Comparative study of heat induction in the red goat of Maradi by the use of extracts of local plant species

Abstract

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.