Muturu cattle breed management in the smallholder farming area of the Ouémé district in the south of Benin: rearing practices, objectives, and constraints.

An exploratory survey was conducted to understand breeding practices and breeding objectives as well as the constraints as a first step towards developing breeding strategies for the conservation of Muturu cattle breed in Ouémé smallholder farming area of South Benin. Data were generated through randomly interviewing 100 selected Muturu cattle keepers in the municipalities of Adjarra, Adjohoun, Akpro-Missérété, and Bonou using an electronic animal genetic resource characterization, inventory, and monitoring tool. Results indicated that the Muturu cattle were mainly kept for their meat. The mean herd sizes of 3, 5, 4, and 33 were obtained in Adjarra, Adjohoun, Akpro-Misserete, and Bonou respectively. Cattle keepers were exclusively male in the various municipalities surveyed except for Adjohoun, where 28.57% of cattle keepers were female. Preference was given to this breed because it is less demanding in terms of inputs and well adapted to the local environment. Mating was generally uncontrolled. The animals were fed on a natural pasture exclusively irrespective of the season. Robustness and vigor were the most frequently reported traits in selecting breeding bulls, while breeding females were kept based on their offspring's growth and conformation. The decline in the number of Muturu cattle in the region was largely attributed to the competition for land used for other purposes such as crop cultivation and animal theft. Considering the devastating threat on the Muturu cattle breed, it is recommended that a participatory management scheme be designed and implemented for in situ conservation of the Muturu cattle breed in Benin.

[Seroprevalence of Toxoplasmosis among Pregnant Women in Benin: Meta-Analysis and Meta-Regression]. / Séroprévalence de la toxoplasmose chez les femmes enceintes au Bénin : méta-analyse et métarégression.

To assess the seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis among pregnant women in Benin, we conducted a meta-analysis using the PRISMA criteria. Al research published between 1990 and 2018 on toxoplasmosis among pregnant women Benin were eligible. A total of five databases were investigated, and the extracted data were subjected to a meta-analysis under R 3.1 using both random effect model and fixed effect model. The overall prevalence of toxoplasma-specific IgG among pregnant women was 47% (CI 95%: 40-53) and that of specific IgM was 2% (CI 95%: 1-3). The infection rate in urban areas (52%) was significantly higher than in rural areas (33%). The two main risk factors identified by the various eligible studies were the age of the pregnant women and the consumption of raw vegetables. We show that toxoplasmosis is endemic in pregnant women in Benin, implying that primary prevention measures must be put in place by the competent authorities to control this infection.

Afin d'évaluer le niveau de l'infection toxoplasmique chez les femmes enceintes au Bénin, nous avons effectué une méta-analyse selon le protocole PRISMA. Étaient éligibles tous les articles de recherche publiés entre 1990 et 2018 sur la toxoplasmose chez les femmes enceintes en consultation prénatale au Bénin. Au total, cinq bases de données ont été consultées, puis les données extraites ont été soumises à une méta-analyse sous R 3.1 selon les modèles à effet aléatoire et à effet fixe. La séroprévalence de la toxoplasmose chez la femme enceinte était de 47 % (IC 95 % : 40­53) pour les IgG et de 2 % (IC 95 % : 1­3) pour les IgM spécifiques. Le taux d'infection en milieu urbain (52 %) était significativement plus élevé qu'en milieu rural (33 %). Deux principaux facteurs de risque associés à la toxoplasmose ont été identifiés par les différentes études éligibles : l'âge des gestantes et la consommation de crudités. Nous montrons ainsi que la toxoplasmose est endémique chez les femmes enceintes au Bénin, impliquant que des mesures de prévention primaire soient mises en place par les autorités compétentes pour contrôler cette infection.

Mitogenome revealed multiple postdomestication genetic mixtures of West African sheep.

Notable diversity observed within African ovine breeds makes them of great interests, but limited studies on genetic origins and domestications remain poorly understood. Here, we investigate the evolutionary status of West African native breeds, Djallonke and Sahelian sheep using mitogenome sequencing. Compared with other ovine mitogenome sequences, West African sheep were revealed a Eurasian origin, and the initially tamed sheep breeds in West Africa have been genetically mixed with each other and mixed with European breeds. Worldwide domestic sheep is deemed the Eurasian origin and migrated west to Europe and Africa and east to the Far East, in which dispersed and received selection for acclimation to autochthonic environment independently and ultimately evolved into different native breeds, respectively. Our results contribute to the comprehensive understanding of the domestic sheep origin and reveal multiple postdomestication genetic amelioration processes.

Comparative study of antifungal activities of six selected essential oils against fungal isolates from cheese wagashi in Benin.

The study has compared the antifungal efficacy of six essential oils, Cinnamomum zeylanicum, Cymbopogon citratus, Ocimum gratissimum, Pimenta racemosa, Syzygium aromaticum and Zingiber officinale, tested in culture medium and in traditional cheese wagashi system against moulds belonging to Aspergillus, Penicillium, Fusarium and Scopulariopsis genera in perspective to select the most actives as substitutes of chemical preservatives for wagashi preservation. Results obtained from this work indicated that Syzygium aromaticum, Pimenta racemosa, Ocimum gratissimum and Cymbopogon citratus essentials oils were the most actives extracts at in vitro assay in decreasing order with strong fungistatic activity against the isolates tested; the pronounced activity was provided by S. aromaticum essential oil. The effectiveness of these actives oils on the less sensitive moulds common to these oils showed that, among these extracts that of Syzygium aromaticum in particular exerted high sporale reduction against all the strains tested. In sum, Syzygium aromaticum essential oil possessed the highest antifungal activity both in culture medium and in wagashi system. Essential oils of C. citratus, O. gratissimum, P. racemosa and above all that of S. aromaticum, among the six extracts investigated, were the most promising oils as wagashi additives in substitution of synthetic chemicals ones to extend shelf life time of this by-product of milk for its valorization. Further studies are needed to be performed on the safety of oils for human, the shelf life time of this cheese and its acceptability when treated with essential oils to reduce and control pathogen contamination or native microflora.

Bovine GDF10 gene polymorphism analysis and its association with body measurement traits in Chinese indigenous cattle.

The objective of this research was to detect bovine GDF10 gene polymorphism and analyze its association with body measurement traits (BMT) of animals sampled from 6 different Chinese indigenous cattle populations. The populations included Xuelong (Xl), Luxi (Lx), Qinchuan (Qc), Jiaxian red (Jx), Xianang (Xn) and Nanyang (Ny). Blood samples were taken from a total of 417 female animals stratified into age categories of 12-36 months. Polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) was employed to find out GDF10 single polymorphism nucleotide (SNPs) and explore their possible association with BMT. Sequence analysis of GDF10 gene revealed 3 SNPs in total: 1 in exon1 (G142A) and 2 in exon3 (A11471G, and T12495C). G142A and T12495C SNPs are both synonymous mutation. They showed 2 genotypes namely respectively (GG, GA) and (PP and PB). A11471G SNP is a missense mutation leading to the change of Alanine to Threonine amino acid. It showed three genotypes namely AA, BB and AB. Analysis of association of polymorphism with body measurement traits at the three locus showed that there were significant effects on BMT in Qc, Jx and Ny cattle population. These results suggest that the GDF10 gene might have potential effects on body measurement traits in the above mentioned cattle populations and could be used for marker-assisted selection.