Laboratoire de Recherches Vétérinaires et Zootechniques de Farcha

The textural and petrographic characteristics of the soils of the city of Amtiman and their behavior on swelling and shrinkage are presented here.The soils of the town of Amtiman (Chad) have a predominantly clay texture and the clays are mainly exposed on the surface. The results of this work include characterizing the type of clay present in the city. These are the heterogeneous layers of clayey soils consisting mainly of surface-bound illites but also of kaolinite intercalation at depth.These results suggest that the phenomenon of shrinkage of the clays (Illite and kaolinite) of the city of Amtiman is very low and that this city belongs to the sedimentary basin of Salamat.

T he semi-industrial poultry farms are struggling to meet the needs of urban consumers in chicken meat (Mopat, 2010a; Mopat et al., 2014). This has led to increased trade of traditional chickens in urban centers, particularly in N'Djamena (Mopat, 2010b). Thus, the rural or peri-urban family chicken farms become a speculative activity geared towards supplying the cities (Mopat, 2010b; Issa et al., 2012b) same as the production of commercial farms (Olasunkanmi et al., 2013).

Resume : L’etude a evalue l’approvisionnement en porcs et viande de porc de la ville de Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso). Les donnees ont ete collectees par enquete transversale et retrospective aupres de 623 eleveurs en 2003, de 34 commercants/transformateurs en 2005 et 2006 et aupres de l’Abattoir Frigorifique de Bobo-Dioulasso (AFB) en 2009. Les resultats ont montre que les porcs provenaient des elevages urbains et periurbains (38%) et des villages au-dela de la peripherie de Bobo-Dioulasso (62%). La production de viande de porc a l’AFB s’est accrue entre 2001 et 2006. Les carcasses, les poumons et le foie ont ete surtout saisis aux motifs de tuberculose, de congestions et de cysticerques. Sur 982kg de viande traitee quotidiennement par les acteurs (35), 80% l’a ete par des rotisseurs (88,24% des acteurs), 17% par des charcutiers (5,88%), 2% par les bouchers (2,94%) et 1% par les restaurateurs (2,94%). Des etudes complementaires sur la remuneration de la production et de la commercialisation et sur la qualite des produits (porcs, viande et produits transformes) seront necessaires pour impulser l’accroissement de la part des viandes porcines dans l’approvisionnement de la ville de Bobo-Dioulasso Mots cles : Approvisionnement, porcs, viande de porc, Ville de Bobo-Dioulasso

Rapid urbanization in Africa leads to a spatial concentration of people with different cultural origins and socioeconomic backgrounds resulting in a great diversity of life styles and livelihood strategies. One common strategy in Maroua/Cameroon and Bobo-Dioulasso/Burkina Faso is urban sheep keeping. Cluster analyses identified distinct socioeconomic groups with similarities between the towns: traditional livestock keepers, households headed by well educated government employees or traders, and more vulnerable groups formed of households headed by females, retired people or people with limited formal education. The household types in Bobo varied in their perception of the importance and the development of urban sheep keeping and their future plans. Those in Maroua differed in management intensity and in the potential to adapt their practices to the urban environment. Development interventions to reduce environmental pollution and risks for human health associated with urban sheep keeping need to account for these differences in the target group.

The terrestrial small mammal community of the Zakouma National Park (Chad) was assessed by live trapping in various habitats during the dry season. Nearly 3000 trap-nights yielded 505 captures of nine rodent and two shrew species, making up a representative small mammal community for the Sudanian savanna biotic zone. Murine rodents of the genusMastomys dominated, withM. erythroleucus andM. cf.kollmannspergeri occuring at similar abundances. The former was widespread and especially abundant in habitats with high tree cover. The latter was more localized, predominantly in annually flooded habitats characterized by a clay-rich soil, often withAcacia seyal as the main vegetation. Population structure differed between the two species, suggesting distinct reproductive strategies possibly linked with habitat preferences: theM. erythroleucus population comprised mainly young, immature individuals, whereasM. cf.kollmannspergeri was represented by older individuals, a significant fraction of which had already reproduced.Taterillus congicus andTatera kempi (gerbilline rodents), together withLemniscomys zebra, were mainly found in more open habitats with sand-rich soils.Arvicanthis niloticus, Acomys cf.johannis, Mus mattheyi andXerus erythropus were the other rodents captured, whereas shrews were represented byCrocidura fulvastra andSuncus sp.

The structure of a diterpenoid isolated from the methylene chloride extract of Kyllinga erecta rhizomes has been elucidated as 11α-hydroxy-13-epi-manoyloxide by spectral analysis (1H, 13C and MS). Deoxygenation of this compound gave the well known 13-epi-manoyloxide. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The polymorphism of caseins, a-lactalbumin and β-lactoglobulin was investigated in African Bos taurus (N'Dama, Baoule, Kuri) and Bos indicus (Shuwa Arab, Sudanese Flzlani) populations. The respective frequencies of alleles a and a in the N'Dama (0.89 and 0.11) and Baoule (0.92 and 0.08) breeds were almost opposite to those found in the Shuwa Arab zebu (0.22 and 0.78), a true zebu, which confirms a phenomenon already documented in the literature. Because the a/<t-Cn haplotype was strongly predominant in N'Dama and Baoul( and 0as compared to the asl/K-Cn! haplotype in the Shuwa Arab zebu (0.63), an opposite trend in frequencies was also observed between taurines and zebus at the β-Cn and rc-Cn loci. These results confirm that the polymorphism of caseins provides an efficient marker system to discriminate Bos taurus from Bos indicus origins. The Kuri was at an intermediate position, since, in this population, the a allele predominated as in taurines, while the * Correspondence and reprints

Les principales causes de mortalité de 280 bovins de race N'Dama, enregistrées sur le plateau de Sankaran, Faranah, Guinée en 1993-1994, ont été identifiées. Les diarrhées ont causé 40,81 % de mortalité chez les veaux de la naissance à 6 mois et 58,62 % chez ceux âgés de 6 à 18 mois, alors que la pasteurellose a entraîné la perte de 61,88 % des animaux de plus de 18 mois. La saison chaude et la saison humide ont clairement augmenté le taux de mortalité chez les veaux de la naissance à 6 mois, tandis que ce taux a augmenté notamment pendant la saison humide chez les bovins d'un âge supérieur à 18 mois. L'insuffisance des vaccinations, des soins vétérinaires et de l'hygiène de l'élevage ont également été à l'origine des mortalités.