ABSTRACT This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of inclusion of bio-char on milk yield and composition of dairy cows in the JUCAVM dairy farm. Ten milk samples (in three day interval for 30 days) were collected separately and aseptically from all treatments. The General Linear Model (GLM) procedure of SAS version 9.2 were used to analyze milk yield and composition traits by using treatments and parity as fixed effect. The results showed that, milk yield was not significantly affecte...
The goat industry plays a key role in provision of economic and social benefits to a significant population in Kenya. Therefore improving their performances would contribute to food security, poverty reduction and economic empowerment of resource poor rural households. Reproductive performances and estimation f response to selection are considered among the essential pillars of economic viability of dairy operations. This thesis evaluated reproductive performance and response to selection of ...
Endometritis is a uterine disease that interrupts cow reproductive cycles as a clinical (CLE) or subclinical (SCLE) condition between 21st and 90th days postpartum (dpp), resulting in suboptimal fertility, production and profitability in a herd. This study tested the hypothesis that suboptimal fertility and production performance of zero-grazed dairy cows on smallholder farms result from prevalent CLE and SCLE cases and multiple risk factors (RFs) at the cowand herd levels. The specific objec...
There is potential in Kenya to utilize forage sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L) Lam) cultivars as livestock feed. There are many cultivars of forage sweet potato in Kenya whose feeding values have not been evaluated. The objectives of the current study were: 1) evaluate forage sweet potato cultivars for crude protein (CP) yield and digestibility at different harvesting ages, 2) evaluate their conservation potential as silage or hay and 3) determine sheep growth performance and goat milk yield...
Abstract/Overview A 6-week feeding trial was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation with Yellow Meal Worm larvae (YMWL) on growth performance and carcass characteristics of broiler chicken. The larvae was processed and included in diets at different levels 0%YMWL (control), 2.5%YMWL, 5%YMWL and 7.5%YMWL. The diets were formulated to be iso-nitrogenous and iso-caloric in mash form for the starter and finisher phases. 160-day-old cobb-500 broiler chicks were randoml...
Abstract/Overview Edible insects are available for use in insect-based-feed; however there is limited information on carcass characteristics and sensory tests of chicken fed on German cockroaches (Blattela germanica). This study assessed the effects of replacing fishmeal (FM) with varying levels of processed B. germanica meal (BGM). Seventy-two grower chicken of eight weeks old, comprising an equal number of males and females, were used as sampling units in a completely randomized design ...
Abstract: Livestock is a key asset and a primary livelihood resource for rural households in most parts of the world and accounts for nearly 95 per cent of family income in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) in Kenya. Despite high economic importance of livestock, inadequate nutrition results to low livestock productivity in Kenya. Ruminant feeding in the ASALs is mainly based on the exploitation of range feed resources. Grazing ruminants forage on different plant species with varying leve...
Abstract: Traditional/backyard pig production systems are found in the larger Western Kenya while commercial systems are predominant in Eastern and Central Kenya including Nairobi. The pig holdings in Coast and few in North-Eastern are commercial systems. The expansion and improvement of the market for pigs and pig products generally in Kenya may explain why pig- keeping is beginning to be found outside traditional pig-keeping areas. The objectives of the study were: 1) To characterize pig p...
Abstract: Southern Africa contains 58% of the world’s savannah elephant population, yet 72% of their range occurs outside of protected areas. It is, therefore, important to develop management guidelines that satisfy the needs of both elephants and people while maintaining environmental heterogeneity and ecosystem processes. Managing elephants as a metapopulation may provide the solution. The goal of this thesis was then to use a habitat-based approach to identify landscape characteristics ...
Abstract: The experiment was conducted to determine Semen quality and AI efficiency of fayoumi, white leghorn and kokkoekes breeds with local hens at Haramaya University. For the experiment of AI efficiency total of 45 similar hens were purchased from Karamile local markets. The hens were vaccinated and all management techniques were used according to Haramaya University poultry farm procedure. To determine semen quality, cockerels of 3 breeds and 10 from each breed with similar age were tak...
Abstract: Limited fresh water resources due to climatic changes are major challenges to face the animal production industry, especially in semi-arid and arid regions. The survey study was conducted to assess the perception regarding the quality of Lake Basaka water for sheep and goats in relation to their physiological and blood response in Fentalle pastoralists and on-station experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of drinking salinity levels of Lake Basaka water on behavioural and...
Abstract: The study was conducted to evaluate the effects of different levels of orange flesh sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) root meal (OFSPRM) on egg production, egg quality, fertility and hatchability of egg, embryonic mortality and economic feasibility on White leghorn layers at Haramaya University Poultry Farm for 90 days. Ninety six White leghorn (WL) layers at thirty-two weeks of age with an average initial body weight of 1176.88± 36.32 g were randomly distributed to four treatments, ...
Abstract: A feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of different levels of soybean meal (SBM) in the ration on feed intake, growth performance, feed conversion ratio (FCR), carcass characteristics and economics of commercial broiler chicks. Two hundred twenty five day-old Cobb-500 unsexed commercial chicks with initial body weight of 48.87±0.42g were used for the experiment. The chicks were randomly distributed to 15 pens of 15 chicks each, which were randomly distributed to 5 tr...
Abstract: The study was conducted to evaluate Comparison of sorghum varieties as asubstitute to maize on feed intake, effciency,egg production, egg quality, fertility,hatchability, embryonic mortality,chick quality, and economic return of White leghorn (WLH) chicken at Poultry Farm of Haramaya University. One hundred fifty six WLH hens with average initial body weight of 989.72 ± 6.8g (mean ±SD) and age at seven month were used for the experiment. The chickens were randomly distributed to1...
Abstract: The study was conducted to phenotypically characterize and assess husbandry and breeding practices of Simada cattle population in three districts of North-Western Ethiopia. Data were collected through semi-structured questionnaire, focus group discussions, field observations and linear body measurements (LBM). A total of 180 households were randomly selected to fill the structured questionnaire and 360 cattle (60 male and 300 female) were sampled for morphological description and l...