Ecological niche modeling predicting the potential distribution of African horse sickness virus from 2020 to 2060.

African horse sickness is a vector-borne, non-contagious and highly infectious disease of equines caused by African horse sickness viruses (AHSv) that mainly affect horses. The occurrence of the disease causes huge economic impacts because of its high fatality rate, trade ban and disease control costs. In the planning of vectors and vector-borne diseases like AHS, the application of Ecological niche models (ENM) used an enormous contribution in precisely delineating the suitable habitats of the vector. We developed an ENM to delineate the global suitability of AHSv based on retrospective outbreak data records from 2005 to 2019. The model was developed in an R software program using the Biomod2 package with an Ensemble modeling technique. Predictive environmental variables like mean diurnal range, mean precipitation of driest month(mm), precipitation seasonality (cv), mean annual maximum temperature (oc), mean annual minimum temperature (oc), mean precipitation of warmest quarter(mm), mean precipitation of coldest quarter (mm), mean annual precipitation (mm), solar radiation (kj /day), elevation/altitude (m), wind speed (m/s) were used to develop the model. From these variables, solar radiation, mean maximum temperature, average annual precipitation, altitude and precipitation seasonality contributed 36.83%, 17.1%, 14.34%, 7.61%, and 6.4%, respectively. The model depicted the sub-Sahara African continent as the most suitable area for the virus. Mainly Senegal, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Madagascar and Malawi are African countries identified as highly suitable countries for the virus. Besides, OIE-listed disease-free countries like India, Australia, Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia have been found suitable for the virus. This model can be used as an epidemiological tool in planning control and surveillance of diseases nationally or internationally.

Carcass characteristics and sensory analysis of Abergelle goat breed and Abergelle crossbred goat fed hay supplemented with concentrate mixture.

The experiment was conducted using 36 intact yearling males of Abergelle breed and Abergelle cross bred goats (50%) with initial live weight of 18.92 ± 0.72 kg (mean ± SE). The objective of the experiment was to evaluate the effect of concentrate supplementation on carcass parameters and meat sensory quality of genotypes. Goat genotypes were blocked based on initial body weight and were randomly assigned to dietary treatments. The experimental design was 2 by 3 factorial in randomized complete block design. The treatments included local grass hay as basal diet and supplementation with concentrate (184, 368, and 552 g/d on DM basis). Effects of genotype and diet were significant on the main carcass parameters (P < 0.05) but genotype did not show effect on edible offal components (P > 0.05). Diet had a significance effect on meat flavor (P < 0.05) but not on tenderness, juiciness, and soup flavor (P > 0.05). Genotype had no effect (P > 0.05) on all sensory attributes. Goats feeding on higher level of concentrate had heavier total edible offal components (P < 0.05) than feeding on lower level of concentrates but not difference between genotypes (P > 0.05). The cross breed goats feeding on higher level of concentrate showed higher percentage of nonedible offal (P < 0.01) particularly gut content, foreleg, and hind leg than pure breed and lower level of concentrate. The digestibility and chemical composition of meat of the genotypes were not addressed in the experiment and hence need to be studied further.

Body weight change of Abergelle breed and Abergelle crossbred goats fed hay supplemented with different level of concentrate mixture.

The experiment was conducted at Sekota District using 36 intact yearling males of pure Abergelle breed and Abergelle crossbred goats (50%) with a mean live weight of 18.92 ± 0.72 kg (mean ± SE). The objective of the experiment was to evaluate the effect of different levels of concentrate mixture supplementation on feed intake, live weight gain, and economic gain of the breeds. Goats were blocked based on initial body weight and were randomly assigned to the dietary treatments. The experimental design was a 2 × 3 factorial in RCBD (randomized complete block design). The treatments included ad libitum feeding of local grass hay and supplementation with three levels (184, 368, and 552 g/day) of concentrate mixture. The experiment consisted of 90 days of feeding. Daily, total dry matter and CP (crude protein) intakes were affected by diet and genotype (P < 0.01). Significant decrease (P < 0.001) in hay intake was observed as the level of the supplement increased. Besides, substitution rate increased with increasing levels of supplementation. Average daily body weight gains were significantly impacted only by diet. Animals fed on 184 significantly lower weights, while nonsignificant difference was observed in live weight gain between 368 and 552 supplemented group. Supplementation of 368 concentrate mix significantly improved (P < 0.05) feed intake, daily weight gain, and feed conversion efficiency. Supplementation of 368 g/day had showed significantly higher net return for both goat breeds. However, the Abergelle breed was significantly better in net profit and sensitivity than the crossbreed. Both genotypes performed better with the diet containing 368 g/day than that with 184 and 552 g/day of concentrate supplementation.