College of Agriculture, Hawassa University, Hawassa, Ethiopia.
PLoS One. 2021 May 28;16(5):e0244836. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0244836. eCollection 2021.
Climate change affects livestock production and productivity, which could threaten livestock-based food security in pastoral and agro-pastoral production systems of the tropics and sub-tropics. Boran cattle breed is one of the hardiest Zebu cattle reared by Borana Oromo pastoralists for milk and meat production. However, there is limited comprensive information on production, reproduction and adaption traits of the Boran cattle in Ethiopia. Thus, this paper aims to compile the main production, reproduction and some adaptation traits of Boran cattle based on systematic review and meta-analysis of peer reviewed published and unpublished literature.
A combination of systematic review and meta-analysis based on PRISMA guideline was employed. Accordingly, out of 646 recorded articles identified through database searching, 64 were found to be eligible for production, reproduction and adaptation characteristics of the Boran cattle, 28 articles were included in qualitative systematic review while 36 articles were used for quantitative meta-analysis.
The Boran cattle breed has the ability to survive, produce and reproduce under high ambient temperature, utilize low quality forage resources, and resist water shortage or long watering intervals and tick infestations. The review revealed that the breed employs various adaptation responses (morphological, physiological, biochemical, metabolic, cellular and molecular responses) to cope with harsh environmental conditions including climate change, rangeland degradation, seasonal feed and water shortages and high incidences of tick infestations. The meta-analysis using a random-effects model allowed provision of pooled estimates of heritability and genetic correlations for reproduction and production traits, which could be used to solve genetic prediction equations under a population level in purebred Boran cattle. In addition, heritability and genetic-correlation estimates found in the present study suggest that there is high genetic variability for most traits in Boran cattle, and that genetic progress is possible for all studied traits in this breed.
The Boran cattle breed has the ability to survive, produce and reproduce under high ambient temperature, utilize low quality forage resources, and resist water shortage or long watering intervals and tick infestations. However, currently there are several challenges such as recurrent droughts, pasture deterioration and lack of systematic selection and breeding programs that play to undermine the realization of the potential of the breed. Thus, we recommend systematic selection for enhancing the reproductive and production performances without compromising the adaptation traits of the breed coupled with improved management of rangelands.
气候变化影响牲畜生产和生产力，这可能威胁到热带和亚热带牧区和农区畜牧业生产系统的以牲畜为基础的粮食安全。博兰牛是由博兰奥罗莫牧民饲养的最耐寒的瘤牛之一，用于生产牛奶和肉类。然而，关于博兰牛在埃塞俄比亚的生产、繁殖和一些适应特征的综合信息有限。因此，本文旨在根据同行评审发表和未发表文献的系统综述和荟萃分析，汇编博兰牛的主要生产、繁殖和一些适应特征。
采用系统综述和荟萃分析相结合的方法，遵循 PRISMA 指南。因此，在通过数据库搜索记录的 646 篇文章中，有 64 篇被认为符合博兰牛生产、繁殖和适应特征的要求，28 篇文章被纳入定性系统综述，36 篇文章用于定量荟萃分析。
博兰牛品种具有在高温环境下生存、生产和繁殖的能力，能够利用低质量的饲料资源，抵抗缺水或长时间浇水间隔和蜱虫侵扰。综述表明，该品种采用了各种适应反应（形态学、生理学、生物化学、代谢、细胞和分子反应）来应对恶劣的环境条件，包括气候变化、牧场退化、季节性饲料和水短缺以及蜱虫大量滋生。使用随机效应模型的荟萃分析提供了繁殖和生产性状的可遗传性和遗传相关性的汇总估计值，可用于在纯种博兰牛的群体水平上解决遗传预测方程。此外，本研究中发现的可遗传性和遗传相关性估计表明，博兰牛的大多数性状都具有高度的遗传变异性，并且该品种的所有研究性状都有可能取得遗传进展。
博兰牛品种具有在高温环境下生存、生产和繁殖的能力，能够利用低质量的饲料资源，抵抗缺水或长时间浇水间隔和蜱虫侵扰。然而，目前存在一些挑战，如反复发生的干旱、牧场退化以及缺乏系统的选择和育种计划，这些都在破坏该品种的潜力的实现。因此，我们建议进行系统选择，在不损害品种适应特征的前提下提高繁殖和生产性能，同时改进牧场管理。
