Confronting pastoralists' knowledge of cattle breeds raised in the extensive production systems of Benin with multivariate analyses of morphological traits.

ABSTRACT: Cross-border seasonal livestock movements in West Africa bring into close contact several cattle breeds. In the coastal countries hosting migrating herders from the Sahel, it often affects the genetic variability and geographical distribution of traditional cattle breeds, through their indiscriminate but also intended crossbreeding with larger-framed Sahelian cattle breeds. The need to secure and effectively manage this genetic variability, in order to respond to changing production and market conditions, is widely recognized by the scientific community, livestock herders and policy-makers. This however requires a comprehensive knowledge of the breeds' characteristics. The indigenous criteria used by pastoralists to characterize and distinguish cattle breeds remain unclear and further vali

SUBMITTER: Houessou SO 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6762103 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature