Les auteurs adressent leurs remerciements au Projet de Productivité Agricole en Afrique de l'Ouest (PPAAO) du Niger pour avoir mis à leur disposition des moyens financiers pour la réalisation de la présente étude. RESUME La présente étude vise à mieux comprendre les méthodes traditionnelles de soins utilisés par les éleveurs et agropasteurs, et d'autre part, à recenser les plantes exploitées pour le traitement des parasites gastrointestinaux dans le Sud-Ouest du Niger. Les éleveurs sont confrontés à des pertes énormes liées aux problèmes de santé du bétail. Ces derniers utilisent alors une multitude de méthodes traditionnelles pour traiter plusieurs affections dont les parasitoses digestives. L'objectif de l'étude est d'inventorier les méthodes traditionnelles de soins utilisées par les éleveurs pour traiter les parasitoses digestives dans les régions Sud-Ouest (Tillabéry, Dosso et Niamey) du Niger. Pour ce faire, une enquête d'interviews semi-structurées auprès de 801 éleveurs et agropasteurs a été conduite dans trois régions du Niger. Les résultats montrent que les éleveurs (100%) utilisent la médecine traditionnelle pour soigner les animaux malades. Douze pour cent des éleveurs/agropasteurs font appelle en second lieu aux vétérinaires et 15% aux tradipraticiens. La moyenne d'âge de ces derniers se situe entre 42 et 50 ans et la majorité (92,60%) est analphabète. Les remèdes traditionnels proposés pour lutter contre les parasites digestifs des petits ruminants (ovins) dans ces régions sont essentiellement à base de plantes locales composées de 33 espèces appartenant à 21 familles botaniques. Les modes de préparation et d'administration de ces plantes sont variés et diffèrent d'un éleveur à un autre. Ceci permettra de proposer le traitement le plus efficace sans aucun risque de toxicité pour l'animal en vue de leurs utilisations ultérieures dans un cadre sécurisé pour les éleveurs et agropasteurs.

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Semen extenders containing lecithin of animal origin are frequently criticized because of the risk of disease dissemination. To look for some alternative extender, the present study was carried out with the aim to evaluate if egg yolk lecithin could be replaced by soybean lecithin by adding glycerol to the extender either at the temperature of 30°C or 5°C during cryopreservation of buck semen. For the purpose, ejaculates collected from four Bengal bucks by artificial vagina method were diluted and frozen either in a Tris-egg yolk or Tris-soybean lecithin with glycerol added either at 30°C or 4°C. Results revealed that sperm motility and plasma membrane and acrosome integrity were not affected (p>0.005) between the semen fraction frozen in an egg yolk and soybean lecithin based extenders. Moreover, adding glycerol to the extender at 30°C or 4°C did not change significantly (p>0.05) the quality of semen diluted and frozen in both extenders. Therefore, soybean lecithin can properly replace egg yolk lecithin during semen freezing of Bengal bucks and glycerol as a cryoprotector may be added to the extender either at 30°C or 4°C.

Background and Aim: Essential oils found frequently in plants are well known for their activities against bacteria, viruses, and fungi, and antioxidant properties. This study aimed to analyze egg yolk replacement by seed oils of Gossypium spp. (cotton), Balanites aegyptiaca (desert date), and Sesamum indicum (sesame) in semen extender, on ram sperm quality chilled at 4°C and frozen-thawed. Materials and Methods: Ejaculates were collected from adult rams and refrigerated at 4°C in a Tris-based extender containing 1.25%, 2.5%, 5%, and 10% of Gossypium spp., B. aegyptiaca, and S. indicum seed oils, to evaluate which were the two best extenders for comparison with BIOXcell, a commercial extender for deep freezing ram semen. Results: The data showed that sperm movements analyzed by the CASA system were faster in extenders supplemented with 2.5-5% of cottonseed oil and 1.25-10% of sesame oil, whereas in the extender containing B. aegyptiaca oil, all seminal parameters studied had the worst values. During the sperm-freezing process, 5% of cottonseed oil and 5% sesame seed oil were selected from the first study, with sesame oil reaching the best sperm quality. Thus, sperm motility and velocity were 44.14±13.99%, 24.44±12.6%, and 25.92±11.50%; and 20.26±9.56%, 8.76±6.38%, and 9.42±5.40%, respectively, for sesame oil, cottonseed oil, and BIOXcell. Conclusion: In summary, 2.5-10% of cottonseed oil and 1.25-10% of sesame seed oil can replace egg yolk in a Tris–egg yolk–based extender. Moreover, a Tris-based extender supplemented with 5% sesame seed oil could be an alternative for deep freezing ram semen, even though these results need to be confirmed with semen collected from rams with appropriate sexual rest.

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If in several countries of the world, artificial insemination is a common practice in the management of animal herds, it is not the same for many of the nations of the Sahelian African zone such as Niger where several factors complicate its development. One of the annoying situations would be the very high cost of the technique for the breeder. Thus, to reduce this cost related to the cost of heat-inducing hormones, this study aims to search for an alternative solution to the use of the artificial insemination technique which is very inaccessible to African breeders. This study involves first listing all plant species that induce heat in sheep-goats, and then testing their effectiveness in vivo in the Red goat of Maradi. The administration of a semi-closed questionnaire to a sample of 63 nomadic breeders from North Maradi made it possible to identify 81 plant species. These plant species are used either alone, in association or in a mixture with other non-plant products. Thus, the survey made it possible to list 71 heat-inducing recipes, 77% of which consist exclusively of plant extracts. The preselected goats were randomly divided into four comparable and different groups of 6 to 7 individuals receiving recipe R1 (group 1, n=7), recipe R2 (group 2, n=7), recipe R3 (group 3, n=7) and recipe R4 (control group, n=6). Two of these recipes, tested on two groups of goats, had allowed ≈ 42.85 and ≈ 57.14% to give birth against only ≈ 33.33% in the control group and 0% in the goats treated with pigeon droppings. Thus, this study has made it possible to highlight a good knowledge of heat-inducing plants in goats by the nomadic population of North Maradi. It also revealed a trend in the effectiveness of the in vivo use of two of these plants in fertility in the Red goat of Maradi. This practice could constitute an alternative way to small ruminants’ artificial insemination for breeders in sub-Saharan Africa.

The present study evaluated the effect of supplementing the medium used to mature equine oocytes in vitro with oestrous mare serum (EMS) or horse follicular fluid (HFF). To this end, 144 ovaries were obtained from mares aged 16-21 months and transported to the laboratory in Dulbecco's phosphate buffered saline (D-PBS) at 30 °C. Oocytes were harvested from the ovaries by slicing, and then selected for in vitro maturation (IVM) according to the number of cumulus cell layers and the characteristics of the cytoplasm. The selected oocytes were washed three times in TCM199 medium plus HEPES (TCM-199H) or in the same medium plus glutamine (TCM-199G), then matured in vitro in six study groups established according to the in vitro maturation (IVM) treatment to see possible interactions between HEPES and glutamine on other supplements: Ten percent EMS was added to two of these media and 10% HFF was added to the media in two other groups . IVM was performed at 38.5 °C for 40 h in a controlled atmosphere (5% CO 2 , 95% relative humidity). The findings indicate that the presence of EMS or HFF in the TCM-199H medium gives rise to the best results in terms of the proportions of oocytes reaching maturity (37.7% and 36.8%, respectively). The values obtained with EMS and HFF were statistically similar to each other but differed from the other treatments. The media containing glutamine led to the highest proportions of degenerated oocytes.

The dromedary is one of the few domestic animal species that multiply at a very slow rate. Several factors among others; very long gestation, simple and induced ovulation, contribute to the reduction of the reproductive efficiency of the camel. To help understand camel reproduction in Niger, this study aims to morphologically characterize the reproductive system of dromedary females slaughtered at the slaughterhouse. For this, a total of 132 genital tracts and 264 ovaries belonging to dromedaries were collected and categorized at the slaughterhouse between August and October 2019. Afterwards, these organs were weighed and measured. The average values ​​of the weight of the genital tract were estimated at 211.57±90.68 g; 596.50±38.15 g and 2357.38±296.10 g, respectively for young, not pregnant adult and pregnant adult females. However, the mean values ​​of the length of the right and left uterine horn were 3.95±0.003 cm vs 5.13±0.23 cm; 5.61±0.03 cm vs 8.78±0.24 cm and 18.40±5.86 cm vs 27.90±2.64 cm, respectively for the young, not pregnant adult and pregnant dromedary. The mean weight values ​​of the right and left ovaries were 1.96±0.4 g vs 2.67±0.43 g; 4.37±0.38 g vs 4.79±0.38 g and 6.56±0.67 g vs 5.46±0.51 g, respectively for the young, not pregnant adult and pregnant dromedary. For the average number of follicles per ovary, it was found 17.77±1.75 for the right side against 20.07±1.92 for the left side in young female while it was 27.80±1, 73 vs 28.44±1.71 for the not pregnant adult female and 29.61±2.97vs 29.67±2.95 for the pregnant female. On the other hand, the mean number of corpora lutea per ovary was 0.69±0.16 vs 0.56±0.15; 2.45±0.22 vs 2.56±0.21 and 2.86±0.52 vs 1.94±0.30, respectively for the right and left ovaries of the young, not pregnant adult and pregnant dromedary female. Statically, all these differences are significant (p˂0.05) for the factors considered, particularly the reproductive status of the female and the side of the ovary. The results obtained confirm that the anatomical and structural characteristics of the genital tract of the female dromedary depend on the reproductive status of the animal and the ovary side.