Dr. A/ RahmanMagzoub Mohamed Ahmed(PhD)(1),
Dr. Ahmed Mahmoud Shiekheldin(MSc.)(2) And Dr. Mahmoud Abbas Halmi(2)
1. Animal
Production Research Centre (Khartoum North) 2. General Directory of Animal
Production Development, Genetic Resources Directory of Animal Production
Development(Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries & Rangelands)
December
2013
1.
Introduction:
Sheep
population in Sudan is about 29 million heads (MLFR 2012) mostly under nomadic
and semi_nomadic husbandry systems. The types of sheep include Hamari,
Kabbashi, Wateesh, Dubasi,Ashgar and Gazira, but the Hamari and Kabbashi types
are the most famous especially in the export markets.
Although research
in sheep in Sudan started early, but its impact on the sheep industry is very
limited. Genetic improvement is left to the breeders who make selection
according to the environmental conditions in which they manage their flocks. Crossbreeding
with exotic breeds to improve meat production and carcass qualities in a wide
scale for commercial purposes is not attempted. This might be due to the
assumption that we have the best breeds of sheep for meat production. This
assumption does not hold true when we look at other sheep breeds in the world
which have better growth rates and carcass yield. So, if Sudan is looking for
quality meat markets, then we have to think seriously about genetic improvement
in our sheep to strengthen their weak production and reproduction traits and
make use of their strong and positive characteristics like adaptability and
non-seasonal breeding. This iniative is now taken by one of the enterpreneurs
in the private sector, Dr. Ahmed Ibrahim Adam of Fortliza Company. It is shown
in the following pilot crossbreeding project.
the obtained cross
2. Project description:
This project was started in 2012. It
is a trial of crossing Sudanese Desert Sheep (mainly Hamari and Kabbashi) with
the Brazilian Santa Ines sheep breed through artificial insemination with frozen
semen imported from Brazil.
The Santa Ines is a breed of sheep
from Brazil which is primarily raised for meat. It is one of the largest and
most productive hair sheep breeds common in Brazil. It is thought to have been
derived from crosses of the Morada Nova,
Bergamasca and the native coare-wooled sheep.The breed is well adapted
to tropical climates and it is known to be more parasite – resistant than other
meat sheep breeds.
The idea of the project is to produce
crossbred animals of better growth rates and higher carcass yields at younger
ages and good adaptation to local environmental conditions.
3. Project Location and Area:
The project is located at West
Omdurman area about 5km west of Omdurman Terminal Livestock Market (AlmowailihMarket).
The project area is about 8 hectares from which 2 hectares are cultivated with
irrigated fodder (Brachiariahumidicola)to feed the animals.
4. Project Justification:
(i) The increasing trend in the world
meat market for quality specifications and standards under which Sudanese sheep
breeds cannot comply with having their present genetic makeup unimproved.
(ii) The need to develop systems of
production that are market-oriented in quality and price competitiveness.
(iii) The need to improve production
and reproduction qualities of Sudanese sheep breeds to qualify for regional and
international sheep meat markets.
5. Project Objectives:
(i) Improve meat yield of Sudanese
desert sheep by crossbreeding.
(ii)
Improve growth rates and carcass qualities of local sheep breeds aiming
at heavier weights at younger ages.
(iii) Qualify Sudanese sheep meat for
competition in regional and international markets.
(iv) Enhance specialized sheep
breeding for mutton and lamb production on larger scales to address quality
markets fetching better prices.
(v) End up with a prolific and
adapted synthetic sheep breed of better growth rates, heavy carcass at younger
age, high muscle ratio, low fat, and high dressing percentage. Such future
breed is supposed to improve the economics of production of sheep, able to
compete in quality and price, and increase the contribution of sheep in the
national economy as a source of hard currency.
6. The Experimental Trial:
The trail was started in 2012 by
purchasing 267 ewes (202 Hamari and 65 Kabbashi) from GebaishDistrich in
Northern Kordofan State. The animals were trucked to Khartoum State and
accommodated in Fortiliza Farm at Western Omdurman.
On arrival to the farm, the animals
were ear – tagged, treated for internal and external parasites and vaccinated
against Sheep Pox, Anthrax, H.S. and pest of small ruminants. The ewes were sorted out and divided into 6
groups of 30 ewes each. In August 2012 frozen semen from 5 Santa Ines rams was
imported and artificial insemination was performed by two Brazilian experts
(Dr. Marcellio and Dr. Erika) and Sudanese vets on 150 ewes (100 Hamari and 50
Kabbashi).
The ewes were fed ground nut hay and Brachiariafodder
(at a later stage) and a concentrate mix of Sorghum grain, wheat bran, cotton
seed cake, lime stone, common salt and mineral salt lick During insemination
the ear tag number, the body condition score, age,name of inseminater and name
of ram were recorded.
A control group with local rams was
reared in the same premises and fed the same ration to allow comparison between
the crossbred and local offspring’s raised under the same conditions.
7. Results:
It was observed that the conception
rate was low (14%) due to the following reasons:
(i)
The use of trans cervical method of artificial
insemination instead of laparoscopy. The results obtained were similar to the
results in other countries using the transcerviced method .
(ii)
The body condition score of many of the animals was
below 2.
(iii)
Although August is one of the wet summer months in
Sudan, but temperatures were high and a carried – over effect of the hotter
months of July and June might have affected conception rates.
7-2. Performance results:
The number
of lambs born was 21 (12 males and 9 females).
The
production performance is shown in the following table:
|
Performance
Breed
|
Av.Birth Weight (kg) (males &
females)
|
Av. Weight at two month (kg)(males
|
Av. Weight at 6 months of age
(kg)(males)
|
Av. Daily weight gain (g)
|
Mortalityrate
|
Dressing
percentage
(males)
|
|
Santa Ines crosses (F1)
(Experimental group)
|
4.8
|
22.50
|
51,9
|
261
|
10%
|
58%
|
|
Hamari&Kabbashi (control group)
|
3.8
|
14
|
23
|
107
|
3%
|
47%
|
The above
results show that the birth weight of the crosses was 26% more than the local
desert sheep. The difference between the liveweights of the male Santa Ines
crosses and the male desert sheep at two months of age was 60.7%. At 6 months
of age the difference was 125.6%. This shows the high growth rates of the Santa
Ines male crosses which attained an average daily liveweight gain of 261g compared
to 107g for the local desert sheep raised under the same management conditions.
The lamb mortality rate was 10% in the Santa Ines and 3% for the local breeds.
The mortality in the Santa Ines lambs was observed among twins.
8. Conclusions
and Recommendations:
(i) The results of this trial gave
good indicators of the superiority of the crosses of Santa Ines ×Hamari and Kabbashi over their local
contemporaries.
(ii) The results are promising and
encourage the continuation of this experiment on a large scale aiming at a
synthetic meat breed of sheep of better production and reproduction traits.
(iii) It is recommended that
laparoscopy should be used instead of transcervical A.I. to increase conception
rates.
(i)
To decrease the cost of production it is advised that
more land should be cultivated with brachiariahumidicolato reduce the costs of
feeding.
(ii)
The efforts of FortilizaFarm to reach the set
objectives should be augmented and supported.
(iii)
The right of FortilizaFarm in developing this kind of
crossbred sheep (Santa Ines × Sudanese Desert
sheep) should be observed and protected.
