No abstract

Indigenous goats make significant contributions to Cameroon’s national and local economy, but little effort has been devoted to identifying the populations. Here, we assessed the genetic diversity and demographic dynamics of Cameroon goat populations using mitochondrial DNA (two populations) and autosomal markers (four populations) generated with the Caprine 50K SNP chip. To infer genetic relationships at continental and global level, genotype data on six goat populations from Ethiopia and one population each from Egypt, Morocco, Iran, and China were included in the analysis. The mtDNA analysis revealed 83 haplotypes, all belonging to haplogroup A, in Cameroon goats. Four haplotypes were shared between goats found in Cameroon, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Ethiopia. Analysis of autosomal SNPs in Cameroon goats revealed the lowest H O (0.335±0.13) and H E (0.352±0.15) in the North-west Highland and Central Highland populations, respectively. Overall, the highest H O (0.401±0.12) and H E (0.422±0.12) were found for Barki and Iranian goats, respectively. Barki goats had the highest average MAF, while Central Highland Cameroon goats had the lowest. Overall, Cameroon goats demonstrated high F IS . AMOVA revealed that 13.29% of the variation was explained by genetic differences between the six population groups. Low average F ST (0.01) suggests intermixing among Cameroon goats. All measures indicated that Cameroon goats are closer to Moroccan goats than to other goat populations. PCA and STRUCTURE analyses poorly differentiated the Cameroon goats, as did genetic distance, Neighbor-Net network, and neighbor-joining tree analyses. The haplotype analysis of mtDNA showed the initial dispersion of goats to Cameroon and central Africa from north-east Africa following the Nile Delta. Whereas, the approximate Bayesian computation indicated Cameroon goats were separated from Moroccan goats after 506 generations in later times (~1518 YA), as supported by the phylogenetic net-work and admixture outputs. Overall, indigenous goats in Cameroon show weak phylogenetic structure, suggesting either extensive intermixing.

Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to monitor the dairy management practice and dairy production performance in Amhara region. Data was collected from 117 dairy farms on frontal interview on cluster sampling approaches to identify respondents. The model result revealed that the relationship between construct reliabilities and the dairy farm facilities was significantly varies (p < 0.01). The model analysis showed that the level of education has a positive and statistically significant relationship with the reproduction performance of dairy farms, with a correlation value of (ρ = 0.337), moreover, the gross revenue of the farm showed as (r = 0.849). Farm gross revenue articulated a positive, strong, and statistically significant association with feed and nutrition indicated value (0.906), dairy farm facilities (ρ = 0.934), hygiene and waste management (0.921). As a consequence, the predictors of dairy farm facilities feed and nutrition and hygiene and waste management explained 93.40, 84.0, 80.20 and 88.50% of the variance. From the study it can be concluded that, the proposed model is valid and training and education have an effect on farm management practices, subsequently affects the productive performance of dairy farm in Amhara region. Therefore, the researchers are recommending to regional agriculture and extension offices and other concerned organization to monitor the sector and provide appropriate training and awareness to the farm owners