Due to ruminal biohydrogenation, the increase in muscle polyunsaturated fatty acids (P) in ruminant tissue is small relative to dietary supply. Some biohydrogenation is desirable since conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), considered to have human health promoting properties, results from incomplete ruminal biohydrogenation of linoleic acid and by tissue desaturation of ruminally derived trans-vaccenic acid (TVA). Noci et al., (2004) reported that controlling the rate of oil release from linseed and camelina to the rumen increased the efficiency of transfer of dietary P to tissue while allowing the production of CLA. Increasing the P concentration, in particular the longer carbon chain P, predispose lipids to oxidation which is believed to be linked to muscle pigment oxidation and consequently to colour instability. The objective of this study was to compare the effects of the strategies used by Noci et al., (2004) to protect dietary lipids from ruminal biohydrogenation, on the colour and lipid stability of muscle.

Previous studies have demonstrated that including fish oil (FO) in the diet of beef cattle resulted in increased long chain C20n -3 PUFA (20:5n -3 and 22:6n -3) in muscle resulting in a lower n -6:n -3 ratio (Scollan et al., 2001). However, it may result in negative effects on colour shelf life and organoleptic properties (Vatansever et al., 2000). Fish oil is also a good inhibitor of biohydrogenation in the rumen, resulting in increased production of 18:1trans (TVA), the precursor for conjugated linoleic acid (CLA cis -9, trans -11) in muscle. This study investigated the effects of incremental levels of fish oil in the diet on the fatty acid composition of the m. longissimus dorsi and meat quality.

The development of a forage processor that grinds the grains in whole-crop wheat (WCW) prior to ensiling has been shown to improve whole tract digestibility of the starch component and improve the efficiency of forage utilisation (Jackson et al. 2004). This allows wheat to be harvested over a much wider harvest window than was previously possible. Further work (Bond et al., 2004) demonstrated that animals fed processed, urea-treated WCW harvested at 700 g dry matter (DM) per kg had a significantly higher milk yield than those fed fermented WCW harvested at approximately 450 g DM/kg, or urea-treated WCW harvested at approximately 850 g DM/kg. Previously, processed, urea-treated WCW for dairy cows has been included at 0.67 of the forage DM intake, although, the optimal inclusion rate of processed WCW is unclear. The objective of the current experiment was to investigate the effect of rate of inclusion of processed, urea-treated WCW on the performance and apparent digestibility in dairy cows.

Legumes are important to sustainable agriculture because of their N fixing ability and consequent reduced reliance on increasingly scarce oil resources. Our previous studies showed consistently higher intakes and milk yields when red clover silage replaced grass silage in dairy cow diets (Dewhurst et al., 2003). However, the increased intakes of a forage which contains higher levels of N led to a reduction in the efficiency of conversion of feed N into milk N (g/g) from around 0.25 to 0.20 or less. Maize silage has similar high intake characteristics, but its low N content and considerable starch content suggest that it would be highly complementary to red clover silage in terms of N-use efficiency. This study evaluated production and efficiency responses to mixtures of red clover and maize silages in comparison with perennial ryegrass silage.

Pastoralists (broadly speaking, people dependent on extensively grazed livestock for their livelihoods), are a vulnerable group of people who have been marginalised in developmental and political terms, and whose problems are very different from those of people in mainstream agricultural areas. Pastoralist Parliamentary Groups (PPGs), groupings of MPs concerned with the issue of pastoralism, have been formed since 1997 in the national parliaments of Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda (Mohammed Mussa 2004, Livingstone forthcoming a and b). A research project investigated the context, successes and failures of the three PPGs, using interviews with their members and other stakeholders and document review.

The UN millennium goal of halving the percent of people in poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2015, will not be achieved. Where animal scientists have contributed to this failure, they have assumed that small farms are inefficient and will be improved by adopting scaled-down versions of the large commercial systems in which their science has evolved. Kenya illustrates the problem, with its rural poverty and a project to increase the standard of living of smallholders through milk production. Despite the socio-economic difference from the large dairy farm, the cow of choice for these small zero-grazing units remains the Friesian (F), but her productivity is so low as to threaten the sustention of the system (Bebe, 2003). We need to understand why the breed is popular, what shapes the lactation curve and extends the calving interval (CI), and what are sustainable levels of milk and calf production.

There is general agreement on the need to develop appropriate technologies that respond to farmers’ needs and opportunities. However, much research output is dominated by technical considerations, and often does not include key information that farmers need in order to make informed decisions on uptake. Such information includes: economic viability, risks, resources required, local availability of inputs, mechanisms for realising the benefits of technologies at a group level, and the availability and characteristics of markets. Some of the information needed by farmers is tacit and highly contextual, such as managing social organisation. In that case users require advice on how to generate the relevant knowledge for themselves, e.g. through experimentation or interaction (such as contacting potential buyers for their produce, or experimenting with different ways of sharing assets).

This text book was conceived in January 2002, in Tanzania, during a DFID Livestock Production Programme (LPP) workshop. Perceived justifications for such a book were: (1) to improve the preparation of animal science students to address livestock issues faced by resource-poor subsistence farmers in developing countries; the majority of livestock text-books are either a) authored in the ‘north’ and based on temperate, large-scale, commercial systems or b) based on a single species and technology ‘fix’ approach, with insufficient focus on the systems under which livestock are kept by the resource-poor, or on improving livestock survival and productivity and understanding the contribution they make to livelihoods; (2) to address the UN Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of people living in absolute poverty by 2015 through `training teachers’ using appropriate information. Three quarters of poor people live in rural areas and keep livestock; (3) to respond to the large demand for meat and milk over the next 20 years foreseen by the burgeoning ‘Livestock Revolution’ and the consequent opportunities for resource-poor livestock keepers to move from subsistence to a market-oriented economy. The LPP agreed to commission the book provided that consultation with stakeholders confirmed a demand for it and that a broad electorate of stakeholders participated in the book’s design and production. Two editors (E. Owen and T Smith) were appointed to undertake the consultations and subsequent production of the book in collaboration with the Manager of LPP (J.I. Richards).

Extrapolate (EX-ante Tool for RAnking POLicy AlTErnatives) is a decision support tool to assess the impact of policy measures on different target groups. It is designed to serve as a “filter” that, given the broad characteristics of the population, allows the user to sift through different policy measures to assess ex ante the broad potential impacts of these before deciding to look at particular policy options in more detail. Extrapolate models, in a very simple way, the impact of changes on constraints facing potential beneficiary groups, and how these may affect outcomes and their livelihood status. Extrapolate now makes use of mapping facilities from another decision-support tool, PRIMAS (Poverty Reduction Intervention Mapping in Agricultural Systems), that allows the user to match characteristics of particular technological options and constraints with the spatial characteristics of particular target groups in the landscape.

During the mid to late 1990’s a cluster of Livestock Production Programme (LPP) projects, funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) was established in Zimbabwe, as a representative country of southern sub-Saharan Africa, to develop outputs to increase the livestock contribution to the alleviation of poverty. All stakeholders were involved with the projects from the planning stage and participatory on-farm research was a key feature. Several of the projects addressed one of the major constraints to livestock production in arid and semi-arid areas, dry season feeding, the animal species considered being poultry, donkeys (draught power), goats and milking cows. The benefits of these projects can only be realised through effective dissemination to relevant target groups (farmers, extension staff, which because of failing government extension services in several African countries, must include NGOs, churches and local organizations, and policy makers) and development of relevant training materials.

Infections caused by the infestation of the gastrointestinal tract with parasitic nematodes are among important factors responsible for poor productivity of livestock including small ruminants. These infections cause significant losses in terms of poor growth, reduced reproductive performance and mortality. Nematode control is routinely by the use of synthetic chemical anthelmintics. However, over-dependency and even misuse of these anthelmintics has resulted in the emergence and spread of nematode populations that are resistant to these pharmaceutical agents. This has led to increases in the cost of control through higher dosages and frequency of treatments. Moreover, anthelmintics are expensive and so not affordable to many resource-poor farmers in the developing countries. There is, therefore, a need to search for cheap and sustainable nematode control alternatives. One such alternative could be the use of plants and plant products with anthelmintic activities. The use of naturally ocouring tannins is one such approach.

In Africa, the animal trypanosomiases kill about 3 million cattle each year with related annual losses in animal productivity of ∼£3 billion. 32 of the 36 affected countries have per capita incomes of less than US$1 per day. The most effective method of combating the trypanosomiases is to eradicate their vectors, the tsetse. Up to the early 1980s, responsibility for vector control in Africa was largely taken by government agencies, using techniques such as large-scale aerial and ground spraying. Following economic crises, structural adjustment and decline or privatisation of veterinary services, much of the onus for controlling tsetse has fallen on livestock keepers themselves (Eisler et al. 2003), but partly as a consequence of trypanosomiasis, many are too poor to afford the cost. Treating cattle with synthetic pyrethroids may provide a way of breaking this cycle of poverty and disease.

In the Central Kenyan Highlands, dairy cattle ownership is a crucial element in poverty alleviation. For example, in Kiambu district just north of Nairobi, out of the population of 744010, 48% of 189709 households stall feed dairy cattle. Farm sizes average 1.1 to 2.0 ha per household. Producing sufficient forage for dairy cattle is difficult and low dry matter intake constrains dairy production and there is a positive correlation between stover intake and milk yield.. Napier grass comprised 40% of the total dry matter fed to cattle and maize forage 24% according to the project’s Rapid Rural Appraisal, maize thinnings and stover being routinely fed to livestock. In another survey, dry maize stover accounted for nearly 65% of dry matter intake of dairy cattle during October.

Production from smallholder owned goats in the semi-arid tropics is constrained by dry season feed shortages. Kid mortality is high and low growth rate of kids weaned at the onset of the dry season delays slaughtering of males and breeding in females. Supplementation with purchased feed is unaffordable so only locally available, probably non-conventional feeds can be considered. In Southern Zimbabwe, the typical natural vegetation in communal grazing areas consists of annual and perennial grasses and trees and shrubs, many of which are Acacia species. In this project tree fruits, from Acacia and other available species were evaluated as dry season protein supplements for goats.

The donkey is essential to the livelihoods of many families, providing relief from drudgery and diversification of household income in both rural and urban areas, particularly in their role in transport. Ethiopia possesses the largest donkey population in Africa. The donkey is preferred over other equines because of its affordability, survivability and ease of handling.

This presentation describes a process of Participatory Technology Development that took place in the Teso Farming System (TFS), northeast Uganda between 1998 and 2004. The main objective of the research/extension was to alleviate labour constraints and drudgery associated with weeding annual crops (in an area where the presence of HIV is reducing the numbers of economically active people available for agricultural labour) and to reduce costs and improve returns to these enterprises. There has been a shortage of draught animals in the TFS following civil disruption during the 1980s and 1990s. This constraint has been addressed by a number of ‘restocking’ projects and many households are now able to open up land (plough) with oxen. The benefits of using draught animal power (DAP) however, are not fully realised until animals are used for weeding and other tasks (planting, groundnut lifting and potato ridging). Although only 50% of households own oxen, 90% use them for ploughing, including some of the poorest households as it is cheaper to hire oxen than to employ manual labour. Hand weeding is mainly undertaken by women and children resulting in drudgery, withdrawal of children from school during the weeding seasons, high costs if labour is hired to undertake the task, reduced yields (in poorly weeded fields) and poor returns (gross margins).

Boar taint is off-odours in cooked pork from uncastrated male pigs. It is caused by an excessive accumulation of skatole and androstenone in backfat. Accumulation of skatole is due to a low expression and activity of hepatic enzyme CYP2E1. The mechanism of androstenone accumulation is not clear. It could be due to low activity and expression of 3ß-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (HSD), an enzyme metabolising androstenone in liver. On the basis of our previous in vivo experiments with castrated animals we suggest that accumulation of skatole is regulated by androstenone. Castrated pigs manifest lower levels of skatole and androstenone and higher CYP2E1 expression. We hypothesise that high levels of androstenone inhibits CYP2E1 expression and hence, reduces the rate of hepatic skatole metabolism. The aims of the present study were (i) to investigate the expression of androstenone-metabolising enzyme HSD in liver of pigs with high and low skatole and androstenone deposition; (ii) to investigate the effect of androstenone on expression of the skatole-metabolising enzyme CYP2E1 in vitro (in cell culture).

Connective tissue content of skeletal muscle plays a key role in meat quality. Previous pilot studies carried out in our lab have indicated that the smallest littermate may have a higher proportion of connective tissue in skeletal muscle (Clelland A., 2001). Connective tissue provides a structure to the muscle belly and is composed of ground substance, fibres and connective tissue cells. A proportion of these three elements of the connective tissue comprise of collagen I and fat deposits. This is an important concept to the meat industry as an increased amount of these components can increase meat toughness and intramuscular fat respectively, both having an impact on the resultant meat quality. The primary objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between undernutrition, collagen and fat content using a naturally occurring model. In the pig, it can be argued that differing levels of nutrition received, in utero, are a major cause of intra-litter variation. Therefore the smallest and largest littermates were chosen and content of collagen I and fat deposition were analysed in the M. semitendinosus of both.

While cystic follicles remain a significant problem in dairy cows, their aetiology still remains unclear. Recent studies have shown that treatment with low levels of progesterone can interfere with the induction of an LH surge and induce cystic follicles leading to the theory that supra basal concentrations of progesterone may act as a trigger for the formation of cystic follicles (Silvia et al., 2002).

The aim was to establish a representative model of the bovine mammary gland in order to underpin applied research in mammary gland development and lactation. Cell culture insert methodology is currently being utilized in place of a three dimensional culture system, the shortcomings of which have been discussed elsewhere (McConochie et al., 2004). Cell culture insert methodology offers a promising alternative, with the potential to recreate in vitro a polarised epithelial layer. Previously it has been shown that on collagen I coated inserts, ABERMEC are able to synthesise and secrete mammary specific proteins in the apparent absence of the key mediators laminin and prolactin. It was hypothesised that undefined factors in serum were a possible cause for this phenomenon.