W.B. Muhuyi
National Animal Husbandry Research Centre
P.O. Box 25, Naivasha, Kenya, Fax: 254-311-20102
The Animal Husbandry Research Centre (founded in 1903) is situated in Naivasha approximately 100 km west of Nairobi and covers 4000 hectares. It is one of the Kenya Agricultural Research Institutes (KARI) (Wamae, this proceedings). Its mandate is to conduct breeding and nutrition research in Friesian and Sahiwal cattle, small ruminants, poultry and pigs. The centre has 16 research scientists and 7 technical officers and, for research purposes, possesses 1500 Sahiwal cattle, 240 Friesian cattle, 920 goats, 150 pigs and 1000 chickens.
The research scientists fulfil the following disciplines: genetics and breeding (2), reproductive physiology (1), ruminant nutrition (7), poultry nutrition (2), animal health (1), agricultural economics (2) and biometrics (1). Research is conducted both on centre and on farm.
There is now a major emphasis on fitness traits in livestock (survival, disease incidence and reproductive rates) to complement growth and lactation traits. These are recorded in experiments both on centre and on farm, though, on farm, there is also the requirement to collect socio-economic, environmental and management data. Biometric input is thus important in the design of these studies and the analysis of these complex data sets.
The centre has its own biometrician and some senior research scientists are also able to assist young members of staff. Consultation with a biometrician at KARI headquarters is also possible and contact is maintained with biometricians at the University of Nairobi and Egerton University. For more advanced genetic analysis ILRI has been extending a helping hand.
Biometrics courses financed by the Department for International Development (DFID), UK have been run over the past two years (see Wamae, this proceedings). Unfortunately, only research scientists working on DFID-funded projects benefited from these courses.
