Ongoing research projects on control of cattle trypanosomosis in the Ghibe Valley, southwestern Ethi

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On-going research projects on control of cattle
trypanosomosis in the Ghibe Valley, south-western
Ethiopia

• Workneh Ayalew and Woudyalew Mulatu
• ILRI, Addis Ababa
• 27 May 2004

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Outline of presentation

• Background on Ghibe
• Outcomes of research so far
• On-going research projects

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Background on Ghibe

• Altitude 1050-1600masl
• Rainfall 900-1000mm
• unimodal June - September
• Temperature
• Max 30 370C
• Min 10 - 150C
• Agriculture mixed crop-livestock
• Crops maize, sorghum, Teff, sesame
• Livestock cattle (goats, sheep, donkeys)

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Location of the Ghibe Valley
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Background on Ghibe (Contd)

• Major animal health problem Bovine
  Trypanosomosis
• Parasite T. congolense (most important), T.
  vivax, T. Brucei
• Vectors G. pallidipes (up to 1990)
  G.m.submorsitans (since 1990) G.fuscipes (least
  important)
• Mean tryps prevalence 30-35 in adult cattle 7-
  8 in adult tsetse flies

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Outcomes of research in the past

• Application of Pour-On (Ectopor/cypermethrin)
  resulted in
• 63 reduction of trypanosomosis prevalence in
  cattle
• 50 reduction in the number of curative
  trypanocidal treatments per animal
• 62 reduction in abortion rates and calf
  mortality
• 5 increase in body weight of cows.

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Outcomes of research (Contd)

• Control and prevention of tryps resulted in
• Over 10,000 farming families now maintain over
  25,000 heads of cattle under tryps challenge.
• More people and animals coming through the
  government sponsored human resettlement scheme.
• Increasing pressure on the environment from the
  growing human and livestock population.
• Increased awareness on options for tryps control
  through parasite and vector control.

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On-going research projects1. On-farm monitoring
of parasites and vectors in the Ghibe valley

• Continuation of the work by the African
  Trypanotolerant Livestock Network (ATLN)
• Monthly monitoring of parasitaemia and vectors in
  seven cattle herds
• Will continue after community takes over
  management of veterinary service delivery

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On-going research projects2. EARO-ILRI
on-station breed comparison on cattle
Trypanotolerance

• Four breeds involved
• Sheko (Humpless Shorthorn, exposed to tryps)
• Abigar (Sanga, lightly exposed to tryps)
• Horro (Zenga, marginally exposed to tryps)
• Gurage (Zebu, not exposed to tryps)
• Pure breeding of 50 females and 5 males for
  performance monitoring
• Maintained under continuous medium tryps
  challenge
• Monthly monitoring of Parasitaemia and PCV
• Only cases with critically low PCV (lt26) are
  treated.

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On-going research projects2. EARO-ILRI
on-station study on cattle Trypanotolerance
preliminary results (Parasitaemia)
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On-going research projects (Cond)3.Community
action learning processes on CBM of
trypanotolerance

• Relative trypanotolerance measured by the least
  number of curative treatments in sample cattle
  herds combined with measures of Parasitaemia and
  PCV
• Identification of animals with verified superior
  trypanotolerance
• Community awareness on the genetic basis of
  trypanotolerance guaged through interview and
  workshops
• Community interest on enhanced reproduction of
  these animals to be facilitated in community
  workshops
• Community to be assisted on chosen interventions

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On-going research projects (Cond)4. Promotion
of tsetse control technology to the community

• Facilitate direct functional linkages between
  demanders and suppliers of veterinary products
  (Pour-on, trypanocidal drugs) at village level.
• Assist communities to organise themselves into
  marketing cooperatives with legal entity.
• Assist communities to take over monitoring of
  parasitemia and PCV in their cattle herds
• Explore opporunities for handling other
  agricultural inputs as well.

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On-going research projects (Contd)5. Small
projects

• Assessment of impact of tryps control and
  prevention on livelihood, environment
• Resistance of parasites to available trypanocidal
  drugs (IFAR)
• Use of animal traction under tryps challenge
• Synthesis of research results on epidemiology
  animal performance under tryps challenge impact
  of tryps control on ecology

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New ( approved) projects

• SLU supported project (PhD project)
• Harnessing genetic variation in cattle
  trypanotolerance for improved livelihood
• ETH ZIL (PhD project)
• Developing optimised cattle breeding schemes on
  trypanotolerance
• BMZ
• Community based management of FAnGR for improved
  livelihood

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What more?

• Micro-financing services and markets
• Integrated control of Malaria and trypanosomosis
  (vector control)
• Participation of farmers in agricultural markets
  (crops, livestock)

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What more?

• DAGRIS (Domestic Animal Genetic Resources
  Information System)
• Characterization of indigenous AnGR
• Ethiopia (Oromia region)
• Zimbabwe

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• Thank You