Shashie Ayele

This paper reviews research on indigenous goat breeds in Ethiopia, focusing on economically important traits. The objective is to compile and document findings on the potential of these breeds while identifying research gaps and future directions. Relevant literature was collected for 3 months using Scopus‐indexed Google Scholar and PubMed databases. The review highlights that the growth and reproductive efficiency of indigenous goats vary due to differences in management practices, breed characteristics, and community‐based breeding programs. Selective breeding has effectively improved key traits in livestock, including birth weight, weaning weight, and yearling weight, leading to improved growth performance. Traditional management systems resulted in delayed puberty, lower litter size, longer kidding intervals, and high mortality rates. Improved management systems lead to higher milk yields, larger litter sizes, and better survival rates. Indigenous goats in lowland areas have longer kidding intervals, lower body weights, and less selection pressure compared to those in midland and highland regions. Although productivity is generally low under traditional systems, Ethiopian indigenous goats show great potential with improved management. Community‐based breeding programs are crucial for improving these breeds in low‐input production systems.

This study evaluated how grazing influenced the specific features of herbaceous species (basal cover, species richness, evenness, and diversity) as well as dry matter yield in the northwestern highlands of Ethiopia. For this study, the natural pastures were divided into three strata based on grazing types (grazing exclusion areas, controlled grazing, and continuous grazing). The areas in each grazing type were divided into two randomly selected (100 m × 50 m) sampling blocks. Then, each of the separated areas was divided into five 10 m × 10 m, and in each subdivided plot, (0.5 m × 0.5 m) were placed across the plots. Thus, a total of 30 (0.5 m × 0.5 m) quadrats were used to evaluate the effect of grazing on the basal cover, species richness, diversity, and dry matter yield of the herbaceous pasture layers. As the results showed, there were significant differences in dry matter yield, basal cover, species richness, evenness, and diversity among grazing areas. The dry matter yield, basal cover, species richness, and diversity were significantly ( ) higher in both grazing exclusion and controlled grazing areas than in continuous grazing areas. Therefore, to increase the dry matter yield of natural pasture and to ensure sustainable livestock production, the livestock producers in the study areas should practice either a cut-carry system or a controlled grazing system.

Next to crop production, rearing livestock in Ethiopia is essential for the community’s food and nutrition security. However, a major obstacle to global livestock production, particularly in Ethiopia, is a shortage of high-quality and sufficient livestock feed. Designing development plans and intervention options for both improving natural pasture and rearing livestock would require an evaluation of the natural pasture yield and nutritional composition. As a result, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the nutrient content and dry matter yield of natural pasture in the study areas. The study area was divided into highland, midland, and lowland agroecologies, and from each agroecology, protected and communal grazing areas were selected randomly. The results showed that the average dry matter yield, crude protein (CP), and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) of natural pasture varied across agroecologies and between grazing sites. The average dry matter yields of natural pasture in highland, midland, and lowland agroecologies were about 1.60, 3.02, and 1.96 t/ha, respectively. The average dry matter yield in protected and communal grazing areas of natural pasture was about 2.70 and 1.69 t/ha, respectively. The crude protein content of the natural pasture was 7.12, 7.63, and 6.90% in the highlands, midlands, and lowlands, respectively. The crude protein content of the natural pasture in protected and communal grazing areas was 6.69 and 7.73%, respectively. In general, the dry matter yield and crude protein contents of natural pasture were low, which would have an effect on livestock productivity, and the overall NDF content of natural pasture was 65.9%, which is classified as low-quality feed and thus would have an impact on feed intake, digestibility, and livestock productivity.

Background: Animal feed shortage in quality and quantity, and escalating costs of agro‐industrial by‐products to supplement crop residues and natural pasture hay urged to look for alternative feed supplements. Vernonia amygdalina leaf is one of the potential feed resources to supplement poor quality feeds in ruminant feeding.Objectives: This experiment was designed to evaluate effects of supplementing dried V. amygdalina leaves (DVL) and wheat bran (WB) mixture on feed intake, digestibility, body weight change and economic feasibility of Arsi–Bale sheep fed with natural pasture hay as basal diet.Methods: Twenty intact yearling male sheep with an initial body weight (IBW) of 18.85 ± 0.95 kg (mean ± SD) were stratified into five blocks (four animals per block) based on their IBW and kept for 90 days of feeding and 10 days of digestibility trials. Four treatment diets comprised ad libitum hay (control, T1) and ad libitum hay plus daily supplementation of 300 g dry matter (DM) in a ratio of 2DVL:1WB (T2), 1DVL:1WB (T3) and 1DVL:2WB (T4), and the treatment feeds were randomly assigned to each animal within a block. Data were subjected to the analysis of variance using the GLM procedure of SAS (version 9.1).Results: The results showed that the crude protein contents of hay, DVL and WB were 9.4%, 21.5% and 15.5%, respectively. Supplementation improved (p < 0.0001) DM intake (DMI), apparent nutrient digestibility, average daily gain (ADG) and economic return. Sheep supplemented with two parts of DVL and one part of WB resulted significantly (p<0.0001) the highest DMI, DM and nutrient digestibility and a better feed conversion ratio. Consequently, they resulted highest ADG and net return.Conclusions: Sheep fed with a basal diet of natural pasture hay supplemented with two parts of DVL and one part of WB is economical to improve body weight of Arsi–Bale sheep.

A study was conducted to compare carcass and noncarcass yield, carcass composition, conformation, and fat depot partitioning of three Ethiopian fat-tailed hair sheep breeds (Blackhead Ogaden (BHO), Horro, and Washera) under two concentrate supplement levels (CSL). Sixteen sheep from each genotype (8 sheep per concentrate level), a total of 48, were used in a 3 × 2 factorial arrangement (3 breeds and 2 CSL). The two CSL were 1% (L1) and 1.75% (L2) body weight. Animals were about a year of age at the start of the experiment and all were slaughtered after 90 days of fattening. Dressing percentage per SBW was in the orders of Horro > BHO = Washera (P < 0.001). Total edible noncarcass component yield per EBW (TENCCY/EBW) of Horro breed (21%) was heavier (P < 0.0001) by about 2.8% than that from BHO and Washera sheep. Blackhead Ogaden sheep had significantly (P < 0.05) higher fat percentage and fat to bone ratio, while lower lean to fat ratio than Horro and Washera sheep. The fat partitioning results showed that carcass depot is the major fat depot in BHO and Horro sheep, whereas carcass fat and tail fat in Washera sheep had comparable value. The highest (P < 0.0001) carcass compactness index (CCI) value was obtained in Horro sheep, while the value for Washera was the lowest coupled with leg compactness index; as a result, Washera sheep had poor carcass conformation. Sheep supplemented with L2 had heavier HCW and CCW (P < 0.0001), wider RMA, and dressed better (P < 0.001) than L1-fed sheep. Carcass fat per CCW, carcass fat per total body fat (TBF), TYEP per SBW, and CCI values of the L2 diet-fed group were 2.7, 1.8, 1.2%, and 13.2 g/cm, respectively, higher (P < 0.05) than L1-supplemented sheep. The result highlights that Horro and Washera have closely comparable carcass composition, indicating the two breeds were at a similar stage of physiological maturity, while BHO appeared to be an early maturing sheep, suggesting a need for different feeding management for BHO to harvest lean meat. In conclusion, there existed a significant breed variation in most parameters considered in this study, which can be an opportunity to select breeds for various use and production objectives.