rural areas of Eastern Africa
Principal investigator at SLU: Erling Strandberg, Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics
Popular summary
Indigenous livestock breeds are well adapted to tropical and harsh environments, but usually rather unproductive. Therefore, crossbreeding with exotic breeds has been practiced, and often found to be successful in the first generation, but with disastrous results later on. Therefore, there is a great need for developing breeding strategies for specific populations of indigenous livestock, both in order to conserve genes necessary for survival under harsh environments, and for genetic improvement of productivity. The objective of this project is to explore the opportunities for genetic improvement of primarily two livestock populations considered of specific importance for food security in Eastern Africa, due to their resilience as regards adverse climatic stress or ability to withstand specific disease challenges in the tropics. In the first case, focus will be on the Red Maasai sheep and its crosses in Kenya and Tanzania. This breed has shown a high degree of resistance to gastrointestinal parasites and ability to withstand drought. However, there is no breeding strategy in place and this project will adopt a value chain approach with the farmers and retailers to establish appropriate breeding objectives and selection practices. We will furthermore study production systems, animal usage, survival, production, et cetera, using various interview methods and also further develop an already created production recording system. In the second study we have focused on comparing four Ethiopian cattle breeds with respect to trypanotolerance and productivity and found that one breed, the Sheko, is clearly superior. We will carry out a workshop with researchers, extension officers and farmers on how to amplify the genes for trypanotolerance into the cattle populations kept in tsetse infested areas.
A workshop for and with local farmers was organised on October 12 at the FARAJA insitute in Isinya town, Kenya. Follow the link for more information about the workshop: "Sustainable breeding strategies for ruminants in Eastern and Southern Africa: Farmer workshop".
Sub-project 4: Studies on African Swine Fever virus and its genetic variation in different host species - particularly focusing on the vector
Principal investigator at SLU: Mikael Berg, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Veterinary Public Health
Popular summary
In Uganda swine is a major protein source and is kept by ca 19 per cent of the rural population. Estimations say that about two million pigs are kept in Uganda. From the governmental side pig is recommended as being ideal for poorer people, but also for bigger production, due to the large litter sizes and that they reach slaughter weight fast.
Unfortunately, this also gives problems with infectious diseases of various kinds. One of the most feared diseases of pigs is African swine fever (ASF), which is caused by a virus, African Swine fever virus (ASFV). There are currently no vaccine or treatment for this disease. Occasionally there are big outbreaks and this leads to tremendous consequences for the farmer and is extremely painful for the animals.
The symptoms can vary a lot from sudden death to more subtle, and therefore it can be difficult to judge if pigs have the disease or not. One reason for this is that different genetic variants circulate of the virus that have different pathogenicity.
The natural reservoirs of the virus are different types of wild pigs, warthogs and bushpigs and a soft tick (Ornithodoros) and may via the latter be transferred to domestic pigs. The introduction is however often due to infected pigs or meat products. This is due both to economical reasons and knowledge gaps about the virus behind the disease. Lots of the virus epidemiology and life cycle is unknown that must be sorted out to be able to combat the viral disease in an effective way. The scope of this project, which is a part of a bigger project, is to study the virus in the tick vector using so called viral metagenomics. This is a combination of advanced molecular techniques and computer analysis (bioinformatics). This will give a more complete picture of the virus survival and spread in the vector.
