Xavier Rognon

Phenotypic characterisation and molecular polymorphism of indigenous poultry populations of the species Gallus gallus of Savannah and Forest ecotypes of Benin

The study of the phenotypic characterisation and molecular polymorphism of local chicken populations was carried out in Benin on 326 chickens of the Forest ecological area and 316 of the Savannah ecological area, all were 7 months old at least. The collection of blood for the molecular typing was achieved on 121 indigenous chickens of which 60 from the Savannah ecological area and 61 from the Forest ecological area. The genotyping was carried out for 22 microsatellite loci. Weight and body measures of the Savannah chickens were significantly higher (P < 0.001) than those of the Forest chickens. In the Savannah ecological area, the most frequent plumage colours were the black (22.15%), the white (19.62%), the coppery black (7.59%) and the golden partridge (7.59%). In the Forest area, the fawn (15.34%), the black (10.43%), the white (6.8%), the silver white (6.8%) and the golden partridge (6.75%) were the dominant feather colours. Thus, phenotypic characterisation showed significant differences between Savannah and Forest local chickens. The FST calculated between the Savannah and Forest populations revealed a low genetic differentiation and the dendogram showed that Savannah and Forest chickens were quite intermingled. In conclusion, local populations from Savannah and Forest area may be considered as ecotypes, but not as two distinct breeds.

Farm animal genetic and genomic resources from an agroecological perspective

Agroecology, as a scientific approach, relies on a better knowledge of biodiversity at all levels of organization and function, in order to better manage agricultural production systems, from farm scale to landscape. Ecological concepts such as functional redundancy, complementary use of resources, can be applied to farming systems, with the purpose of improving their resilience. Transposing the concepts of agroecology to livestock production has been recently proposed by Dumont et al. (2013). One of the principles proposed for the design of sustainable animal production systems is to enhance diversity within animal production systems in order to strengthen their resilience. Why is it so? An increased biodiversity allows benefiting from complementary aptitudes. For example, in the case of disease resistance, the diversity of hosts will limit the risk of the specialization of a highly pathogenic agent with devastating consequences. It does not mean that diseases will not occur but the spread of infections and the overall impact on animal health should be limited (Springbett et al., 2003).

Genomics for Ruminants in Developing Countries: From Principles to Practice

Using genomic information, local ruminant populations can be better characterized and compared to selected ones. Genetic relationships between animals can be established even without systematic pedigree recording, provided a budget is available for genotyping. Genomic selection (GS) can rely on a subset of the total population and does not require a costly national infrastructure, e.g., based on progeny testing. Yet, the use of genomic tools for animal breeding in developing countries is still limited. We identify three main reasons for this: (i) the instruments for cheap recording of phenotypes and data management are still limiting. (ii) many developing countries are recurrently exposed to unfavorable conditions (heat, diseases, poor nutrition) requiring special attention to fitness traits, (iii) a high level of expertise in quantitative genetics, modeling, and data manipulation is needed to perform genomic analyses. Yet, the potential outcomes go much beyond genetic improvements and can improve the resilience of the whole farming system. They include a better management of genetic diversity of local populations, a more balanced genetic progress and the possibility to unravel the genetic basis of adaptation of local breeds through whole genome approaches. A GS program being developed by BAIF, a large Indian NGO, is analyzed as a pilot case. It relies on the creation of a female reference population of Bos indicus and crossbreds, recorded with modern technology (e.g., smartphones) to collect performances at low cost in tiny herds on production and fertility. Finally, recommendations for the implementation of GS in developing countries are proposed.