Category Archives: LiveGene

Livestock Genetics program

Towards more productive dairy cattle for Africa’s smallholders
ADGG / Africa / Animal Breeding / Biotechnology / Dairying / East Africa / Ethiopia / Genetics / ILRI / LiveGene / Livestock / LIVESTOCKFISH / Project / Research / Southern Africa / Spotlight / Tanzania

Towards more productive dairy cattle for Africa’s smallholders

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Improving the genetic makeup of Africa’s dairy cattle has the potential increase farmer productivity and profitability, hence transform the lives of millions of dairy families across Africa. This latest program, African Dairy Genetic Gains (ADGG) program, led by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), offers real opportunities to help smallholders improve their lives through livestock. It also contributes to ILRI’s global livestock genetics program—LiveGene. Continue reading →

Climate-smart livestock farming in developing countries is boosted by a £10-million research award
Africa / Agriculture / Animal Breeding / Article / Award / Biodiversity / Biotechnology / Breeds / Cattle / Chickens / Climate Change / CTLGH / Directorate / Genetics / Goats / ILRI / Indigenous Breeds / LiveGene / LIVESTOCKFISH / Pro-Poor Livestock / Project / Research / Sheep / Small Ruminants / Spotlight / UK

Climate-smart livestock farming in developing countries is boosted by a £10-million research award

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Researchers at the Roslin Institute will be using funds from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to investigate how genetic information can improve the health and productivity of farmed animals in tropical climates, which is a proven approach to climate change mitigation and adaptation. The Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health is an alliance between the Institute at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) and the Africa-headquartered International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). The partner institutions are making additional contributions with a value of £10 million to support the initiative over the next five years. Continue reading →

Why communicate agricultural science to non-specialists? A brief for livestock geneticists
Africa / Animal Breeding / Biodiversity / Biotechnology / Breeds / Communications / Event Report / Genetics / ILRI / Indigenous Breeds / LiveGene

Why communicate agricultural science to non-specialists? A brief for livestock geneticists

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At a recent workshop co-hosted by an NGO called Biosciences for Farming in Africa (B4FA) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in Nairobi, Kenya, ILRI communications staff Susan MacMillan made a short presentation on why the 20-plus animal geneticists in the room should bother communicating their science to non-specialists.   The big picture ‘A … Continue reading →

New DNA analysis of Asian sheep reveals unique diversity crucial to contemporary food and climate concerns
Animal Breeding / Article / Asia / Breeds / Central Asia / China / Genetics / Geodata / ILRI / Indigenous Breeds / LiveGene / Livestock / LIVESTOCKFISH / Middle East / Sheep / Small Ruminants / Spotlight

New DNA analysis of Asian sheep reveals unique diversity crucial to contemporary food and climate concerns

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At a time when the price of mutton is climbing and wool crashing, a groundbreaking new study has used advanced genetic sequencing technology to rewrite the history of sheep breeding and trading along the ancient Silk Road—insights that can help contemporary herders in developing countries preserve or recover valuable traits crucial to their food and economic security. The new findings regarding one of the first animals ever domesticated will be published in the October print edition of the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution. They are the product of an unprecedented collaboration involving scientists in China, Iran, Pakistan, Indonesia, Nepal, Finland, and the United Kingdom. The team analysed the complete mitochondrial DNA of 42 domesticated native sheep breeds from Azerbaijan, Moldova, Serbia, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Poland, Finland, China and the United Kingdom, along with two wild sheep species from Kazakhstan. Continue reading →

Bridging ‘biobanking’ and biomedical research across Europe and Africa: ‘B3Africa’ launched in Cape Town
Africa / Biodiversity / Biotechnology / Disease Control / Europe / Event / Geodata / Human Health / ILRI / LiveGene / LIVESTOCKFISH / Project / Spotlight

Bridging ‘biobanking’ and biomedical research across Europe and Africa: ‘B3Africa’ launched in Cape Town

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The first meeting of a new project, ‘B3Africa, short for ‘Bridging Biobanking and Biomedical Research across Europe and Africa’, was held this week (24–25 Aug 2015) at the University of the Western Cape, in Cape Town, South Africa. Continue reading →

UK chief scientific adviser visits Kenya: Part 3—The dual rise of the global livestock sector and antimicrobial resistance
A4NH / Agri-Health / AMR / Disease Control / East Africa / Emerging Diseases / Event Report / Geodata / Human Health / ILRI / LiveGene / Spotlight / Zoonotic Diseases

UK chief scientific adviser visits Kenya: Part 3—The dual rise of the global livestock sector and antimicrobial resistance

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The second of two scientists to make a short presentation to Sir Mark Walport, the UK chief scientific adviser, on his 15 Jul 2015 visit to the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in Nairobi, Kenya, was Tim Robinson, a livestock and spatial analysis expert. Continue reading →

UK chief scientific adviser visits Kenya: Part 2—’One Health’ surveillance of infectious livestock-to-human diseases
A4NH / Agri-Health / Disease Control / East Africa / Emerging Diseases / Event Report / Geodata / Human Health / ILRI / Kenya / LiveGene / Spotlight / Zoonotic Diseases

UK chief scientific adviser visits Kenya: Part 2—’One Health’ surveillance of infectious livestock-to-human diseases

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The first scientist of two scientists to make a short presentation to Sir Mark Walport, the UK chief scientific adviser, on his 15 Jul 2015 visit to the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in Nairobi, Kenya, was Eric Fèvre, a veterinary epidemiologist and joint appointee at ILRI and the Institute of Infection and Global Health at the University of Liverpool. Fèvre manages several field-oriented research projects on neglected zoonoses on behalf of the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health. Continue reading →

Kenya’s native goats and sheep, expertly crossbred, are key to helping farmers cope with climate change
Agriculture / Animal Breeding / Animal Production / Article / Breeds / CCAFS / Climate Change / East Africa / Genetics / Goats / ILRI / Indigenous Breeds / Kenya / LiveGene / Livestock / Sheep / Small Ruminants

Kenya’s native goats and sheep, expertly crossbred, are key to helping farmers cope with climate change

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Smallholder farmers and pastoral herders in East Africa are the target of an ongoing joint project of ILRI, the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) and the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). Continue reading →

New project promises more productive chickens for Africa’s smallholders
ACGG / Africa / Agriculture / Breeds / Chickens / Ethiopia / Farming Systems / Genetics / Indigenous Breeds / Launch / LiveGene / LIVESTOCKFISH / Nigeria / Project / Spotlight / Tanzania

New project promises more productive chickens for Africa’s smallholders

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A new four-year African Chicken Genetic Gains (ACGG) project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will run from 2015 to 2019 and work to genetically improve Africa’s chickens and to better deliver the superior chickens to small-scale farmers. Continue reading →

Chickens rule — Everywhere — Everyday — Every way
ACGG / Animal Breeding / Article / Chickens / Consumption / Genetics / ILRI / Indigenous Breeds / Intensification / LiveGene / Poultry / Spotlight

Chickens rule — Everywhere — Everyday — Every way

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When, exactly, did the chicken move out of our backyards and into our front rooms, taking over our kitchens and imaginations? When did it stop being a bird peasants kept to serve up the occasional egg, and the daily morning crow, and become meat for daily gobbling? Continue reading →