Senegal, located in West Africa, is an example of a low- to middle-income country where the government has prioritized improving livestock production self-sufficiency, with a strong focus on dairy. Among other initiatives, the use of exotic dairy cattle has been promoted, despite no evidence for the potential livelihood benefits (or otherwise) to smallholder farmers on adopting the new genetics. The current work fills this evidence gap by performing a farm-level economic study comparing the keeping of different breed and cross-breed types of dairy cattle under different management levels. Data for the study were obtained by monitoring 220 smallholder dairy cattle farms, with a combined cattle population of about 3,000 animals, over an almost 2-yr period. Findings of the study suggest that the most net-beneficial and cost-beneficial dairy cattle enterprise that could be used by the smallholder farmers was to keep crossbred indigenous zebu by exotic Bos taurus animals under management standards that are considered good compared with local standards. This dairy enterprise type was 7.4-fold more net beneficial and had a 1.4-fold more favorable cost-benefit ratio than the traditional system of keeping indigenous zebu animals under poor (low-input) management. Interestingly, the keeping of (near) pure B. taurus dairy cattle resulted in the highest milk yields and thus benefit from milk, but was not the most net beneficial due to the high costs of keeping these animals, particularly in terms of feed. We also found that increasing the management level of any of the breed or cross-breed types under consideration, including the indigenous zebu animals, resulted in an increased net benefit of 2.2- to 2.9-fold. Results of this economic analysis are discussed as part of a broader trade-off analysis, resulting in recommendations to strengthen the Senegal dairy sector. The combined intervention of improved dairy cattle genetics and management is considered a promising intervention to improve livelihoods of the rural poor as well as livestock production self-sufficiency for Senegal; some other system constraints are addressed.

Milk production and milk composition of various cattle breeds and their crosses in the North Central Peanut Basin of Senegal have been analysed.In total, 6082 records were collected from 1447 cows.But finally, only 1923 test-day records of milk volume were evaluated from 319 cows with 370 lactations during a longitudinal survey.A subset of 227 cows was used to determine the milk composition of the main breed-groups that were present and which were clustered into four groups: Indigenous zebus (Zebu Gobra; Zebu Maure), Indigenous zebu by Guzerat (Indigenous zebu cross with 25% to 50% Guzerat), Indigenous zebu by Bos taurus taurus (Indigenous zebu cross with 25% to 50% Bos taurus taurus where the Bos taurus taurus includes breeds such as Montbeliarde and Holstein-Friesian) and High Bos taurus taurus (cows with a high component of Bos taurus taurus, typically 75% to 100% of previous Bos taurus taurus).The daily milk yield, cumulative milk yield of 305 days, milk fat and protein percentages were determined for each cluster.The daily milk yield varied from 1.43 L/day in indigenous zebus to 7.04 L/day in High Bos taurus taurus.In general, the daily milk yield increased with the number of parturitions.Indigenous zebus showed the lowest 305-day milk yield (466 L and 496 L for first and later lactations, respectively) whilst High Bos taurus taurus cows showed the highest milk production (1408 L and 2108 L for first and later lactations, respectively).Fat percentage increased from the primiparous to the multiparous cows.Primiparous Indigenous zebus by Bos taurus taurus cows showed the highest fat content (5.10%), followed by Indigenous zebus (4.44%).The average calving interval ranged from 519 days for Indigenous zebus by Bos taurus taurus to 580 days for Indigenous zebus.The average lactation length for all cows was 370 days.

Developing countries are experiencing an increase in total demand for livestock commodities, as populations and per capita demands increase. Increased production is therefore required to meet this demand and maintain food security. Production increases will lead to proportionate increases in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions unless offset by reductions in the emissions intensity (Ei) (i.e. the amount of GHG emitted per kg of commodity produced) of livestock production. It is therefore important to identify measures that can increase production whilst reducing Ei cost-effectively. This paper seeks to do this for smallholder agro-pastoral cattle systems in Senegal; ranging from low input to semi-intensified, they are representative of a large proportion of the national cattle production. Specifically, it identifies a shortlist of mitigation measures with potential for application to the various herd systems and estimates their GHG emissions abatement potential (using the Global Livestock Environmental Assessment Model) and cost-effectiveness. Limitations and future requirements are identified and discussed. This paper demonstrates that the Ei of meat and milk from livestock systems in a developing region can be reduced through measures that would also benefit food security, many of which are likely to be cost-beneficial. The ability to make such quantification can assist future sustainable development efforts.

The government of Senegal has initiated a National Program for Livestock Development (PNDE) seeking to achieve self-sufficiency in the production of animal-source foods and increase the economic vitality of the value chain by 2026. Improving the productivity and competitiveness of the livestock sector is a key component of the plan. This brief seeks to facilitate the implementation of the dairy cattle sector components of the PNDE, particularly in relation to improving productivity. In doing so it sets out the evidence-based rationale for keeping different dairy cattle breeds/ crossbreeds under different management systems, and makes recommendations regarding key investments to improve dairy cattle productivity.

Presented at TROPENTAG , Vienna 2016 Aflatoxins and milk  Aflatoxins are toxic compounds produced by certain moulds that grow on crops – they are a major food safety concern particularly in developing countries  If lactating cows ingest aflatoxins through contaminated feed, they can excrete aflatoxin metabolites in their milk  Human consumption of aflatoxins – including in contaminated cereals and milk can lead to liver cancer and may increase the risk of childhood stunting

Forty-five Large White barrows were injected daily i.m. with either excipient from 30 to 100 kg BW (CTRL), excipient from 30 to 60 and porcine somatotropin (pST; 100 micrograms/kg BW) from 60 to 100 kg BW (pST-60), or pST (100 micrograms/kg BW) from 30 to 100 kg BW (pST-30). Somatotropin accelerated overall growth rate (+4 and +9% for pST-60 and pST-30, respectively), increased longissimus (+10.3 and +14.7%) and semitendinosus (+17 and +13%) muscle weights, and decreased backfat (-49 and -58%) and leaf fat (-49 and -53%) weights. The administration of pST resulted in a similar increase in muscle fiber size for all fiber types in both longissimus (LM) and semispinalis (SS) muscles (+21%). Somatotropin had otherwise little effect on muscle fiber types and biochemical traits of LM, whereas dramatic changes were observed in SS. The relative area occupied by Type IIB fibers was increased (+22 and +29%) and that of Type I fibers was decreased (-10 and -15%). In pST-30 animals, myosin ATPase activity (+15%) and native myosin fast isoform proportion (+10%) were augmented, and energy metabolism was more glycolytic (lactate dehydrogenase: +25%) and less oxidative (citrate synthase: -13%; beta-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase: -21%). Compared to CTRL animals, administration of pST increased muscle water concentration (LM: +.8 and +1.1%: SS: +3.3 and +3.3%) and decreased intramuscular fat (LM: -29 and -27%; SS: -39 and -50%). The pH measured 45 min and 24 h postmortem, glycogen content, reflectance, and index of light diffusion were mostly not affected by pST treatment. In conclusion, pST had a very favorable effect on growth performance without any important effect on meat quality traits except for the reduction in intramuscular lipid content. The results indicated that the effects of pST on muscular histochemical and biochemical characteristics were different in LM and SS muscles.