Application of radioimmunoassay in improving the reproductive management of smallholder dairy cattle. Results from an IAEA regional technical cooperation project in Africa

Improvement of livestock production in the African region has been embarked on in many countries with support from their own resources as well as from external donors. Although artificial insemination (AI) has been applied for cattle breeding for many years in Africa as a means of accelerated genetic improvement of the indigenous stock, the overall productivity of this sector has continued to be low. Some of the factors that contribute to the poor output include inadequate management practices, poor nutrition, occurrence of reproductive disorders, systemic diseases and parasites. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has taken a keen interest in supporting efforts to improve livestock production in Africa through national and regional technical cooperation projects. In the recent past, two successive regional projects were implemented under the framework of the African Regional Cooperative Agreement (AFRA) programme. The first was entitled Development and Field Evaluation of Animal Feed Supplementation Packages and had two main components: (a) the development and dissemination of cost-effective and sustainable feed supplementation packages which are based on locally available feed resources; and (b) establishment of the 'self-coating' Radioimmunoassay (RIA) technique for measuring progesterone in the milk and blood of ruminants. The second was entitled Increasing and Improving Milk and Meat Production and had the objectives of: (a) assessing and improving AI programmes for small-scale dairy farmers; (b) establishing sustainable early non-pregnancy diagnosis (N-PD) and related services based on RIA; and (c) harmonizing managerial and field practices within the region. Some of the issues, among others, which have been identified through the above projects as being responsible for low productivity of cattle in Africa include: (a) inadequate follow-up of offspring arising from AI (e.g. poor calf management leading to retarded growth or even death, and failure to record the performance of improved genotypes); (b) lack of appropriate selection criteria for breeding stock for improved productivity; (c) inadequate management practices coupled with poor nutrition and absence of disease control measures; and (d) lack of regular programmes for training and continued education for extension workers and farmers. This publication contains the results obtained by Member States in the project activities of Increasing and Improving Milk and Meat Production. It will serve as a source of information for professionals, technicians and extension workers engaged in the provision of AI services, as well as a source of reference for research workers and students in livestock and veterinary sciences.