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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Anim. Sci.
Sec. Animal Breeding and Genetics
Volume 5 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fanim.2024.1454071
This article is part of the Research Topic Interventions for Improving Livestock Productivity in Developing Countries View all 13 articles

Breeding practices and selection criteria in Gudali cattle breed from Benin: Implications for the design of a community-based breeding program

Provisionally accepted
Loukaïya ZOROBOURAGUI Loukaïya ZOROBOURAGUI 1,2*Isidore Houaga Isidore Houaga 3,4Alassan S. Assani Alassan S. Assani 1Hilaire Sorebou Sanni Worogo Hilaire Sorebou Sanni Worogo 1Lionel Kinkpe Lionel Kinkpe 5Kathiravan Periasamy Kathiravan Periasamy 2Ibrahim Traoré Alkoiret Ibrahim Traoré Alkoiret 1
  • 1 Laboratoire d’Ecologie, de Santé de Production Animales, Faculté d'agronomie, Université de Parakou, Parakou, Benin
  • 2 International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Vienna, Austria
  • 3 Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
  • 4 Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health, Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
  • 5 Department of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Yangling, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Understanding farmers' breeding systems and preferred traits is crucial for establishing effective genetic improvement programs. This study investigated Gudali cattle breed selection, breeding objectives, and selection criteria in North-east Benin (Malanville and Tchaourou). We surveyed 120 Gudali cattle farmers using a structured questionnaire and conducted hierarchical clustering using R software. We identified the distribution of farmers based on herd composition and production systems. Farmers were grouped into four classes: Sedentary Purebreds (16.67%), Transhumant Purebreds (33.33%), Sedentary Mixed Breeds (34.17%), and Transhumant Mixed Breeds (15.83%), with average Gudali herd sizes ranging from 23.68 to 90.11 heads depending on the system. The overall average herd size was 42.67 ± 6.00 heads. The majority of farmers owned different breeds, including Borgou (26.67%), Yakana (26.67%), and Azawak (7.5%), with only 32.5% having Gudali only herds. Farmers chose Gudali cattle for their milk production, good growth and market value, with 96.67% prioritizing milk production. The main selection criterion was coat color in all breeding systems with respective indices of 0.59; 0.57; 0.54 and 0.47 respectively for sedentary purebred; sedentary mixed breed; transhumant purebred and transhumant mixed breed systems. Most mixed breed farmers (55.84%) cross Gudali with local breeds for better dairy performance. While only 3.33% of farmers were aware of communitybased breeding programs (CBBP), there was strong interest (95%) in participating. Potential challenges such as access to feed and disease management were reported. The proposed mitigation strategies include establishing pasture areas and strengthening collaboration among stakeholders. Implementing CBBP programs by incorporating farmers' preferences and practices, could sustainably improve Gudali cattle productivity and resilience in Benin.

    Keywords: criteria, selection, Cattle, CBBP, Traditional knowledge, livestock improvement, West Africa

    Received: 03 Jul 2024; Accepted: 03 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 ZOROBOURAGUI, Houaga, S. Assani, Sanni Worogo, Kinkpe, Periasamy and Alkoiret. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Loukaïya ZOROBOURAGUI, Laboratoire d’Ecologie, de Santé de Production Animales, Faculté d'agronomie, Université de Parakou, Parakou, Benin

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