Pests

: 15 April 2016; Hits: 8951

New KALRO poultry vaccines don’t need fridges to store

The Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) has unveiled new poultry vaccines with a longer shelf life, and which do not require refrigeration to store, making it easy for almost 80 per cent of poultry farmers in the country to effectively prevent common deadly viral diseases.
Dubbed thermos stable, these vaccines are capable of withstanding fluctuating temperatures, while still maintaining their potency unlike ordinary vaccines in the market which must be stored in refrigerators lest they become ineffective.
The vaccines, which were developed by the Kenya veterinary Vaccines Production Institute (KEVEVAPI), in collaboration with KALRO’s Non-Ruminant Research Centre, are made from superior protein molecules, making them resistant to heat, light, radiation and changes in the environment.
According to Dr. David Miano of KALRO Kakamega, thermos stable vaccines for various poultry vaccines including Newcastle, Fowl Typhoid, fowl Pox and Gumboro are already in the market with 3 million doses already sold by yesterday.
The innovation of these high tech vaccines is good news especially to smallholder farmers and agrovet operators in rural Kenya who lack access and cannot continuous supply of energy source like electricity required refrigeration. A recent World Bank survey shows that only 23 per cent of the country’s population is connected to the power grid with rural Kenya which accounts for 76 per cent of chicken in the country registering only 5 per cent.
A 2014 study, vaccine handling and administration among poultry farmers in Nigeria published in the Scholars Journal of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences shows that 50.83 per cent of respondents in rural areas experience vaccine fail on their poultry, an aspect mostly blamed on contamination due to poor storage measures.
A dose of these unique vaccines costs only Sh2 and can be bought either from KALRO offices in Naivasha and Kakamega or at the Kenya veterinary Vaccines Production Institute in Kabete.

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Monday, 21 December 2020 [quote=Erado Onesmo]Hallo,where can I bye this vaccines in Nairobi please[/quote...

Friday, 18 December 2020 Hallo,where can I bye this vaccines in Nairobi please

: 15 April 2016; Hits: 6096

Blight resistant GMO potato being tested for Kenya market

Irish potato farmers may soon enjoy high returns if the Government approves the commercialisation of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) foods following the successful laboratory engineering of a variety resistant to late blight disease.

International Potato Centre's (CIP) senior biotechnologist Marc Ghislain said trials on varieties, Uganda's Victoria and Désirée from Kenya have been successful.

“We tried GMO and non-GMO Irish potatoes. Both were grown on a piece of land known to host the fungi. The GMO variety remained green and the harvest was plenty. The normal variety did not survive,” he said.

The test was done in western parts of Uganda where farmers are making losses to this fungal disease.

CIP worked in collaboration with National Agricultural Research Organisation's Kachwekano Zonal Agricultural Research and Development Institute (KZARDI), at Kabale.

The transgenic variety was obtained by picking blight resistant genes from wild relatives of Irish potatoes found in Peru, South America.

The trial was done in June 2015 and harvesting in September the same year.

If the government approves growing of GMO, farmers, mostly in high altitudes where the disease causes losses of more than 50 per cent would benefit greatly.

Irish potato is considered the second staple food for in Kenya.

Low temperatures and dew or rainfall accelerate the fungi spread, attacking leaves, stems and tubers.

It also attacks tomatoes

Late blight on potato is identified by black or brown lesions on leaves and stems that may be small at first and appear water-soaked or have chlorotic borders, but soon expand rapidly and become necrotic.

As many lesions accumulate, the entire plant can be destroyed in only a few days after the first lesions are observed.

Dr Ghislain said more trials will be done to confirm the results in addition to ensuring compliance to requirements as discussions on lifting the ban on GMOs go on.

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: 15 April 2016; Hits: 7217

Golden ‘weed’ has multiple benefits

Farmers in Kenya can now use Tephrosia Vogellii, also known as fishbone poison, to effectively kill pests on their livestock, as confirmed by a recent study by FAO, which shows that a solution made from the plant's leaves has the capacity to counter the issue of tick resistance arising from continuous use of a single type of acaricide.
The finding is a big revelation especially to smallholder livestock farmers who have grappled with the loss of animals to tick borne diseases like theileriosis, anaplasmosis, and babesiosis and heart water. It is also going to insulate them from high costs of acaricides which also pose a health danger to their families.
According to the study which was conducted in Zimbabwe, the leaves solution of this plant has high potency that destroys tick eggs and kills older ones with soft skin, interrupting their life cycle. Initially, most livestock farmers in Kenya we depending on plunge dipping services by government to treat their livestock against ticks. Unfortunately, the government has neglected those dips, with some now inactive for decades.
READ ALSO: New vaccine for Rift Valley fever
According to Howard Kisanya, a smallholder cattle farmer in Sabatia, Vihiga County, local dips have become breeding sites for mosquitoes and urged state agricultural actors to demolish them if they don’t have a vision of reinstating them to their past glory. ‘’ We now either buy acaricides and spray our livestock at home or physically pluck tick when they mature,’’ said Kisanya.

To prepare the mixture for application on animals, about 250 g of fresh leaves are pounded and boiled in 500 ml of water for 30 minutes. The greenish yellow mixture is then separated from the leaf particles by sieving through a tea strainer. It is estimated that 400g of ground Tephrosia vogelli leaves, mixed with four litres of water is adequate for mature grade cow.

Besides eliminating ticks in livestock, this crop which is normally dismissed as a weed by farmers has the potential to control maize stock borer, a deadly maize pest estimated to be destroying almost 400,000 tonnes of maize in Kenya per year. According to the study, maize farmers in Zimbabwe have for many years crushed, fermented and sprayed Tephrosia leaves solutions to their maize crop, keeping stem borer at bay.
READ ALSO: Weeds tell farmers about pests
In Kenya, most communities use fishbone poison to catch fish in rivers, an illegal activity outlawed by the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA). According to FAO, the leaves of this crop are non toxic to mammals and birds but roots are poisonous to mammals, perhaps a reason why most farmers plant it to control moles.

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