Prevalence of anaplasmosis and babesiosis in N'Dama cattle of the Gambia.

Sera from 184 N'Dama cattle randomly selected and averaging 2-7 years of age were tested for the presence of specific antibodies to Anaplasma marginale, Babesia bovis and B. bigemina, using one or more serological tests including complement fixation, rapid card agglutination and indirect fluorescent antibody (IFA). Tests for A. marginale and B. bovis were essentially negative. Utilising the IFA test 65% of the sera tested were positive for B. bigemina. Three randomly selected two-year-old N'Dama bulls were splenectomised. All three showed an acute recurrence of a B. bigemina parasitaemia. Two died following typical signs of acute babesiosis and a third recovered following diminazene therapy. No evidence of either B. bovis or A. marginale recrudescence was observed in the single surviving bull. Babesia bigemina appears endemic in the N'Dama cattle of The Gambia but no confirmed serological or clinical evidence of B. bovis or A. marginale was observed.

Successful transfer of frozen N'Dama embryos from the Gambia to Kenya.

Frozen embryos from N'Dama cattle were successfully transferred from The Gambia to Kenya. Of the 26 N'Dama cows used 12 were successfully programmed to superovulate and of these seven produced 30 embryos that were collected seven days after oestrus/service. Five N'Dama bulls were used for natural service. In Kenya 29 embryos were implanted into 29 Boran heifers seven days (+/- 1) after the induction of synchronised oestrus. Eleven pregnancies were established and after one abortion of unknown aetiology at seven and a half months five female and five male calves were born and subsequently reared. During programming the N'Dama cows showed prolonged anoestrus leading to the necessity of oestrus induction using intravaginal progesterone releasing coils; pregnant mare serum gonadotrophin gave better superovulation than follicle stimulating hormone. One N'Dama bull proved to be subfertile. The success of the project has demonstrated the potential of this technique to make disease-free N'Dama available for research purposes and for the promotion of livestock development programmes in tsetse-infested areas using trypanotolerant cattle.