Despite its importance in Mali's economy, camel breeding in the country remains poorly documented, impeding effective policy-making in this regard. This study consisted in a 3-month survey and aimed at characterising camel breeding systems in Ansongo, in the region of Gao, Mali. It highlights the diversity of strategies adopted by breeders and their evolutions. Supplementary feeding and veterinary care were seldom practised. In zones close to the Niger River, cattle were substituted to camels. Transhumance routes also are modified but mobility keeps its vital role in the breeding system. Important differences within the study region in the classification of camel breeds have been reported that will influence the implementation of a collective action for animal genetic improvement. The improvement goals should take the actual management, including mobility and the mixed nature of the herds into account.

Keywords:acoustic property / basic density / extractives / ring width / vène wood (Pterocarpus erinaceus Poir.) / xylophone Abstract • Vène wood (Pterocarpus erinaceus Poir.) is currently the favorite wood for manufacture of xylophone in Mali. A dynamic analysis method with free boundary conditions, known as BING, was used to determine the main acoustic properties: specific dynamic modulus (E L /ρ), damping coefficient or internal friction (tan δ), sound radiation coefficient (SRC) and peak response (PR).• The aim was to investigate the acoustic properties of vène wood (1) along three radial locations (internal: IHW, median: MHW, external: EHW); (2) related to two geographic origins (Guinean and Soudanian areas); and (3) to investigate the effect of ring width (RW), basic density (D b ) and extractive content (EC) on these properties.• High correlations were shown between tan δ with E L /ρ and EC. tan δ decrease with increasing E L /ρ or EC. No significant difference of SRC was found between the geographic areas and the radial locations. No correlation between RW and acoustic properties was observed. E L , E L /ρ and PR were significantly higher for wood from the Guinean area than from the Soudanian area and also higher for EHW and MHW than for IHW. tan δ follows inverse trends. These results could explain why the Malian xylophone makers empirically use only the wood from EHW and MHW.

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Aim: The present study was conducted to evaluate the reproduction and production performances of crossbred and local dairy cattle in peri-urban of Bamako, the capital of Mali. Materials and Methods: A total of 17 randomly selected households with 450 dairy cattle from four peri-urban of Bamako were individually interviewed, given register format and divided into four focus group discussions. The participants were dairy farmers and they were asked to know the phenotype that seems to them the more interesting for the reproduction and production performances of their dairy cattle. Results: The calving interval (CI) obtained exceeded 433 days in all phenotypic types with average milk yields of 5.13±1.84 kg/day, 4.76±2.41, and 3.05±1.32 kg/day, respectively, for the Holstein crossbred, Montbeliard crossbred, and the local breeds (Zebu Peul and/or Zebu Maure). Crossbred was more productive than local breeds with significant (p<0.05) differences for lactation length, CI and total production and not significant on parity. The results also showed the advantages of the crossbred cows in terms of CI (460±80 days) compared to local zebus breeds (433±115 days) to keep the time of milking as long as possible. However, the Zebu Azawak breed whose cradle is located in Northern Mali, managed under extensive peri-urban rearing conditions, has less favorable production parameters than those of other local cattle breeds in milk production (636±43.3 kg vs. 681±41.1 kg). Conclusion: The present study revealed that crossbred dairy cattle performed better in terms of CI, lactation length, and production compared to the local breeds. The study also showed that the local Azawak breed numerically performed less compared to the other local breeds evaluated in this study, namely, Peul and Maure.

During a 90-d study in Mali, West Africa, 18 zebu and zebu by Montbeliard calves, age 50 +/- 23 d (youngest pair 3 weeks), weighing 30 +/- 7 kg, under farmer management, were used to test the profitability of replacing suckled milk by a maize-groundnut cake-rice bran concentrate fed dry. During the first 45 d period there were no differences in responses of calves receiving concentrate (E) and calves suckling according to the traditional strategy (C). During the second 45 d period, milk offtake was greater for E calves, 2.34 vs. 1.77 l/d; milk suckled was less for E calves, 0.39 vs. 0.95 l/d; and average daily gain was greater for E calves, 442 vs. 139 g/d. Average concentrate consumption was 0.74 kg/d. Concentrate was compounded of locally available byproducts and cost 85 francs/kg. Considering milk sold as the only benefit, net return to unit feed cost for E calves was 1.24 and for C calves 0.81. Adding the value of the weight gain, E calves gave a 1.61 return and C calves gave a 0.98 return.

In the area of time series modelling, several applications are encountered in real-life that involve analysis of count time series data. The distribution characteristics and dependence structure are the major issues that arise while specifying a modelling strategy to handle the analysis of those kinds of data. Owing to the numerous applications there is a need to develop models that can capture these features. However, accounting for both aspects simultaneously presents complexities while specifying a modeling strategy. In this paper, an alternative statistical model able to deal with issues of discreteness, overdispersion, serial correlation over time is proposed. In particular, we adopt a branching mechanism to develop a first-order stationary negative binomial autoregressive model. Inference is based on maximum likelihood estimation and a simulation study is conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed approach. As an illustration, the model is applied to a real-life dataset in crime analysis.

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