Doctoral Dissertation Research: Farmer Understanding of Inheritability of Traits and Livestock Management in The Gambia

乔治亚大学的博士生Tad Brown将在Ted Gragson博士的指导下进行研究，研究冈比亚农民如何理解基因选择，以及这种理解如何影响他们对小型牲畜（绵羊和山羊）的经济决策。区域一级的遗传分析显示，在西非各地的地方性反刍家畜种群中存在着显著的杂交。地方性品种的遗传优点很重要，因为它们具有对采采蝇压力的耐受性，采采蝇传播导致锥虫病（“昏睡病”）的寄生原生动物，每年影响非洲约50万人。牲畜也是冈比亚收入和储蓄的主要来源，实现减贫的发展努力正在努力提高当地牲畜的生产能力。以往大多数关于特定牲畜性状偏好的研究都得出了等级概况，以确定生产环境中的制约因素，从而为指导研究站的品种改进制定议程。相比之下，本研究将侧重于农民对性状遗传能力的理解及其日常牧群管理实践。第一阶段的研究将收集当地关于牲畜品种的知识、饲养规则、牲畜生产的目标和限制、家庭财富以及当前畜群的家谱，作为对放牧决策陈述的交叉核查。该研究的第二阶段将涉及结构化技术，以获取有关特定性状的定向选择和追踪祖先的当地知识，以及对品种的疾病耐受性的当地解释。最后阶段将采用村一级的人种学来观察小型牲畜饲养的实际做法，而在牲畜场和屠宰场的观察将提供与扑杀事件有关的数据。这项社会生态学研究将有助于将西非家庭决策与更大规模的环境现象联系起来，并将有助于动物驯化理论。这项研究的结果还将为畜牧发展工作和动物遗传资源保护提供信息。资助这项研究支持了研究生的教育。

University of Georgia doctoral student Tad Brown, under the guidance of Dr. Ted Gragson, will undertake research on how Gambian farmers understand genetic selection and how this understanding affects their economic decision-making for small livestock (sheep and goats). Regional-level genetic analyses have revealed that significant crossbreeding is present in endemic ruminant livestock populations across West Africa. The genetic merits of endemic breeds are important because they confer tolerance to the pressures of tsetse fly, which transmits the parasitic protozoa that causes trypanosomosis ("sleeping sickness"), affecting some half-million people in Africa each year. Livestock also represents a major source of income and savings in The Gambia, and development efforts to achieve poverty alleviation are working to improve endemic livestock performance. Most previous research on preferences for particular livestock traits has elicited rank profiles to identify constraints in the production environment and thereby to set the agenda for directing breed improvement at research stations. In contrast, this research will focus on farmer understandings of the heritability of traits and their day-to-day herd management practices. The first phase of research will capture local knowledge about livestock breeds, rules about breeding, goals of and constraints on livestock production, household wealth, and a genealogy of the current herd as a cross-check on statements about herding decisions. The second phase of the study will involve structured techniques for eliciting local knowledge about directional selection in specific traits and about tracing ancestry, and local interpretations of disease tolerance in breeds. The final phase will employ village-level ethnography to observe actual practices of small-stock keeping, while observation at stock-yards and abattoirs will provide data related to culling events. This socio-ecological research will help link household decision-making to larger scale environmental phenomena in West Africa, and will contribute to theories of animal domestication. Findings from this research will also inform livestock development efforts and animal genetic resource conservation. Funding this research supports the education of a graduate student.