The OIE Scientific and Technical Review
Since 1924 the International Office of Epizootics (OIE) has furthered international cooperation in the control of highly contagious animal diseases.
The OIE's major activities are to disseminate animal health information across the globe, communicate scientific and technical advances and promote research. The quarterly Scientific and Technical Review is instrumental in all these functions. The annual subscription to the review is US$108 (F 590) and orders with payment should be sent to: Publications Department, Office International des Epizooties, 12 rue de Prony, 75017 Paris, France.
Course on modern pig farm management
A second course on Modern Pig Farm Management will be held from 4 May to 5 June 1992 at Barneveld College, the Netherlands.
The course objectives are to equip participants with up-to-date professional knowledge and skills through well-balanced formal instruction, practicals, discussions, applied management exercises and hands-on computing. Full use will be mace of the available expertise and facilities of Barneveld College and other places of interest.
For further details and a registration form, kindly contact the Director of International Studies and Projects, Barneveld College, PO Box 64, 3770 AB BARNEVELD, the Netherlands. Tel. 31 (0)3420-14881; Fax 31 (0)3420-92813; Telex 70018 bacol nl.
Animal Production and Health Division - Division de la production et de la santé animales - Dirección de Producción y Sanidad animal
Strengthening of regional animal gene banks
The first Training Course for Regional Animal Gene Banks in Latin America was held at the Centro Nacional de Recursos
Geneticos (CENARGEN) of Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (EMBRAPA) in Brasilia, Brazil, from 20 to 31 May 1991. Twenty-four participants from 12 countries - Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuelaattended the course. Each country was represented by two participants, a specialist in animal genetics and a specialist in reproduction (particularly regarding methods of artificial insemination and embryo transfer).
Lectures and practical demonstrations were given by two lecturers from Argentina, two from Brazil and one from FAO's Global Animal Genetic Data Bank in Hannover. Lectures on genetics addressed the criteria for selecting breeds for preservation (identification of breeds in danger, estimation of the risks involved, characterization of breeds and of distances between breeds); the kind (semen, embryos, oocytes, DNA) and size of samples (number stored, parental origins); legal and institutional aspects of preservation; and in situ preservation. Lectures on reproduction covered the selection and preparation of donors (males and females); the production and storage of samples, including their revival and use; and health regulations. Lectures on data processing discussed the collection, storage and use of records characterizing the samples as well as the production and adaptation of the required software.
A second training course, for Asia, was held from 25 November to 6 December 1991 in Nanjing (China) in cooperation with the Animal Science Department of the Nanjing Agricultural University. This course involved participants (a geneticist and a reproduction specialist as for the first course) from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, India, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Viet Nam. Lectures were given by the regional coordinator of the Latin American Gene Bank, two international consultants,, two lecturers from China and one from India.
Eradication of the New World screwworm from Libya
On 16 October 1991, the final delivery of sterile screwworm flies was released over the infested zone in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya in an operation which began in December 1990. The total number of sterile flies dispersed was 1 300 million.
After six months without any evidence of survival of the New World Screwworm (NWS) in Libya, FAO announced the successful conclusion of the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) campaign. The last reported case of an infected animal was in April 1991.
The campaign to eradicate NWS from Libya, executed by FAO with support from a consortium of 14 countries and six international agencies, achieved success more rapidly than expected and was well under budget.
Intensive surveillance of livestock will continue until June 1992 when it is expected that the Libyan Government will officially declare the country free of NWS. One of the keys to the success of the eradication programme has been the efficient and effective surveillance, quarantine, and animal treatment support activities carried out by the Libyan Veterinary Service. This kept the infestation within definite limits and helped reduce the population of NWS. It is important that this level and quality of service is maintained.
In addition, FAO has developed a preventative programme to secure Libya against reinfestation and has set up contingency plans in case further SIT releases become necessary.
NSW eradication from North Africa will bring an annual benefit of US$300 million for the region, according to an independent cost-benefit analysis. Assessments were also made for the infested area alone and for Libya. In the infested area, the annual saving was estimated at $52.2 million, and for Libya as a whole $10.7 million.
Pioneers of the Sterile Insect Technique
The two scientists who invented the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) were presented with special science awards by FAO Director-General Edouard Saouma during a ceremony at FAO Headquarters on 5 November 1991.
Drs E.F. Knipling and R.C. Bushland, both United States scientists now in their eighties, developed SIT over 30 years ago.
In a statement made after receiving the award, Dr Bushland described it as "the greatest honour in his professional career". While commending FAO for its leadership in the programme to eradicate the New World screwworm from Libya, Dr Knipling spoke up for similar bold planning to deal with other important pest problems.
Tropfeed - a computerized version of Tropical feeds, by Bo Göhl
Making use of available resources for livestock feeding in developing countries demands a knowledge of the nutritional value of local plants and by-products and of their feed characteristics and limitations.
There are several international databases containing data on cereals, oilseeds and other conventional feedstuffs but many of these feeds are inappropriate, especially when they must be imported. These systems (located in Europe, the United States and Australia) are very large and require access to a big computer.
One of the most useful sources of information in the field has proved to be the FAO publication Tropical feeds, by Bo Göhl, which contains a large number of unconventional feeds, including cereals, oilseeds, grasses, legumes, fodders, fruits, vegetables and by-products.
With the increasing availability of small computers (PCs, laptops and notebooks). it is now possible to provide the complete Tropical feeds on diskette.
The new Tropfeed diskette will be completely portable and easily distributed throughout the world. The features of the system are:
· Concise data on 555 tropical feed materials.· Emphasis on forages, legumes and byproducts.
· Extended descriptions of feeds and their uses, including methods of production, their suitability for different classes of stock and their limitations (anti-nutritional factors, etc.).
· Analytical data, including mean proximate analysis, digestibility data and amino acid composition where available, with examples from different sources.
· Compact format and easy accessibility.
The task of converting tropical feeds to a disk-based system was started in 1990 and completed in January 1991. A software program was designed to allow high standards of speed and ease of use.
The user is given simple menus, lists and on-screen help. Items are chosen from the list with cursor keys or a mouse and selected with the enter key. Entries can be scrolled down on the screen, and return to the previous menu is achieved with the Esc key. It is therefore very simple to find and read items and to print them if required.
Tropfeed will be distributed in the form of compressed files on one 3.5-in diskette or two 5.25-in diskettes, which can be loaded to a hard disk. The cost of production is therefore kept to a minimum and, with a weight of 25 g, the diskette can be mailed for much less than a printed publication.
The work has been undertaken by FAO consultant Dr Andrew Speedy of Oxford University.
The intention is now to update the material, using acknowledged international experts who will provide new descriptions and analytical data on the most important forages, by-products and other tropical feed materials. The latest literature will also be cited, giving references to recent work on alternative feeds in livestock development. The disk format allows much easier and more frequent updating, so Tropfeed should always contain the latest available information.
For further information contact: René Sansoucy, Senior Officer, Feed Resources Group, Animal Production and Health Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy.
Tel. (39)6 5797 3559;
Fax (39)6 5782 610 or 5797 3152;
Telex (43) 610181 FAO I.
