Selection Decisions and Trait Preferences for Local and Imported Cattle and Sheep Breeds in Peri-/Urban Livestock Production Systems in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Abstract

Background: Participatory approaches of designing livestock breeding programs for tropical production systems have been extensively applied for rural livestock, whereas the peri-/urban livestock production sector tends to be widely neglected. In order to ensure the viability of the commercial cattle and sheep production sector in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, structured breed improvement programs are needed. The study aims to better understand selection decisions of cattle and sheep breeders and their trait preferences for local and imported breeds. Methods: 49 cattle and 31 sheep breeders in peri-/urban areas of the city were approached in personal interviews. Data were analyzed in R version 3.5.1. Results: The main motivation for keeping cattle and sheep was to generate regular cash income through the selling of milk (cattle only) and surplus animals. Some (modern) breeders used imported breeds because of higher production performances. For imported cattle breeds, improved breeding technologies and management were applied to further enhance production outputs. Nevertheless, local livestock breeds were predominantly used due to their good adaptation. Conclusions: Selection decisions and trait preferences for local and imported cattle and sheep breeds were strongly based on performance traits. Especially sheep breeders, but also traditional cattle breeders, did not record performance traits and did not take conscious breeding decisions.

Muturu Cattle Breed in Benin: Distribution, Phenotypic Diversity, Perception of Cattle Keepers and Implications for the Breed conservation

“…The predominance of male herders in this study is in agreement with the conclusions of other works in Benin and Africa (Soro et al, 2015;Whannou, 2016;Roessler, 2019). In fact, the division of roles and responsibilities in rural Beninese society implies that women are often responsible for the sale of the family business's products in the market, while men as the head of the family hold the property and exercise full control over production and the resulting profit (Adoligbé et al, 2020b).…”

Exploration of production conditions: a step towards the development of a community-based breeding program for Butana cattle

“…Instead, farmers purely relied on recalled memory. The absence of performance recording has also been reported in previous studies for other indigenous cattle breeds (Opoola et al 2019;Roessler 2019). Major reasons associated with the lack of performance recording in most developing countries include the low awareness of potential benefits of recording to livestock owners, the research and development sector, and policy makers; problems of finding the right organization for animal recording; the challenge of attaining due participation; and insufficient technical know-how to implement and utilize records (Peters and Zumbach 2002).…”

“…For instance, the milk yield of a bull's dam (Musa et al 2006) and general appearance of a breeding bull itself (Mohammed et al 2014) were considered the most important criteria for bull selection by Butana cattle owners. Similarly, the selection of breeding bulls based on bull's dam's milk yield and body size or frame of the breeding bull itself was reported for Fulani cattle in Burkina Faso (Roessler 2019). However, the selection of breeding bulls in the absent of performance records as currently practiced by Scores (1 = not important, 2 = slightly important, 3 = moderately important, 4 = important, 5 = most important) indicate the importance given to the production challenges Butana cattle owners remains a challenge for genetic improvement of the breed.…”

Reproductive performance and productivity of local and Dorper x local crossbred ewes under community-based management system, Ethiopia

“…[ 1 ], Ethiopia has 42.9 million heads of sheep. They play a significant role in uplifting rural communities and contribute to the socio-economic well-being of communities that rear them [ 2 , 3 ]. Sheep provide a source of protein and income for rural households, which helps to improve food security and reduce poverty.…”