http://ir.haramaya.edu.et//hru/handle/123456789/165 2026-04-14T20:02:52Z http://ir.haramaya.edu.et//hru/handle/123456789/8275 ASSESSMENT OF EFFICIENCY AND MAJOR CONSTRAINTS OF ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION SERVICE IN SELECTED DISTRICTS OF WEST WALLAGA ZONE, OROMIA REGION, ETHIOPIA LALISA AYANA BERKESSA; Kefelegn Kebede (PhD, Assoc. Professor); Ararsa Duguma (DVM, MVSc, Assist. Professor) This study aimed to assess the efficiency of the artificial insemination service and its major constraints from December 2022 to January 2024 in the three selected districts of West Wallaga Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia. The study was conducted using both cross-sectional and retrospective study designs with multi-stage sampling techniques. A cross-sectional study was employed via structured questionnaires to collect data from 246 respondents (201 AI beneficiaries, 9 AITs, and 36 AHPs). Moreover, the retrospective study was conducted using the recorded data of AI services covering the years 2019 to 2022 at animal health clinics of respective districts. Data analysis was carried out by the JMP pro.17 version software package, and this study showed that of 201 dairy cattle owners, only 51(25.37%) respondents get regular AI services and are satisfied with the overall services, while the majority 150 (74.63%) do not get regular AI services due to shortage of AI inputs (42%), shortage of AI technicians (36.67%), and unavailability of services on weekends and holidays (21.33%), which shows statistically significant differences (P-value = 0.0405) among districts. Of the total dairy cattle owners who are not receiving AI services regularly, 39.33% use natural mating, and the rest (60.67%) postpone the time of insemination for the next heat cycle when the AI service is not available. The identified most common challenges of AI services were conception failure (21.43%), lack of AI services in the vicinity (18.13%), heat detection problems (17%), shortage of AI technicians (16.5%), poor awareness creation of the farmers (12.64%), shortage of AI service inputs (7.7%), and insufficient support from the concerned bodies (6.6%) that shows no statistically significant differences (X2 = 9.448; p-value = 0.8844) among the three selected districts. The reproductive performance of dairy cows were AFS (45.38±0.16, and 32.09±0.26 months), AFC (54.87±0.18, and 41.56±0.26 months), DO (197.11±2.13, and 143.64±3.03 days), CI (16.03±0.07, and 14.25±0.1 months), and NSPC (2.08±0.05, and 1.92±0.07 times) for local, and crossbreed cows respectively and these reproductive performances were affected by feed shortage (34.82%), diseases (22.39%), poor reproductive performance of local cows (21.89%), and overall poor management of cows (20.9%). In the record study, conceivability and delivery of the artificially inseminated cows have fluctuated among the selected years and for this reason, inadequate breeding management and cow-related issues have a significant contribution. In the study area, the majority (74.63%) of dairy cattle owners were not satisfied with AI services, and the service is not doing well in all selected districts due to several constraints raised above. Therefore, immediate action is required to solve the problems associated with AI services through all responsible bodies including all governmental and non-governmental organizations to increase the productive and reproductive performance of dairy cattle, especially indigenous cows in terms of genetic improvement to achieve maximum benefit from this reproductive biotechnology. 96 2024-06-01T00:00:00Z http://ir.haramaya.edu.et//hru/handle/123456789/8155 PHENOTYPIC CHARACTERIZATION OF INDIGENOUS GOATS, HUSBANDRY PRACTICES AND BREEDING PRACTICES IN THE NORTHERN MUDUG ZONE, PUNTLAND REGIONAL STATE, SOMALIA Yusuf Kassim Awow; (PhD) Kefelegn Kebede; (PhD) Yesihak Yusuf The study was conducted on Indigenous goat populations in Northern Mudug Zone, Somalia, specifically in the Galdogob, Galkacyo, and Jariban districts to characterize Indigenous goat populations phenotypically and investigate breeding and husbandry practices It surveyed 180 respondents, 60 from each district, from households in three villages. Three focus group discussions per district were conducted, and parameters were analyzed using the index method. In both quantitative and qualitative traits, 450 goats (150 from each district) of both sexes with above two years of age were employed. Univariate analysis, Generalized Linear Model (GLM) procedure, and Pearson Correlation Coefficient (PCC) of SAS JMP Pro 18 software (2023 were used to analyze the quantitative data while qualitative data of the investigated goat populations were analyzed using the frequency procedure of the Chi-square (χ2) test and descriptive statistics. Results revealed that the selection criteria for the breeding buck, the results indicate that 49%, and 44% of the selection in Galdogob, and Galkacyo were based on the large body size of the animals respectively, while the absence of horns were ranked second in all districts while selection criteria for the doe in Galdogob pastoralist were concerned more about the appearance of does (index=0.49) followed by body coat colour and milk yield with the indices of 0.27 and 0.13 respectively. Unlike Galdogob pastoralists, Galkacyo pastoralists ranked colour first with an index of 0.50 followed by appearance or body conformation (index = 0.34), while Jariban selection criteria for doe ranked similarly to Galdogob. Regarding qualitative traits, the majority of goat coat colour was plain (81.33%) across all districts in both male and female goats followed by white coat colours (60.44%), whereas a relatively high proportion of goats had its combination with other coat colours and the majority of goats in all districts were horned (73.33%), predominantly with straight horn shapes, while polled goat/no horn was less common (26.67%). The analysis revealed that male goats had a significantly higher body weight (35.48±0.29 kg) compared to female goats (30.17±0.15 kg), with a p-value < 0.0001 indicating a strong statistical significance. Males showed a steady increase in body weight from 28.00 kg at 2PPI to 49.50 kg at 4PPI, highlighting a substantial weight gain of 21.50 kg across this growth period. In contrast, females exhibited an increase from 22.00 kg at 2PPI to 36.00 kg at 4PPI, amounting to a weight gain of 14.00 kg. The strongest positive correlation was observed between body weight and rump high (RH) (r = 0.63, P < 0.0001), indicating that as the height of female goats increases, their body weight also tends to increase and in males, the correlation between body weight and rib weight (RW) was found to be strong and positive (r = 0.75, P < 0.0001). The study provided a comprehensive phenotypic characterization of indigenous goat populations in the Northern Mudug Zone, Somalia, and shed light on the prevailing breeding and husbandry practices. Finally, finding suggested Iinvestigate the genetic basis of traits to inform selective breeding programs. 113p. 2024-12-01T00:00:00Z http://ir.haramaya.edu.et//hru/handle/123456789/7608 ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFICIENCY OF ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION AND PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH ITS SERVICES IN SELECTED DISTRICTS OF WEST HARARGHE ZONE, OROMIA, ETHIOPIA SEGNI GIZA FEYISA; Kefelegn Kebede (PhD); Ararsa Duguma (DVM, MVS, Ass. Proff.) The study was carried out to assess the efficiency of artificial insemination, problems associated with its services, and the reproductive performance of dairy cattle in selected districts of West Hararghe Zone Oromia Regional State Ethiopia. Both cross-sectional and retrospective types of study design were used. A structured questionnaire was prepared and data were collected by using the purposive sampling method. A total of 261 respondents (210 AI beneficiaries, 42 animal health, and 9 AITs) were interviewed accordingly. The present study revealed that about 52.31%, 48.57%, and 44% of respondents in Gemechis, Habro, and Tullo districts respectively received AI services regularly without interruption, while the remaining 47.69%, 51.43% and 56% did not get AI services regularly with the primary reasons being the scarcity of AITs and the unavailability of AI services on weekends and holidays. From the current study, 38.89%, 35.29%, and 33.33% in Gemechis, Habro, and Tullo respectively reported that repeated breeding is the most reproductive disease of dairy cattle. As per the study's findings, when cows/heifers showed heat character in the afternoon 56.92%, 54.29%, and 49.33% of respondents in Gemechis, Habro, and Tullo respectively took their animal to the AI station in the morning of the next day which is the exact time of insemination whereas, the remaining 43.08%, 45.71% and 50.67% took their cows to AI station at wrong time. The least-square mean of Age at first service (AFS), Age at first calving (AFC), Calving interval (CI), Days open (DO), Number of services per conception (NSPC), Lactation length (LL), Daily milk yield (DMY) of local breed cows were 45.37±0.44, 55.04±0.41, 16.74±0.19, 166.17±1.86, 1.81±0.04, 6.67±0.08 and 1.92±0.05 respectively. Whereas the least square mean of Age at first service (AFS), Age at first calving (AFC), Calving interval (CI), Days open (DO), Number of services per conception (NSPC), Lactation length (LL), Daily milk yield (DMY) of cross breed cows were 36.62±0.75, 46.85±0.70, 15.80±0.33, 155.75±3.18, 1.99±0.07, 8.04±0.13 and 5.03±0.09 respectively. From retrospective studies significant associations between the year and conception rates in all three districts; Gemechis (p<0.0001, Habro (p<0.0003 and Tullo (p<0.0001). There were significant associations between the year and delivery outcomes in Gemechis (p<0.0001), but not in Habro (p=0.2240) or Tullo (p=0.0979). On the other hand, there was statistical evidence for the observed associations between the year and sex outcomes in Tullo (p<0.0003), but not in Habro (p=0.0512) or Gemechis (p<0.8754). In general, the overall AI services in the study area were hopeful and to establish sustainable AI services in the study area sufficient number of AITs are required and the services have to be given to beneficiaries without interruption. Awareness creation regarding to time of insemination for AI beneficiaries is the best alternative to increase the conception rate of dairy cattle. Once more, the reproductive performance of dairy cattle has to be evaluated regularly, to increase production and productivity. 88 2024-03-01T00:00:00Z http://ir.haramaya.edu.et//hru/handle/123456789/6682 PHENOTYPIC CHARACTERIZATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF FARMERS BREEDING OBJECTIVE TRAITS OF INDIGENOUS CHICKEN ECOTYPES AROUND DIRE DAWA, ETHIOPIA YUYYA OMER ADAN; Dr.Kefelegn Kebede (Ph.D); Dr. Negasi Ameha (Ph.D) This study was conducted to phenotypically characterize and identify farmers’ breeding objective traits of indigenous chicken ecotypes around Dire Dawa. In total, 120 households participated in the interviews, which were conducted using a structured questionnaire and for phenotypic characterization, four hundred eighty individual chickens (163 female and 77 male from midland, 87 male and 153 female from lowland) were characterized under field conditions to describe qualitative and quantitative traits following standard chicken descriptors. Descriptive statistics (frequency procedure), Generalized Linear Model (GLM) procedures, and multivariate statistics were used to analyze the data. The result revealed that the mean flock size of chickens per household was 13.76 and 10.3 (ranging from 2-25) in lowland and midland agroecology, respectively. Farmers' primary reason for culling was poor productivity chickens followed by old age. Furthermore, plumage colour, sicken, and bad temperament of hens and cocks. Sale for income (1st), egg production (2nd), and home consumption (3rd) were the purposes for which farmers rear chickens. Source of income ranked (1st), home consumption (2nd), and hatching chickens (3rd) were purposes of egg production. The effective population size (Ne) estimated in lowland, and midland altitudes were 4.66, and 3.88, respectively whereas the rate of inbreeding per generation (∆F) was 0.10, and 0.12, respectively. Hens are predominantly selected on the bases of egg production, followed by mothering ability, hatchability, large body size, colour, and brooding ability while cocks are predominantly selected based on body size, plumage colour, comb type, disease tolerance, growth, and fertility. Most of the local chickens had single (77.29 %,) comb type followed by rose (9.79 %,) double, buttery 6.88%, and 6.4% overall proportion agroecology. The average body weight of local hens in lowland and midland ecotypes were1.29±0.02 and 1.26±0.02kg respectively, while the respective values for mature males were 1.55±0.02 and 1.62±0.03 kg. Morph metric measurements indicated that significant differences (P<0.05) were observed between agroecology concerning shank length, comb length, wattle length, neck length, keel length, and comb height. In all parameters, male shows a higher significance (P<0.05) value than female xv chicken due to the hormonal effect. The degree of linear association among the variables measured by the Pearson correlation coefficient (r) and their statistical significance of r ranged from 0.13 to 0.80 for females and from 0.15 to 0.85 for males. The multivariate analysis result showed that two PC were extracted which accounted for 92 % of the total variation. All squared Mahalanobis’ distances obtained between ecotypes for the female and male populations were significant (p<0.05), In the male, the shortest distance (0.46) was observed between the lowland and midland district while in the female the longest distance (4.03) was observed between the lowland and midland agroecology.This shows that female ecotypes have distinct and measurable group differences across the district. Quantitative variables varied between sex groups and correct classification percentages were calculated separately for female and male sample populations. In the case of females, the overall average error count estimate was 14.56 % for all observations from all sites, which means that 85.44 % of the samples were correctly classified. The error count estimate for male populations was lower than for female populations (17.07%) having an overall average hit ratio of 82.13%.The correct classification ranged from 83.03 to 87.73% in the case of the female population and 79.22 to 86.21 % in the case of the male population. In contrast from midland, the highest correct classification percentages were calculated for lowland in both sexes, indicating that the sample populations from the lowland were more homogeneous on the quantitative variables as can be observed from their respective high hit ratios, while birds from midland were more heterogeneous. In conclusion, there is the diversity of indigenous chicken population and farmers’ preference for specific traits that may invite to design community-based genetic improvement. 92 2023-03-01T00:00:00Z