Papers by Abdulmojeed Yakubu
morphological variation between muscovy ducks from the guinea savannah and rainforest zones of Ni... more morphological variation between muscovy ducks from the guinea savannah and rainforest zones of Nigeria was examined using multivariate discriminant analysis. Data comprised eight morphometric traits measured in a total of 435 adult ducks randomly selected in the two agro-ecological zones. Common descriptive statistics showed that ducks from the rainforest zone had higher (P< 0.05) body weight, foot length and thigh circumference, while their guinea savannah counterparts were longer (P< 0.05) in the neck. Stepwise discriminant analysis indicated that foot length, neck length, thigh circumference and body length were more effective in discriminating between the duck populations. The low mahalanobis distance of 3.39, as revealed by the canonical discriminant analysis, is an indication of high gene flow between ducks from the two agro-ecological zones. The cluster analysis also revealed the homogeneity of the genetic identity of the duck populations. The present information will be the basis for further characterization, conservation and sustainable genetic improvement strategies for indigenous ducks.
The aim of the present study was to determine the relationships between milk yield and conformati... more The aim of the present study was to determine the relationships between milk yield and conformation traits of Bunaji (White Fulani) cows using path analysis. The sampled populations were 267 cows in their 1 st-3 rd lactation order, extensively managed in northern Nigeria in the early to late dry season period. Milk yield positively and significantly correlated with heart girth (HG), fore right teat length (FRTL), fore left teat length (FLTL), rear right teat length (RRTL), rear left teat length (RLTL) and udder circumference (UC) (r = 0.538-0.766; P < 0.01). However, the phenotypic correlation between milk yield and udder height (UH) was negative (r =-0.420; P < 0.01). This trend was reversed when the direct and indirect effects of these morphological traits on milk yield were considered. The path analysis showed that udder circumference, udder height and heart girth had statistically significant direct effects on milk yield (path coefficients = 0.446 and-0.254; P < 0.01 for UC and UH and 0.100; P < 0.05 for HG, respectively). The effects of the other body parameters on milk yield were indirectly realised via udder circumference as revealed by t-statistic. The optimum linear multiple regression model included udder circumference, udder height and heart girth with a coefficient of determination (R 2) of 0.665 and determination coefficient of error of 0.335. This model could be useful in predicting milk yield of Bunaji cows on-farm and for selection purposes.
Archivos De Zootecnia, Dec 1, 2011
Sexual dimorphism was examined in 221 randomly selected adult African Muscovy ducks extensively r... more Sexual dimorphism was examined in 221 randomly selected adult African Muscovy ducks extensively reared in north central Nigeria using univariate and multivariate measures of body size and skeletal proportions. The body parameters investigated included body weight, 8 primary linear body measurements [breast circumference (BTC), thigh circumference (THC), body length (BDL), bill length (BLL), neck length (NKL),foot length (FTL), total leg length (TLL) and wing length (WNL)] and 4 morphological indices (massiveness, stockiness, long-leggedness and condition index). The univariate analysis showed male dominance (p<0.05) in all the morphometric measurements, with the exception of stockiness and longleggedness where significantly higher mean values were recorded for females. Low, moderate and high positive and negative correlations among the body size and shape characters of the ducks were recorded. The canonical discriminant analysis on body weight and primary linear body measurements revealed that wing length was the most discriminating variable between the sexes, followed by body weight, neck circumference, total leg length, body length and foot length respectively. Three other variables not qualified to enter the model were expunged. The single discriminant function obtained (D=-3.116 + 0.280WNL+ 0.921BWT + 0.191NKL-0.196TLL-0.063BDL-0.283FTL) correctly classified 91.4% of individuals of known-sex ducks. This might aid in ecological studies, conservation and improvement of the indigenous ducks.
eclosionaron. La mortalidad promedio por camada por año para el número de pollitos, en crecimient... more eclosionaron. La mortalidad promedio por camada por año para el número de pollitos, en crecimiento, gallos y gallinas fue de 2.11 (2.26), 1.30 (1.52), 0.30 (0.55) y 1.33 (1.11) respectivamente. Cerca del 62% de las aves fue vendida a la edad adulta y la razón principal de criar aves fue el autoconsumo (58.1%). Las limitantes identificas fueron salud, alojamiento, nutrición, predadores y robo.
Tropical and Subtropical Agroecosystems
Background. Pig farming is one of the most important livestock raised in Nigeria by smallholder f... more Background. Pig farming is one of the most important livestock raised in Nigeria by smallholder farmers. Objective. To determine the breeding practices and breeding traits of preference by pig farmers in Nasarawa State, Nigeria. Methodology. A total of 120 pig rearers (62 males and 58 females) were randomly sampled. Primary data were collected through individual structured questionnaire administration. Chi square (χ2) statistics was used to compare categorical variables. Arithmetic means and their standard errors of continuous variables between gender were tested using T- Test. Ranking of the eight traits of preference (body size, body conformation, mothering ability, survival, heat tolerance, disease resistance, fertility and temperament) was carried out using the non-parametric Friedman Test (Wilcoxon Signed-rank test for post hoc analysis) as well as Kruskal–Wallis H Test (with Mann– Whitney U Test for means separation). Multivariate Clustering Analysis was also explored to group...
Frontiers in Genetics
The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on smallholder farming households (SFH) includes increased povert... more The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on smallholder farming households (SFH) includes increased poverty, and loss of livelihoods. Provision of livestock to SFH is a helpful intervention to mitigate this impact. This study provided a total of 150 smallholder poultry farmers, randomly selected from three states (Kebbi, Nasarawa, and Imo) in Nigeria, with ten 5-week-old chickens (mixed sexes) each, of either FUNAAB Alpha or Noiler chicken genetics. The improved, dual-purpose chickens were evaluated for growth performance (GP), survivability and profitability. The birds were managed under semi-scavenging production system. Body weight, mortality, and cost of production (COP) were recorded every 4 weeks until 21 weeks of age. Profitability was a function of the COP, and the selling price for live-birds (cocks). Body weight of Noiler (1,927 g) birds was not significantly (p > .05) higher than FUNAAB Alpha (1,792 g) at 21 weeks. Agroecology and genetics had significant (p < .05) effects o...
Antibiotics
There is a growing risk of antibiotic resistance (AR) in smallholder poultry (SP). This study, th... more There is a growing risk of antibiotic resistance (AR) in smallholder poultry (SP). This study, therefore, aimed to investigate AR pattern of bacterial isolates from SP in the Guinea Savanna agro-ecological zone of Nigeria. A total of 120 fresh poultry droppings were aseptically collected, randomly, from two tropically adapted (FUNAAB Alpha and Noiler) and local chickens. The chickens were raised either using ethnoveterinary medicines (n = 60) or antibiotics (n = 60). Bacterial isolates were characterized and analyzed using standard protocols, and appropriate statistical tools. Compared to Pseudomonas spp. (2.5%) and Klebsiella spp. (5.8%), Salmonella spp. (57.5%) and Escherichia coli (34.2%) were the most prevalent (χ2 = 96.67; p < 0.001). Prevalence of bacterial species was significantly (p = 0.024; Odds Ratio = 2.552) influenced by antibiotics usage. All four species were multi-drug resistant. In total, 30% of the isolates had a multiple AR index ≥ 0.2. Bacterial isolates from ...
Veterinary Medicine International, 2022
The indiscriminate use of antimicrobials in livestock production is of increasing concern due to ... more The indiscriminate use of antimicrobials in livestock production is of increasing concern due to the threat of antimicrobial resistance in both humans and animals. Much emphasis has been placed on intensively managed poultry production systems, which routinely use antimicrobials as against smallholder poultry production systems (SPPS). Therefore, this study investigated the use of antimicrobials among smallholder poultry farmers in Nigeria, and compared the prevalence of antimicrobial drug use against the practice of ethnoveterinary medicine (EVM). A cross-sectional study was conducted in five states (agroecologies) of Nigeria using structured questionnaires administered on a total of 350 farmers. The practice of EVM was prevalent among most of the farmers (39%). The western method (pharmaceuticals) was practiced by a large proportion of farmers (60%), either solely (25%) or in combination with EVM (35%). Antimicrobials were used primarily for treatment and prevention of diseases (7...
GABJ, 2022
Duck keeping is a very important sector in resource-constrained families as it provides for famil... more Duck keeping is a very important sector in resource-constrained families as it provides for family proteins and income and other social needs. The present study was carried out to determine the influence of gender on livestock breeding practices of duck farmers in Nasarawa State, Nigeria. A total of 100 duck keepers (36 males and 64 females) were randomly sampled. Primary data were collected through individual structured questionnaire administration. Chi-square (χ2) statistics were used to compare categorical variables based on gender. Arithmetic means of continuous variables between gender were tested using the T-Test. Rank means were also calculated for between-gender comparisons of the continuous variables. On the choice of traits of preference (body size, body conformation, mothering ability, survival, heat tolerance, disease resistance, birth interval, plumage color, fertility, hatchability, egg number and size, meat taste, ease of sale, and cultural significance) for breeding,...
GABJ, 2022
The study aimed at describing objectively the interdependence among the morphological and heat to... more The study aimed at describing objectively the interdependence among the morphological and heat tolerance traits of Nigerian indigenous pigs and to predict body weight from conformation traits. Data on body weight, eight linear body measurements (BL, CG, CD, WH, RH, EL, SL and TL) and three thermo-physiological parameters were measured on 150 randomly selected pigs of three growth stages (piglets, growers and finishers) from February to December, 2020. The animals were managed in an extensive system in Plateau State, north central Nigeria. General linear model was used to study growth stage and sex effects including their interaction. Multivariate principal component analysis was used for the size, shape and heat tolerance determination while the animals were classified using canonical discriminant analysis. The stepwise regression was used for body weight prediction. The results showed that finishers had significantly higher (P<0.05) body weight, body length, chest girth, chest ...
Nigerian Journal of Animal Production, 2021
Goat farming is a veritable source of livelihood of many rural families in Africa. This study aim... more Goat farming is a veritable source of livelihood of many rural families in Africa. This study aimed at determining prevailing production systems and breeding objectives of rural goat producers in north central Nigeria. A total of 180 rural goat keepers corresponding to 60 per State (Nasarawa, Benue and Plateau) were randomly sampled. Primary data (socioeconomics of respondents, reasons for keeping goats, flock structure, management system, productivity and breeding practices) were collected through individual structured questionnaire administration. Cross tabulations and Chi square (÷2) statistics were used to compare categorical variables, while rank means, arithmetic means and standard deviations were calculated for within- and between-state comparisons of the continuous variables. While more goat producers were involved in crop farming in Benue State (43.6%), only 34.5 and 21.8% engaged in farming in Plateau and Nasarawa State, respectively. Goats were kept for income generation,...
Archivos de Zootecnia, 2011
Se realizó un estudio para determinar la interdependencia entre los caracteres de conformación de... more Se realizó un estudio para determinar la interdependencia entre los caracteres de conformación de 359 carneros Uda usando el analisis de componentes principales. Las medidas corporales fueron: alzada a la cruz, longitud corporal, perímetro torácico, alzada a la grupa, ancho y longitud de grupa, longitud de la cara, longitud de pata delantera y la anchura de la espalda. Los animales fueron agrupados por edades en: dientes de leche, 2 dientes, 4 dientes, 6 dientes, 8 dientes y dientes desgastados. El grupo de edad de los animales fue una fuente de variación significativa (p
Nigerian Journal of Animal Science, 2016
Prolactin receptor (PRLR) is a single transmembrane protein belonging to the cytokine receptor s... more Prolactin receptor (PRLR) is a single transmembrane protein belonging to the cytokine receptor super family through which prolactin plays a wide variety of physiological roles such as mammary gland development, milk production, reproduction and immune function in vertebrates. Many non synonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (nsSNPs) at the PRLR locus in vertebrates are suspected to impact protein function. This study, therefore, aimed at predicting the likelihood of non synonymous (amino acid change) coding SNPs to cause functional impact on protein at the PRLR locus of cattle and chicken using the MEGA MD bioinformatics tool. In cattle, sixteen out of the first twenty non synonymous amino substitutions obtained: V5A, T9V, T12I, N18S, T19V, C20S, L26S, E32K, F34V, R49E, T52A, S61T, R66K, M72I, I79K and H87Y were beneficial, one was likely neutral, two were deleterious while one was likely deleterious. However, in chicken, L131V, E132N, A134T, V135L, I157A and T161S mutations ...
Slovak Journal of Animal Science, 2015
Ticks are blood-feeding ectoparasitic Arthropods of the subclass Acari (Arachnida) that have both... more Ticks are blood-feeding ectoparasitic Arthropods of the subclass Acari (Arachnida) that have both domestic and wild animals as hosts. The present study aimed at evaluating the heat tolerance traits and tick infestation in some Nigerian indigenous cattle breeds found in Nasarawa State, north-central Nigeria. A total of 160 animals (83 males and 77 females) comprising 92 bunaji, 50 Sokoto Gudali and 18 muturu breeds of Nigerian cattle were sampled. The data were obtained on the number of tick counts on each animal, as well as physiological parameters, such as rectal temperature, respiratory rate and pulse rate. This study revealed the presence of two cattle tick species Dermacentor andersoni (58, 53.2 %) and Ornithodorus moubata (51, 46.8 %), which are of veterinary importance. The prevalence was highest in the bunaji breed (71, 65.1 %), followed by Sokoto Gudali (26, 23.9 %) and muturu (12, 11.1 %) cattle, respectively. Occurrence of tick infestation was higher in male (59, 71.1 %) t...
Journal of the Indonesian Tropical Animal Agriculture, 2019
This study was embarked upon to predict hatchability and mortality rate of Muscovy ducks in Nasar... more This study was embarked upon to predict hatchability and mortality rate of Muscovy ducks in Nasarawa State, Nigeria. Data were obtained from a total of 119 duck farmers. The automatic linear modelling (ALM) and artificial neural network (ANN) models were employed. The average flock size was 9.84±0.60 per household. The predicted hatchability mean values using ALM (8.66) and ANN (8.65) were similar to the observed value (8.66). The predicted mortality mean values using ALM (2.95) and ANN (3.03) were also similar to the observed value of 2.95. Experience in duck rearing, the educational status of farmers, source of foundation stock and season were the variables of importance in the prediction of hatchability using ALM and ANN models. However, primary occupation, source of foundation stock, experience in duck rearing, land holding and management system were the important variables automatically selected for the prediction of mortality. Moderate coefficients of determination (R2 = 0.422...
Journal of Genetics and Molecular Biology, 2017
This study was embarked upon to evaluate body weight (BW) from age (weeks) of Sasso hens in Nasar... more This study was embarked upon to evaluate body weight (BW) from age (weeks) of Sasso hens in Nasarawa State, Nigeria. A total of one hundred and eight (108) Sasso hens aged 30 weeks were randomly selected from a larger stock kept at the Livestock Farm. Fifty-four of these birds were kept on deep litter while another fifty-four were reared in battery cages. The birds in each system of management were replicated three times with eighteen birds per replicate in a completely randomized design. In both deep litter and battery cage systems, data were collected on weekly body weights of birds from week 31-52 of rearing. Only data from forty (battery cage) and forty-three (deep litter) surviving birds were eventually used for further analyses. Effect of housing system on BW was subjected to T-Test. Phenotypic correlation between body weight (BW) and age of birds was established in both systems of rearing. Linear, Quadratic, Gompertz, Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and the Classification and Regression Tree (CRT) models were used to predict BW from the age (including housing system for CRT model) of birds. There was no significant (P=0.558) difference in the total average weekly BW of birds on deep litter (3.38 ± 0.12 kg) and those in cages (3.37 ± 0.12 kg). The prediction of BW from age was best fitted using the ANN model in both the deep litter (R 2 , adjusted R 2 , RMSE and significance level were 87.0%, 87.0%, 0.04 and 0.000) and battery cage (R 2 , adjusted R 2 , RMSE and significance level were 99.0%, 99.0%, 0.01 and 0.000) systems. The CRT model, however, predicted the optimal BW to be greater than 32.5, but not above 47.5 weeks of age with R 2 value of 93.4%. The present findings may be exploited in mapping out appropriate management practices geared towards increased production.
Nigerian Journal of Biotechnology, 2019
Serum amyloid A3 (SAA3) protein found within caprine and bovine mammary epithelial cells is said ... more Serum amyloid A3 (SAA3) protein found within caprine and bovine mammary epithelial cells is said to be important in disease conditions and tissue remodeling. The present investigation aimed at identifying deleterious non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (nsSNPs) in SAA3 gene of goats and cattle using an in silico assay. Amino acid sequence data of the protein of goats and SNPs of cattle were retrieved from the National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database. Bioinformatics prediction tools used for the detection of deleterious nsSNPs were PROVEAN, SIFT, PolyPhe-2 and PANTHER. A total of eleven nsSNPs were obtained from the aligned sequences of goats, out of which two variants (R123G and G126D) were predicted to be deleterious by three out of the four algorithms. However, in cattle, four out of the eleven nsSNPs were found to be harmful to the transcribed protein. The two mutants in goats and R114Q in cattle were also found to decrease protein stability. Further confirmatory analysis however, revealed that variant R123G was highly deleterious as there were marked differences between it and the native protein in terms of total free energy, stabilizing residues, ordered and disordered regions of protein and secondary structure prediction. Similarly, Cmutant (a combination of R123G and G126D mutations) in goats and Dmutant (a combination of S77R, Q84K, S103W and R114Q mutations) in cattle also appeared to distort SAA3 protein structural landscape and function. The present deleterious nsSNPs when validated using wet lab experimental protocols could be important biological markers for disease detection and therapy in goats and cattle.
Journal of Animal Science Advances, 2014
Bangladesh Journal of Animal Science, 2015
The study aimed at describing objectively the interdependence between body weight (BWT) and morph... more The study aimed at describing objectively the interdependence between body weight (BWT) and morphometric traits in Khaki Campbell and Pekin ducks using multivariate path analysis technique. Measurements were taken on one hundred and ninety seven (197) randomly selected 10-week old Khaki Campbell and Pekin ducks, respectively in Plateau State, Nigeria. The birds were reared on deep litter in a semi-intensive system where they were kept in a fenced area provided with water ponds and locked up in the poultry house during the night. The body parts measured were, body length (BDL); thigh length (THL); thigh circumference (THC); breast circumference (BTC); bill length (BLL); neck length (NKL); neck circumference (NKC); shank length (SHL); shank width (SHW); total leg length (TLL) and wing length (WL). General linear model was used to study genotype and sex effects. Pekin ducks had a superior advantage (p<0.05) over their Khaki Campbell counterparts in all the body parameters estimated....
Uploads
Papers by Abdulmojeed Yakubu