Trends in on-farm performance testing of small ruminants in sub-Saharan Africa

About 75% of Africa's livestock are associated with smallholder and agropastoral farming systems. Livestock performance can be greatly increased through improved management. Production problems, possible interventions and animal performance need to be identified within the prevailing system. On-farm...

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Main Author: Peters, Kurt J.
Format: Conference Paper
Language:Inglés
Published: International Livestock Centre for Africa 1989
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/16488
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author Peters, Kurt J.
author_browse Peters, Kurt J.
author_facet Peters, Kurt J.
author_sort Peters, Kurt J.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description About 75% of Africa's livestock are associated with smallholder and agropastoral farming systems. Livestock performance can be greatly increased through improved management. Production problems, possible interventions and animal performance need to be identified within the prevailing system. On-farm testing has expanded considerably although on-station testing has been more reported. Most on-farm tests are short term, do not allow full assessment of the whole production process, and rarely match health and management data to performance. On-farm work can be complemented by on-station tests for comparative breed evaluation, assessment of specific performance ability and technology development. On-station comparisons are valuable but their application is limited by high costs and genotype environment interactions. On-farm testing is impaired by constraints which increase the number of covariates, decrease accessibility to flocks and limit estimation of breeding values. On-farm recording therefore requires a large number of flocks, monitored continuously, within a system oriented scheme. Efficient on-farm testing needs standard methods, rapid data handling and results feedback, and can best be achieved through collaborative networks which could also organise complementary on-farm and on-station genetic improvement programmes.
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spelling CGSpace164882021-02-10T20:33:10Z Trends in on-farm performance testing of small ruminants in sub-Saharan Africa Peters, Kurt J. livestock About 75% of Africa's livestock are associated with smallholder and agropastoral farming systems. Livestock performance can be greatly increased through improved management. Production problems, possible interventions and animal performance need to be identified within the prevailing system. On-farm testing has expanded considerably although on-station testing has been more reported. Most on-farm tests are short term, do not allow full assessment of the whole production process, and rarely match health and management data to performance. On-farm work can be complemented by on-station tests for comparative breed evaluation, assessment of specific performance ability and technology development. On-station comparisons are valuable but their application is limited by high costs and genotype environment interactions. On-farm testing is impaired by constraints which increase the number of covariates, decrease accessibility to flocks and limit estimation of breeding values. On-farm recording therefore requires a large number of flocks, monitored continuously, within a system oriented scheme. Efficient on-farm testing needs standard methods, rapid data handling and results feedback, and can best be achieved through collaborative networks which could also organise complementary on-farm and on-station genetic improvement programmes. 1989 2012-02-13T18:38:17Z 2012-02-13T18:38:17Z Conference Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/16488 en Open Access International Livestock Centre for Africa Peters, K.J. 1989. Trends in on-farm performance testing of small ruminants in sub-Saharan Africa. In: Wilson, R.T. and Melaku, A. (eds.). 1989. African Small Ruminant Research and Development. Proceedings of a conference held at Bamenda, Cameroon 18 - 25 January 1989. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: ILCA.
spellingShingle livestock
Peters, Kurt J.
Trends in on-farm performance testing of small ruminants in sub-Saharan Africa
title Trends in on-farm performance testing of small ruminants in sub-Saharan Africa
title_full Trends in on-farm performance testing of small ruminants in sub-Saharan Africa
title_fullStr Trends in on-farm performance testing of small ruminants in sub-Saharan Africa
title_full_unstemmed Trends in on-farm performance testing of small ruminants in sub-Saharan Africa
title_short Trends in on-farm performance testing of small ruminants in sub-Saharan Africa
title_sort trends in on farm performance testing of small ruminants in sub saharan africa
topic livestock
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/16488
work_keys_str_mv AT peterskurtj trendsinonfarmperformancetestingofsmallruminantsinsubsaharanafrica