ABSTRACT Aphids are the major pests of vegetables leading to a significant yield loss in African indigenous vegetables including amaranth and nightshades. Information on the types of aphids that infest these vegetables and their genetic diversity in Kenya and Tanzania is scanty. This is an important diagnostic component in developing management strategies such as integrated pest management and early detection and control of invasive species. This study used a fragment of the mitochondrial cyt...
ABSTRACT The Kenyan mountaiu bongo (Fr(/ge/fI/J/lII,' curycerus is(1f1ci) is an endangered Tragclnphinc antelope sub-species endemic to Mt. Kenya- Aberdare ecosystems. This antelope has currently been reduced to pockets of small populations in forest patches (mainly in the Aberdares) exacerbated primarily by habitat fragmentation due to anthropogenic and disease factors. The conservation and survival of these species needs vital cmpiricul datil 011 critical luctors such as genetic processes t...
This study was conducted in Bekwarra Local Government Area of Cross River State, Nigeria, to identify and determine some characteristics of local chickens. A total of 530 adult chickens of both sexes and 111 fresh eggs were carefully examined at seven administrative council wards of the local government. About 43.00% of the birds observed were male while 57.00% were females. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was employed to carry out descriptive statistics on qualitative and quan...
ABSTRACT Parent stocks (PS) of exotic hybrids have contributed immensely to commercial poultry production in Nigeria. Their continued optimal utilization depends on their performance test. Information on performance indices of PS layer breeds in South-West Nigeria is however limited. The growth, reproductive performance and seasonal sensitivity of Bovan Nera (BN) and Isa Brown (IB) hybrids were evaluated. Secondary data on 24 batches of PS of each of BN and IB kept over a period of 10 years (...
Background: Poultry semen cryopreservation remains an easy and promising way of preserving and transferring poultry germplasm. Standardizing and optimizing freezing procedure with natural extender may be a reliable step towards achieving better post-thawed sperm quality. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of four different freezing protocols (FP) on frozen rooster semen extended with tris coconut water extender (TCWE). A total of 20 roosters were used and trained for semen co...
ABSTRACT Sex determination of Nigerian indigenous frizzle feathered and naked neck chicks has been a difficult task especially due to the monomorphism and high variation in the feather colour of this indigenous chickens using the feather sexing method. Thus, the vent sexing method is cheap and easy to carry out depending on the level of expertise and the molecular sexing technique was developed from recent stu...
ABSTRACT This experiment was conducted to estimate and study the genetic gain (ΔG) of FUNAAB Alpha broiler chicken that was selected mainly for breast girth at week 0 to week 10, to provide support for genetic improvement. A total of 200 FUNAAB Alpha broiler chicken were sourced for and fed ad libitum. Data were collected at the end of 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th and 10th week; birds/strain was selected from both strains. The initial breast gi...
The experiment was conducted to compare the various carcass characteristics between two broiler strains. A total bird of 150 day-old chick of two commercial broiler strains (Marshall and Cobb, 75 each) were raised and at the end of 4, 6 and 8 weeks, 20 birds/strain; 40 birds/week, making a total of 120 birds were randomly selected from both strains for carcass analysis. The birds were starved of feed overnight and individually weighed to obtain starved live body weight. The birds were stu...
The study determined the allele and genotype frequencies of genetic variants in two genes associated with milk production traits in four indigenous cattle breeds (N’dama, White Fulani, Muturu and Keteku) in Nigeria. Polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) technique was used to detect genetic polymorphisms in two milk genes (kappa casein (K-CN) and Prolactin (PRL)). Three genetic variants (AA, AB and BB) of K-CN gene were detected in White Fulani and Mut...
Kappa-casein as a mammalian milk protein is involved in a several important physiological processes and it’s about 80% of the total protein in cow milk. This study aimed at genotyping bovine Kappa casein(CSN3) in two indigenous Nigerian cattle populations and to determine the frequency distribution of Kappa casein variants as detected across the animals examined and their association with the body measurement. DNA was extracted from 100 blood samples of 50 White Fulani and 50 N’dama ca...
The study was carried out to determine the effect of age and management system on egg quality traits of Fulani ecotype hens. Egg quality traits were measured at 20, 22 and 24 weeks of age from 45 Fulani ecotype hens reared in the cage and deep litter system of management. However, 50 to 70 eggs were utilized at different ages. Data were collected on Egg weight (EW), Egg length (EL), Egg width (EWD), Shell weight (SW), Shell thickness (ST), Yolk weight (YW), Yolk width (YWD), Yolk height (Y...
The expression of four genes involved in milk regulation and production in bovine milk and tissue samples profiled using quantitative PCR to identify differential gene expression. Our goal focussed on the differential mRNA expression of milk genes (K-CN, PRL, BLG and PIT-1) in milk samples and different tissues from four different breeds of ecologically adapted and geographically separated cattle species. The mRNA expression identified the four milk genes understudied most upregulated in ma...
Data from fifty-four pigs: twenty-five Duroc, twenty-one Large White and eight crosses of Duroc and Large White (Hybrid) were used to quantify and mathematically describe the performance traits of pigs. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of genotype, sex and their interaction on the performance characteristics of three pig genotypes. The pigs were 30 kg of body weight and 70 days of age at the beginning of the study. Records for body weight (BW), body length (BL), feed i...
A genome scan was performed to detect chromosomal regions that affect egg production traits in reciprocal crosses between two genetically and phenotypically extreme chicken lines: the partially inbred line New Hampshire (NHI) and the inbred line White Leghorn (WL77). The NHI line had been selected for high growth and WL77 for low egg weight before inbreeding. The result showed a highly significant region on chromosome 4 with multiple QTL for egg production traits between 19.2 and 82.1 Mb. Th...
The development of phenotypically and genetically divergent inbred chicken lines as simplified genetic models facilitates the identification of genes and contributes to the elucidation of gene functions. In this study, we characterized a New Hampshire (NH) population with its partial inbred derivative, New Hampshire inbred (NHI), and a White Leghorn inbred line (WL77). Both NHI and WL77 lines were inbred after selection for high meat yield or low egg weight, respectively. The inbreeding level...