Article

Indigenous genetic resources: A sustainable and environmentally friendly option for livestock production in areas at risk from trypanosomiasis

While scientists and politicians around the globe struggle with the concepts, technologies and implications of genetic engineering in agriculture and the food chain, African animal husbandry is possibly on the brink of its own genetic revolution.

As African populations increase, putting pressure on food production, cattle are becoming increasingly important as food sources. It is becoming necessary to exploit as much land as possible for meat and dairy farming, and there are wide tracts of humid and sub-humid land which offer opportunities for expanding cattle farming. However, the modern hybridised cattle which are widely used for meat and milk production are not resistant to endemic diseases.  Trypanosomiasis, which is transmitted by tsetse flies, is a particular scourge of African cattle - especially in the humid areas. The parasite is becoming resistant to the drugs which have been used to control the disease up to now, and so trypanosomiasis is beginning to spread and preventing exploitation of much land.

But there is a glimmer of hope - the traditional African cattle breeds such as N'dama have evolved natural resistance to trypanosomiasis and other diseases to which they have been exposed on evolutionary timescales, and are as productive as some of the best hybrid breeds. Using such animals to work the land and  for milk and meat production, is an environmentally friendly and affordable approach to controlling the effects of trypanosomiasis in Africa.  Researchers are also beginning to realise that Africa's unparalleled genetic pool offers possibilities of exploiting disease resistant traits already present in cattle through selective breeding programmes.

Read the Full article by Guy d'Ieteren and Kamau Kimani of the International Livestock Institute, Nairobi, Kenya.

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