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Simple Summary: Evaluation of biosecurity measures remains essential for successful control and prevention of diseases in a country like Ethiopia, where the poultry sector is flourishing. This research was conducted from October 2020 to June 2022 and aimed to assess the level of implementation of biosecurity practices of 226 poultry farms belonging to different scales found in three selected areas of central Ethiopia, including Addis Ababa, Bishoftu and West of Shaggar City. The study showed a very low overall biosecurity practices score compared to the global average. All three study areas had rather similar levels of biosecurity practices, being statistically insignificant. The majority of the external biosecurity components were highly disrupted and far below the global average. Similarly, the internal biosecurity practices were found to be still lower than the global average. Thus, weak and relaxed biosecurity practices were evident among poultry farms in central Ethiopia. Understanding the poor status of the implementation of appropriate biosecurity practices will help to design and develop strategies that safeguard the poultry production sector from the impact of various deadly diseases. The findings emphasize the need for active involvement of all stakeholders in the poultry production value chain towards boosting the productivity of the sector in Ethiopia. The present study aims to assess the level of implementation of biosecurity practices of small-, medium- and large-scale poultry farms in central Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study design was implemented involving 226 poultry farms (153 small-, 53 medium- and 20 large-scale farms) in three selected areas of central Ethiopia, including Addis Ababa, Bishoftu and West of Shaggar. The results revealed a very low overall biosecurity score of 43.1% for central Ethiopia compared to the global average score of 64.3%. No significant difference (p > 0.05) in the overall biosecurity practices among the three study sites (36.1% for Addis Ababa, 49% for Bishoftu and 34.9% for West of Shaggar) was observed. Six of the eight external biosecurity components with an overall score of 40.7% as compared to the global average of 64.6% were highly disrupted and scored lower values. With regard to internal biosecurity disease management, cleaning and disinfection practices were found to be 52.6% as opposed to the global average of 64%. The poor biosecurity level among poultry farms of central Ethiopia clearly demonstrates the urgent need for the implementation of appropriate biosecurity practices through the active involvement of all stakeholders to combat the impact of various diseases and boost the productivity of the sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many Eastern African rangelands comprise marginal land, where climatic conditions are poor, access rights are increasingly limited, and land degradation is progressing. We conducted participatory land use mapping and vegetation assessment to identify the most important rangeland locations and their condition in Afar, Ethiopia. Further, we conducted 79 interviews across six villages to assess pastoralist adaptation strategies during drought times. In the dry season, livestock feed resources represented rangelands far away from the village (in 76% of the cases) while 50% and 40% of pastoralists also used cake concentrates and crop residues, respectively. During the wet season, rangeland resources close to villages, albeit with rather low herbaceous cover (<25%), contributed 80% to livestock forage. In times of severe drought, migrating with livestock was the most common (70%) adaptation, in combination with purchasing feed (50%) while <40% of the pastoralists sold or slaughtered animals. Afar pastoralists applied little conservation and mitigation methods, most commonly they removed livestock pressure to allow the pasture to recover. Overall, pastoralists in Afar still strongly depended on natural rangelands and their resources. Hence, to manage these sustainably a monitoring scheme must urgently be established for investigating rangeland quality and resilience to drought and grazing pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The experiment was conducted at Maichew Agricultural Technical Vocational Education and Training College, Ethiopia. Twenty four male yearling Tigray Highland sheep with mean body weight (BW) of 21±2.6kg (mean±S.D.) were used to investigate the effect of different protein sources on feed intake, nutrient digestibility, BW change and carcass parameters in a study comprising of 90 days feeding trial, followed by 7 days of digestibility trial and evaluation of carcass parameters. Six individually fed animals were used per treatment in a randomized complete block design. The treatments consisted of ad libitum feeding of tef (Eragrostis tef) straw plus 172g dry matter (DM) of cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica) pear (T1, control) and supplementation with 145g DM cotton seed cake (CSC) (T2), 195g DM noug seed cake (NSC) (T3) or 149g DM peanut cake (PNC) (T4) per head per day. The quantity of the supplements was set to supply 62.5g crude protein (CP). Tef straw DM intake was depressed (P<0.01) as the result of NSC supplementation. Sheep supplemented with CSC and PNC had higher (P<0.001) total DM intake than the control and NSC supplemented ones. Supplementation with NSC and PNC also resulted in higher (P<0.01) apparent digestibility of DM and OM compared to the control treatment. Supplementation with CSC and PNC resulted in better daily BW gain (P<0.001), feed conversion efficiency (FCE) and dressed carcass weight (P<0.01) compared to the non-supplemented diet. Dressing percentage on slaughter weight base was higher (P<0.01) in supplemented sheep than in the non-supplemented ones. Supplementation with PNC also promoted higher (P<0.05) rib-eye muscle area than in the non-supplemented ones. It was concluded that supplementation with 145g DM CSC and 149g DM PNC resulted in better feed intake, BW gain and carcass traits in cactus–tef straw based feeding of sheep. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]