SummaryDevelopment of the livestock industry and its role in poverty alleviation in developing countries depends on how adaptive the production systems are to changing global environmental and economic trends. This paper characterizes dairy production systems in India, Tanzania, Kenya and Nicaragua, and describes the genetic and breeding technologies that hold promise for the advancement of global development goals. The dairy value chain has been prioritized for development under the CGIAR research programme on Livestock and Fish in Tanzania (East Africa), India (South Asia) and Nicaragua (Latin America), while ILRI is involved in research on dairy development in Kenya. In all the countries, a large number of smallholder farmers operating mixed crop-livestock production systems play a significant role in dairy production. In Tanzania, Kenya and Nicaragua, milk is predominantly produced by cattle of genotypes that differ both across countries and among production systems within the same country. In India, buffaloes contribute to a larger proportion of the national milk than cattle. Information on productivity per animal and on optimal genotypes to utilize within the smallholder production systems of all the countries is however limited. Crossbreeding and artificial insemination were identified as the most widely utilized breeding and reproductive technologies. Only in Kenya is there a national organization conducting livestock recording and monitoring productivity, however, the proportion of the dairy cattle population enrolled in the recording system is small (<2.5 percent). In all the countries, enhanced and adequately planned use of breeding and reproductive technologies, complemented with the relevant infrastructure, is needed to sustainably increase dairy productivity. The capacities of actors in the dairy value chain need to be developed in order to properly implement and manage improvements.Keywords: breeding technologies, dairy production, developing countries Résumé Le développement du secteur de l'élevage et son rôle dans la réduction de la pauvreté dans les pays en développement dépendent de l'adaptabilité des systèmes de production à l'évolution des contextes environnementaux et économiques. Cet article caractérise les systèmes de production laitière en Inde, Tanzanie, Kenya et Nicaragua et décrit la génétique et les méthodes de sélection avec lesquelles l'on cherche à atteindre les objectifs mondiaux de développement. La chaîne de valeur du lait a été une priorité pour le développement dans le cadre du programme de recherche du CGIAR sur l'Élevage et la Pêche en Tanzanie (Afrique Orientale), Inde (Asie du Sud) et Nicaragua (Amérique Latine), alors qu'au Kenya c'est l'ILRI qui a pris en charge la recherche sur le développement du secteur laitier. Dans tous les pays, un grand nombre de petits éleveurs exploitant des systèmes agropastoraux mixtes jouent un rôle important dans la production de lait. En Tanzanie, Kenya et Nicaragua, le lait est principalement produit par des bovins de génotypes qui diffèr...

Direct and maternal (co)variance components and genetic parameters were estimated for growth and reproductive traits in the Kenya Boran cattle fitting univariate animal models. Data consisted of records on 4502 animals from 81 sires and 1010 dams collected between 1989 and 2004. The average number of progeny per sire was 56. Direct heritability estimates for growth traits were 0.34, 0.12, 0.19, 0.08 and 0.14 for birth weight (BW), weaning weight (WW), 12-month weight (12W), 18-month weight (18W) and 24-month weight (24W), respectively. Maternal heritability increased from 0.14 at weaning to 0.34 at 12 months of age but reduced to 0.11 at 24 months of age. The maternal permanent environmental effect contributed 16%, 4% and 10% of the total phenotypic variance for WW, 12W and 18W, respectively. Direct-maternal genetic correlations were negative ranging from -0.14 to -0.58. The heritability estimates for reproductive traits were 0.04, 0.00, 0.15, 0.00 and 0.00 for age at first calving (AFC), calving interval in the first, second, and third parity, and pooled calving interval. Selection for growth traits should be practiced with caution since this may lead to a reduction in reproduction efficiency, and direct selection for reproductive traits may be hampered by their low heritability.

Animal recording in Kenya is characterised by erratic producer participation and high drop-out rates from the national recording scheme. This study evaluates factors influencing efficiency of beef and dairy cattle recording system. Factors influencing efficiency of animal identification and registration, pedigree and performance recording, and genetic evaluation and information utilisation were generated using qualitative and participatory methods. Pairwise comparison of factors was done by strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats-analytical hierarchical process analysis and priority scores to determine their relative importance to the system calculated using Eigenvalue method. For identification and registration, and evaluation and information utilisation, external factors had high priority scores. For pedigree and performance recording, threats and weaknesses had the highest priority scores. Strengths factors could not sustain the required efficiency of the system. Weaknesses of the system predisposed it to threats. Available opportunities could be explored as interventions to restore efficiency in the system. Defensive strategies such as reorienting the system to offer utility benefits to recording, forming symbiotic and binding collaboration between recording organisations and NARS, and development of institutions to support recording were feasible.

Genetic improvement of farm animals encompasses both mating and selection for desired traits and indigenous chicken genetic resources are no exception. In Kenya, previous attempts to genetically improve indigenous chicken involved cross-breeding scheme by utilizing cockerels and pullets of exotic breeds with the local indigenous chicken. This scheme was complimented with farmer training on good management practices and vaccination for disease control. The scheme was partially successful with improved performance in the crossbreds that declined with subsequent generations. Failure of the programme to meet stakeholder's expectation led to its' termination. The current attempt through the Smallholder Indigenous Chicken Improvement Programme has initiated an holistic and comprehensive approach to analysing the entire indigenous chicken actors and avert the causes of previous failures. The programme has genetically and phenotypically characterized the chicken; established reference/base population collected from different ecotypes/counties, established the breeding goals and designed breeding programmes that best suit the Kenyan stakeholders. The on-station research has reported variation on production traits, determined heritability estimate on growth. Current and ongoing research is focused on molecular characterization, selection for improved immune response, carcass quality, eggs production, growth and adaptation traits. The research is also concerned with conservation of these genetic resources.En la actualidad, el Programa para la Mejora de las Gallinas Autóctonas de los Pequeños Propietarios pretende, con la adopción de un enfoque holístico e integrador, tener en cuenta a todos los agentes implicados en la cría de las gallinas autóctonas para así evitar que se repitan fracasos como los anteriores. El programa ha caracterizado las gallinas tanto desde un punto de vista genético como fenotípico, ha establecido una población base de referencia formada por aves de diferentes ecotipos y provincias, ha marcado los objetivos de la mejora y ha diseñado los esquemas de selección que, en mayor medida, satisfacen a los agentes keniatas implicados. La investigación llevada a cabo en la estación ha sacado a la luz la existencia de cierta variabilidad en los caracteres productivos y ha permitido estimar la heredabilidad del crecimiento. La investigación presente y futura va encaminada a la caracterización molecular y a la selección para la mejora de la respuesta inmune, la calidad de la canal, la producción de huevos, el crecimiento y las características de adaptación. La investigación busca asimismo la conservación de estos recursos genéticos.