A study was carried out to determine farmers’ preferences for goat breeds, desired traits, management and breeding practices in agro-pastoral communities of central and eastern Tanzania. A total of 552 goat keepers from semi-arid and sub-humid areas were involved. Information on goat flock size, breed preferences, breeding practices, traits preferred and husbandry practices was collected using a well structured questionnaire. Out of the 552 household heads, only 21.3% were women. Most of the farmers kept indigenous goats belonging to the Small East African breed and the mean number of goats per household was 8.9 ± 1.0. The majority of the farmers (53.4%) preferred to keep the Small East African goat breed rather than the exotic breeds. The Small East African breed was preferred to exotic breeds because the animals are easier to feed, prolific, tolerant to drought and endemic diseases. Most farmers (70.8%) practiced uncontrolled mating using bucks from either their own flock (66.7%) or neighbours’ flocks (33.3%).Uncontrolled mating was preferred because it is easier to practice (41.2%) and cheaper (41.2%). The buck to doe ratio was 1:3 in semi-arid and 1:2 in sub-humid areas. Breeding males were selected based on body size by the majority (85%) of the goat farmers. It is concluded that livestock keepers in semi-arid and sub-humid areas in Tanzania prefer the Small East Africa goats because the animals are abundantly available and well adapted to the local environmental conditions.

A survey was conducted through single field visits and interviews with 360 respondents in selected districts of Bench Maji Zone, Southwestern Ethiopia to asses the Sheko cattle farming system, breeding practices, and identify cattle breeding goals and constraints for designing Sheko cattle conservation and improvement strategies. The total populations of Sheko cattle herd structure in the sampled districts within each PA obtained by counting directly on the field were estimated to be 2813.Under random mating, the inbreeding coefficient was higher in midland (1.72) than in lowland (1.35) agro ecological zones (AEZs). The mean Sheko cattle herd size per household was 1.09 in midland and 1.29 in lowland AEZs. About 93.9% and 88.3% of the households, respectively, in midland and lowland do not have breeding bull. Random mating predominates in both midland (87.2%) and lowland (85%) AEZs. The reported peak season of mixing of the different Sheko cattle herd within a village start after the crop aftermath (February to May) was picked from the cultivated land, whereas, beginning from main rainy season in June to the end of crop harvesting time usually on January smallholder farmers in both AEZs keep their cattle separately. The observed male to female mating ratio was 1:16.4 in midland and 1:8.6 in lowland. Sheko bulls were castrated at the age of 4.2 and 4.8 years in midland and lowland respectively. Appearance/conformation was the most important trait in choosing of breeding male for both midland and lowland small holder Sheko owners. Whereas, milk yield was the most important trait for the choice of breeding cows in both AEZs. The purpose of keeping Sheko cattle in midland area was for draught followed by milk, income, saving and dowry, in that order. In lowland agro ecology milk production, draught power, and income generation are the purposes for keeping Sheko cattle. In both AEZs feed shortage, disease and labor shortage were the most important cattle production constraints in that order. It has been found that an integrated system approach to breed conservation and improvement needs to incorporate traits sought by the cattle keepers, the multiple roles of cattle, and the existing traditional herding and breeding practices.

Pig production has increasingly become an important activity, especially among smallholder farmers in Uganda in the past three decades as evidenced by a dramatic rise in pig population from 0.19 to 3.2 million. This is linked to the rise in demand for pork due to changes in preferences. Per capita consumption of pork has been estimated at 3.4 kg/person/year representing a ten-fold increase in the last 30 years. Pigs are important assets for the poor smallholders in Uganda generating income for meeting planned and emergency household financial needs. Despite its importance, the smallholder pig systems are faced with a number of productivity and market related constraints ranging from diseases, poor nutrition and poorly organized markets. Strong growth opportunities to improve smallholder pig systems exist if the constraints are minimized. However the constraints and opportunities vary among smallholder producers as they are not a homogenous group and are affected by various factors. This paper applies a cluster analysis to characterize smallholder pig production systems into typologies in three districts in Uganda by utilizing village level data from 35 villages. The paper further explores the constraints and opportunities for the different typologies to engage with output and input market systems. The paper concludes that different interventions are necessary to improve market linkages with the smallholder pig production systems due to their varying differences in terms of farmers’ cooperative involvement, institutional linkages and intensification related indicators.

This study was conducted to characterize three Ethiopian indigenous goat types in terms of their composition and dynamics, productivity, and marketing. A set of semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect information from 155 goat owners based on single-visit-interviews. The study indicates that breeding females constituted the largest average flock composition followed by weaners and kids. Goat owners in the study areas relied mainly on births and purchases to build their flock while sales and deaths were the major routes of disposal. Lower commercial offtake (28%) and higher mortality (24%) rates were estimated for all study areas but the figures were lower in pastoral and agro-pastoral systems. On average, female goats in the study area gave first birth at the age of 1.4 years, kidded every 8.6 months and stayed on production/kidding for about 5 years, giving daily milk yield of 0.37 liter. Based on the estimates given by respondents, Somali and highland goats were characterized to have bigger age at first kidding and longer kidding life time, respectively. For other traits such as kidding interval and daily milk yield, no significant performance difference was observed among the goat types. In all study areas, goats were sold mainly at the farm gate when money is needed to buy grains and other farm inputs. Average age at sale/slaughter of male goats was about 1.4 years. Consumers, producers, traders, butchers and brokers were the major buyers of live goats in the study areas. The participation of goat producers in the market was constrained by seasonality of market, low price, and lack of market information and infrastructure.

European pear scab (Venturia pyrina Aderh.) is common and economically important disease in commercial orchards in most of the pear (Pyrus communis L.) growing areas worldwide. Studies on pear scab pathogen V. pyrina diversity in general and among different geographical regions are scars at an early stage. In the limited number of studies reported so far, some attempts have been made to characterize and define races or biotypes of V. pyrina and new biotypes co-adapteted to specific cultivars have been recorded recently. Despite the long history, worldwide distribution and increasing economic significance of the European pear scab, the research on control methods, and pathogen biology and disease epidemiology that could aid to develop more effective and also alternative to fungicide application control methods are still limited. Mechanisms of European pear resistance to scab remains uncertain and currently only one major resistance gene Rvp1 has been identified and characterised. Although the disease is important in many European countries, breeding programs of pear scab-resistant varieties are still under development. In this paper we provide an overview on V. pyrina, its significance and distribution, control methods and current scientific progress in understanding of the pathogen and the disease. Overview of literature on V. pyrina characterization, ecology, biology and diseases epidemiology from Latvia and other countries has been used for the study.

Assortment improvement is a natural process of updating varieties and improving the quality of variety assortment. The article presents the results of studying the introduced grape (Vitis vinifera) varieties in the conditions of the southeast of Kazakhstan, in particular in the bottom-mountain area of Almaty region. The beginning and the end of the main phenological phases passing for the vegetative period in a grape plant directly depended on climatic and weather conditions of this district. It is established that varieties ‘Kuibyshevsk early-maturing’, ‘Iyulsky’ and ‘Priusadebny’ have a good degree of eyes wintering buds and are able to give a yield of high quality in this area in comparison with recognized variety ‘Almaty early-maturing’.

The study consists of literature review on potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) initial seed material – minitubers production. This paper covers aspects of healthy potato microplants production techniques and subsequent greenhouse minitubers production methods. The diversity of conventional minituber growing techniques (on solid medium in greenhouses) is discussed. Review showed that obtained minitubers number depends on growing methods and variety. Physical manipulation during in vitro phase could have positive effects on minitubers yielding capacities.

The characteristics of the new potato cyst nematode (Globodera rostochiensis, pathotype RO1) resistant, medium ripening potato variety ‘Teele’ (‘Cinja’ ´ ‘Paola’) developed at the Estonian Crop Research Institute (ECRI) is discussed in this paper. The variety ‘Teele’ was included in Estonian and European Variety List in 2013.The variety ‘Teele’ passed the preliminary, dynamic and final trials in 2008 - 2012 at the ECRI, where it was compared with standard varieties ‘Maret’ (early), ‘Piret’ (medium) and ‘Anti’ (late). The official trials in Estonia and the technical examination (DUS test) in Czech Republic were carried out in 2011 – 2012. Potato cyst nematode (Ro1) and wart (Synchytrium endobioticum (Schilbersky) pathotype 1 (D 1)) resistance of the new variety were determined in Poland in the Plant Breeding and Acclimatization Institute. Tuber yield and tuber weight of the variety ‘Teele’ were equal to ‘Maret’ and ‘Anti’ but higher than ‘Piret’. The number of tubers per plant was equal in all standard varieties. Tuber yield and yield of marketable tubers of dynamic trials present the medium ripening of the variety ‘Teele’. The potato variety ‘Teele’ had good quality characteristics (shallow eyes, regular shape) and good culinary traits of table potato variety. It had a relatively good resistance to late blight (Phytophthora infestans) (field resistance), overcoming standard varieties ‘Maret’ and ‘Piret’.

Live weight and body condition are indicators for dairy cow’s (Bos taurus) health, milk productivity and reproduction. Live weight and body condition are defined by genetic and non-genetic factors. These factors are dependent on dairy cows growing and welfare. The aim of research was to analyze body condition relationship with milk productivity and live weight. Data were collected from 49 different breed and lactation dairy cows. Research location was Latvia University of Agriculture Research and Study farm ‘Vecauce’. Data were collected from October 2013 to January 2014. Body condition score of all cows decreased from 2.8 ± 0.05 to 2.5 ± 0.04 points in research period. Milk yield increased from 35.6 ± 0.79 kg in the 1st recording to 40.9 ± 1.12 kg in the 2nd recording. Milk yield decreased in the 3rd recording (p is less than 0.05). Fat content was the lowest in the 2nd recording (35.5 ± 0.09 g kgE-1). Protein content was significantly different in the 1st and 2nd recordings (p is less than 0.05). Somatic cell changes were not significant. Body condition decreased of older lactation cows, but milk yield increased at the same time. Milk yield was significantly the greatest in red breed group, compared with Holstein black and white cows (51.1 ± 3.21 kg vs. 41.4 ± 0.78 kg; p is less than 0.05). Body condition score significantly affected live weight in such body condition score groups: less than 2.5 points, 2.75 to 3.0 points. Effect was not significant on live weight in body condition score 3.25 less than group. Milk productivity and quality traits were not affected by the body condition score (p is less than 0.05).

The article discusses the results of comprehensive studies histomorphological signs of skin and hair of sheep (Degeress) of various stripes, especially the thickness of the skin and its layers that are commonly identified indicators. Studies allow to bring the scientific basis for the proper development of activities aimed at increasing production of wool, quantity and quality of which skin microstructure largely depends on. Sheep of different colors have a specific feature on the histological structure of the skin, which is essential for the development of effective methods of selection that enhance productivity of sheep wool. The researches have established that brown suit sheep has thickened skin as compared to red and gray color (p is less than 0.01). In turn, pilar layer of the skin is also much thicker at brown coloration sheep (2029.7 ×10E-6 m) than in sheep red (1850.6×10E-6 m) and sulfur (1773.7×10E-6 m) suits, the difference is statistically highly significant (p is less than 0.001). The thickness of the pilar layer is up to 70% of the dermis, which varies depending on sheep lear ranging from 1773.7×10E-6 m to 2029.7×10E-6 m. Reticular layer thickness varies depending on sheep lear ranging from 743.5×10E-6 m to 826.4×10E-6 m.