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We analysed options to optimize the use of sires in sheep and goat community-based breeding programmes (CBBP) for three scenarios occurring under field conditions: premature sale of selection candidates, fixed service periods of selected sires and incomplete sire pedigrees. The first scenario was studied by looking at the outcome of combinations of selection pressures in successive selection stages. A compromise of early sale of sire candidates and genetic progress can be obtained by selecting in two stages, such that selection pressure in the first stage is chosen in terms of achieving an acceptable selection potential after the second stage. Simulations showed the dependency of this compromise on selection accuracies and correlation between selection criteria. For a typical sheep CBBP, only 20% of the top three months weighting male lambs need to be retained to achieve 80% of the potential selection differential on six months weight. For the second scenario, two alternatives to fixed service periods were analysed. When across-age BLUP EBVs are not available, individual sires can be programmed to stay in service according to their initial ranking. In typical sheep, CBBPs genetic progress can be increased by about 9% over response to selection with optimum fixed sire service periods. When BLUP EBVs are available, a simulated retrospective analyses of across-age selection of sires in two current sheep CBBPs increased more than twofold the average breeding values actually observed. Thirdly, we studied the benefit of considering possible sires and their mating probabilities when estimating BLUP breeding values instead of setting such sires as unknown. In a current goat CBBP with up to three possible sires included in the pedigree, the accuracy of breeding values nears the accuracy when sires are known and are higher than accuracies when sires are unknown or when possible sires are ignored.

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (CoVID-19) is a rapidly emerging disease that has been classified a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). In the absence of treatment for this virus, there is an urgent need to find alternative public health strategies to control the spread. Here, we have conducted an online search and summarize the global COVID-19 pandemic situation and recommend potential mitigation strategies in the context of Ethiopia. Result: The most common global COVID-19 mitigation strategies include, whole of government approach including individual, community and environmental measures, detecting and isolating cases, contact tracing and quarantine, social and physical distancing measures including for mass gatherings and international travel measures. Social and physical distancing alone could prevent the pandemic from 60-95%. Moreover, detecting and isolation of cases were found to be crucial while access to testing was found to the global challenge. Individual measures including proper hand washing were also reported to be effective measures in preventing the pandemic. Asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 ranged from 25% to 80% and as a result, countries are revising the case definition for early detection of mild symptomatic cases of COVID-19 with inclusion of Chills, Muscle pain and new loss of taste or smell in addition to Cough, Shortness of breath, Fever and Sore throat. Ethiopia is also unique in the aspects of sociocultural prospects while more than 99.3% of the population has a religion. Moreover, 69% of the population is under the age of 29 years old and the health policy in the country focused on prevention and primary health care. Conclusion: While recommendations may change depending on the level of outbreak, we conclude that in most countries have benefited from early interventions and in setups like Africa including Ethiopia where health system capability is limited, community engagement supported by local evidence with strict implementation of social and physical distancing measures is mandatory. Community level case detection could enhance early identification of cases. Validation and use of rapid test kits could be vital to increase access for testing. Revision of case definitions for COVID-19 could be important for early detection of cases.

In recent times, community-based breeding programs (CBBPs) have been advocated as the best strategy for genetic improvement of local breeds in smallholder farms in developing countries. Since 2009, CBBPs have been implemented for Ethiopian Bonga and Menz sheep to improve growth rates resulting in significant genetic gains in 6-month weights. With the hypothesis that selection could be impacting their genomes, we systematically screened for possible genome changes in the two breeds by analyzing 600K BeadChip genotype data of 151 individuals (with the highest breeding values for 6-month weights) from CBBP flocks against 98 individuals from non-CBBP flocks. We observed no differences in genetic diversity and demographic dynamics between CBBP and non-CBBP flocks. Selection signature analysis employing ROH, logistic regression genome-wide association study , F

Community-based sheep breeding programs (CBBPs) have been adopted strategically to improve Bonga sheep, the most popular sheep breed in Ethiopia. The present study was undertaken to estimate genetic parameters and genetic trends for growth traits and inbreeding levels in each Bonga sheep CBBP. Data pertaining to growth traits, spanning a period of seven years (2012–2017), were collected from 14 Bonga sheep CBBPs. Data were analyzed using the General Linear Model procedure of SAS to study the performance of the breed over the years. The genetic parameters were estimated by univariate and multivariate animal model using restricted maximum likelihood method of WOMBAT software. The genetic trends were estimated by the regression of the average breeding values of the animals on the year of birth. The overall least square means ± SE of BW (kg) were 3.10 ± 0.010, 16.1 ± 0.07, 24.7 ± 0.20, 30.4 ± 0.40 and 34.0 ± 0.84 for birth weight (BWT), weaning weight (WWT), six-month weight (SMWT), nine-month weight (NMWT) and yearling weight (YWT), respectively. Direct heritability estimates from selected models were 0.56 ± 0.030, 0.36 ± 0.030, 0.22 ± 0.040, 0.17 ± 0.070 and 0.13 ± 0.150 for BWT, WWT, SMWT, NMWT and YWT, respectively. Six-month weight was the selection trait and presented positive trends for 10 CBBPs, and negative trends for four CBBPs. Moderate to high heritability estimates and positive genetic trends indicated scope for further improvement of BW. Additionally, the positive and high correlation between BW traits indicated that selection for just one trait would also improve the other traits through correlated responses.

Small ruminant breeding programmes in low-input production systems are best organised at the community level. Participant farmers have to agree on goal traits and their relative importance. When BLUP breeding values of goal traits are not available in time, appropriate selection indexes can be used to aid visual selection. Taking Ethiopian Abergelle goat and Bonga sheep community-based breeding programmes (CBBPs) as an example, breeding objective functions were defined and selection indexes were constructed and evaluated. Breeding goals for Abergelle goats included early sale weight, survival and milk production. Breeding goals for Bonga included the number of offspring born, sale weight and survival. Economic weights of objective traits can be used in several ways depending on measured traits and the reliability of their genetic parameters. Selection indexes included combinations of objective traits measured on candidates and their dams and situations when Abergelle communities prefer to restrict genetic changes in number of offspring born or adult weight and when Bonga communities prefer to restrict changes in adult weight. Genetic and economic gains were evaluated as well as sensitivity to feed cost assumptions and to repeated dam records. After independent culling on preponderant traits such as coat colour and horn/tail type, sires in Abergelle goat community breeding programmes should be selected on indexes including at least own early live weight and their dams average milk production records. Sires for Bonga sheep programmes should be selected on own early live weight and desirably also on their dam’s number of offspring born. Sensitivity to feed cost assumptions was negligible but repeated measurements of dam records improved index accuracies considerably. Restricting genetic changes in number of offspring born or adult weight is not recommended.

BackgroundCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a rapidly emerging disease that has been classified a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). In the absence of treatment for this virus, there is an urgent need to find alternative public health strategies to control the spread. Here, we have conducted an online search for all relevant public health interventions for COVID-19. We then characterize and summarize the global COVID-19 pandemic situation and recommend potential mitigation strategies in the context of Ethiopia.MethodsInitial search of Pub Med central and Google scholar was undertaken followed by analysis of the text words; COVID-19,SARS-CoV-2, Global lessons and Pandemic; A second search using all identified keywords including COVID-19, Epidemiology, Sociocultural, Ethiopia; thirdly, the reference list of all identified reports and articles were searched. Accordingly, of the 1,402 articles, 39 were included in the analysis for this review.ResultCountries COVID-19 mitigation strategies widely varied. The most common global COVID-19 mitigation strategies include; whole of government approach including individual, community and environmental measures, detecting and isolating cases, contact tracing and quarantine, social and physical distancing measures including for mass gatherings and international travel measures. Models revealed that, social and physical distancing alone could prevent the pandemic from 60-95%, if timely and effectively implemented. Moreover, detecting and isolation of cases were found to be crucial while access to testing was found to the global challenge. Individual measures including proper hand washing were also reported to be effective measures in preventing the pandemic. Asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 ranged from 25% to 80% and as a result, countries are revising the case definition for early detection of mild symptomatic cases of COVID-19 with inclusion of Chills, Muscle pain and new loss of taste or smell in addition to Cough, Shortness of breath, Fever and Sore throat. Global reports also revealed that the incubation period of COVID-19 could go to 24 days. Ethiopia is also unique in the aspects of sociocultural prospects while more than 99.3% of the population has a religion. Moreover, 69% of the population is under the age of 29 years old and the health policy in the country focused on prevention and primary health care. All these could be potential entries and opportunities to combat COVID-19 pandemic in the context of Ethiopia.ConclusionWhile recommendations may change depending on the level of outbreak, we conclude that in Most countries have benefited from early interventions and in setups like Africa including Ethiopia where health system capability is limited, community engagement supported by local evidence with strict implementation of social and physical distancing measures is mandatory. Active involvement of religious Institutions and mobilizing youth could be entry to increase public awareness in mitigating COVID-19. Community level case detection could enhance early identification of cases which could be implemented through the health extension program. Isolation and quarantine beyond 14 days could help identify long term carriers of COVID-19. Validation and use of rapid test kits could be vital to increase access for testing. Revision of case definitions for COVID-19 could be important for early detection and identification of mild symptomatic cases.

Investigation was carried out to assess the effects of environmental factors and to estimate genetic parameters and trends for reproductive traits in Bonga sheep, Ethiopia. Animals used in this study were managed by two communities involved in a community-based breeding programs (CBBPs) from 2009 to 2018. The database consisted of 15,595 individual phenotypic information from about 1500 ewes with variable number of records for each trait. The traits analyzed were age at first lambing (AFL), lambing interval (LI), and litter size (LS). Fixed effect analysis was done using the general linear model procedures of SAS. The Average Information Restricted Maximum Likelihood method of WOMBAT, fitting univariate animalmodel, was used to estimate heritabilities, repeatabilities and breeding values. Results showed that Bonga sheep had overall mean AFL, LI, and LS of 453 ± 109 days, 254 ± 51 days, and 1.43 ± 0.008, respectively. All traits were influenced (p

To understand the ovarian basis for prolificacy of Bonga sheep, a total of 31 ewes were selected based on litter size (LS) records and divided into two groups: High Prolificacy (HP) (n = 20) with LS ≥ 2 and Low Prolificacy (LP) (n = 11) with LS = 1. At a synchronized estrus, follicular dynamics were determined using transrectal ultrasonography. Plasma estradiol concentrations were also monitored. In total 27 ewes were observed in estrus being 9/11 LP (82%) and 18/20 HP (90%). On the day of estrus (day 0), the mean number of large follicles was higher (p < .05) in HP (1.78 ± 0.19) than in LP (1.0 ± 0.28) ewes. Prior to estrus, more (p < .05) medium follicles were visible for HP compared to LP ewes. Plasma estradiol concentrations were higher in HP compared to LP ewes (18.91 ± 0.41 vs. 14.51 ± 0.65 pg/ml; p < .05) and similarly was ovulation number (2.3 ± 0.15 vs. 1.28 ± 0. 14; p < .05). Higher ovulation rates and litter size in Bonga sheep are evidenced by the previous presence of more large follicles and the existence of co-dominance effects as most likely medium follicles are selected to ovulate.