News

ILRI News
ILRI News

Cryoconservation of African poultry breeds: Safeguarding indigenous and endangered breeds

Scientists at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH) have shown that isolation and freezing of primordial germ cells from chicken embryos can provide a new approach for conservation of poultry material. Application of this method paves the way for conservation of African poultry genetics, and safeguards against loss of diversity in poultry populations, which also threatens endangered species.

ILRI News

Mrode’s article about increasing productivity gains through genomic prediction is selected as an Editor’s Choice in JDS

Raphael Mrode’s article, ‘ Genomic prediction of crossbred dairy cattle in Tanzania: A route to productivity gains in smallholder dairy systems ’, was selected as an “Editor’s Choice” in the November issue of the Journal of Dairy Science . Mrode is a principal scientist in quantitative dairy cattle...

ILRI News
ILRI News

Dairy genetics gains platform launches dairy e-learning tool for farmers across Africa

African Dairy Genetics Gains platform funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has recently launched the ADGG Dairy Tool , a free interactive digital short course, covering cattle breeding and health management practices for farmers and extension agents. The free interactive micro-courses has been developed by the livestock genetics team in partnership with Learn.Ink which are accessbile through smart phone devices and are available in any country. Kiswahili translations of the tools are especially targeted for farmers in eastern Africa.

ILRI News

New chicken genetic gains project to transform smallholder chicken farming in Southeast Asia

A new International Livestock Research Institute ( ILRI )-led initiative to improve smallholder chicken production in Southeast Asia has been launched. The Asian Chicken Genetic Gains , or AsCGG, project will increase access to locally acceptable, adapted and highly productive chickens and avail...

ILRI News
ILRI News

Scientists in Africa explore use of surrogate sires to improve small ruminant breeds

In Pullman, Washington, the director and reproductive biologist at the Center for Reproductive Biology, Jon Oatley, and his team have generated a gene-edited goat, known as surrogate sire—a goat that is capable of ‘hosting’ sperm from a different buck. Oatley believes that this technology is the key to unlocking the growing demand for food and nutritional security and has paired up with scientists at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the University of Nairobi to apply the technology in Africa.

ILRI News
ILRI News

Building a sustainable livestock genetics improvement system for a food-secure Ethiopia

The African Dairy Genetics Gains (ADGG) project, which is led by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and implemented by multiple partners in Ethiopia and Tanzania, is addressing livestock productivity challenges to improve dairy production in the two countries. To celebrate key...

ILRI News

Tackling co-infections with Rift Valley fever, brucellosis and Q fever in Kenya using One Health

Livestock market in Wajir County, Kenya (photo credit: ILRI/Riccardo Gangale). A second technical meeting of a project that is working to reduce the burden of major zoonoses among pastoralists in Kenya was held 1–4 November 2020 in Naivasha-Kenya. The project, which is known as ‘Co-infection with...

ILRI clippings

‘Genomic time travel’ for better African cattle—New paper describes a ‘rich mosaic of traits’ and an ‘evolutionary jolt’

Scientists from ILRI, Korea and other partners have discovered a new set of genetic markers in African cattle that signal beneficial characteristics, with a view to harnessing them for future generations. ‘In a multi-national collaborative effort, scientists have announced the discovery of a new...

ILRI clippings

The geometry of disease: A longitudinal calf cohort study in Kenya has yielded a unique database and biorepository

Fun with Lines and Curves by Elsie C. Ellison, 1972 (binding illustration). The IDEAL project, first attempt to study the complete pathogen landscape of any species, has generated a unique dataset and biorepository for researchers of infectious diseases of cattle in East Africa. ‘The Infectious...

ILRI News

Getting farmers on the phone to protect livestock and livelihoods during COVID-19 - and beyond

Continuous collaboration between farmers and scientists is the pinnacle of successful agricultural research for development. But what do you do when a global pandemic gets in the way of field visits and in-person exchanges? You get farmers on the phone.

ILRI News

ILRI computing capacity made available to COVID-19 vaccine developers

ILRI’s high-performance computing platform (right), generally used by the institute’s scientists to study and develop vaccines for zoonotic diseases originating in livestock, is currently donating computing capacity to COVID-19 vaccine development. Left is a picture of ILRI’s laboratory research on...

ILRI News

Building capacity of African researchers in genomics to play key role in boosting productivity of livestock systems

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) recently trained African researchers working in animal science, breeding and genetics. The goal was for the researchers to apply the knowledge from the training to improve the...