Henry Mutembei M'Ikiugu

Chuka University College · Animal Science

Globally, agroforestry and its capacity to offer a high yielding system are well known as a pathway for providing multiple benefits of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to the households. In Uganda, household farmers adopt on-farm trees for various benefits such as soil erosion prevention, maintaining soil fertility, provision of shade, windbrea...

Effective water governance ought to involve the manner in which allocative and regulatory politics are exercised in the management of water resource, and should embrace the formal and informal institutions by which authority is exercised. In Lower Thiba Sub-catchment of Kenya, slightly over 70% of the population in the area depend on water for irri...

Limited access to modern energy is a pressing issue and has necessitated scholarly discourse on energy poverty, especially in developing countries. This paper investigated energy poverty in Kenya and its implications on human health using the multidimensional energy poverty framework, propensity score matching and marginal structural models. The re...

Sustainable energy for household application is currently a top priority in developing countries with clean modern energy sources dominating the energy policy agenda. Nonetheless, more research evidence is required for policy and practise. This study's objective was to evaluate the determinants of household cooking and lighting energy choices. In c...

Background Geographic accessibility is an important determinant of healthcare utilization and is critical for achievement of universal health coverage. Despite the high disease burden and severe traffic congestion in many African cities, few studies have assessed how traffic congestion impacts geographical access to healthcare facilities and to hea...

Governance, in particular, decision-making plays a significant role in influencing the transition to households’ food security. It helps in addressing causative factors responsible for undermining household sustainable food security. This study aimed at determining household and farm level governance factors affecting the transition to household fo...

This study sought to investigate major factors that have influenced the patterns of built structures along Nairobi riparian zones using an analytical approach and some aspects of correlations. The study employed a descriptive research design with various data collecting methodologies, including questionnaires, photos, interviews, and secondary empi...

Emissions from household cooking technologies constitute a significant source of household air pollution in developing countries. Household air pollution is estimated to be the leading cause of various health problems and mortality. Studies on household air pollution and health impacts are limited in Kenya. Therefore, this study quantified househol...

Human related activities affect how water is used. However, there is limited information on the effect of socio-economic factors on water use. This study was to establish the socio-economic factors that affect water resource use in Lower Thiba Sub-Catchment using a descriptive survey design. Qualitative as well as quantitative data was collected fr...

AB S T RA C T In responding to the research question, what is the effect of acetaminophen on reproductive hormones and estrous cycles of mice? A study was undertaken to establish the potential impact of acetaminophen on the pituitary-gonadal axis. Reproductive hormones are critical drivers of regular estrous cycles in mammals. The hormones are requ...

Environmental degradation, including air quality deterioration, has been mainly attributed to anthropogenic activities. Air pollution has become a pressing issue in industrialised and highly populated areas due to the combustion of fossil fuels and industrial operations. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a nationwide lockdown to control the sp...

Agroforestry trees have been used to enhance food production through a combination of soil nutrient management. The study aimed at assessing the value of agroforestry and food security among households practicing agroforestry in the Isingiro District. The study employed a cross-sectional survey design using household interviews and randomly samplin...

Whilst there are longstanding and well-established inequalities in safe-drinking water-access between urban and rural areas, there remain few studies of changing intra-urban inequalities over time. In this study, we determined the spatio-temporal patterns of domestic piped water distribution in Nairobi, Kenya between 1985 and 2018, and the implicat...

Background Geographic accessibility is an important determinant of healthcare utilisation and is critical for achievement of universal health coverage. Despite the high disease burden and severe traffic congestion in many African cities, few studies have assessed how traffic congestion impacts geographical access to healthcare facilities and to hea...

The livestock sector is a major contributor to food security, livelihoods, and is most affected by climate change, but is also a major contributor of GHGs. While climate-smart agriculture (CSA) has been adopted to mitigate the effects of climate change it has focused more on smallholder food crop producers with little attention to livestock product...

Background: The sub-Saharan Africa has the fastest rate of urbanisation in the world. However, infrastructure growth in the region is slower than urbanisation rates, leading to inadequate provision and access to basic services such as piped safe drinking water. Lack of sufficient access to safe water has the potential to increase the burden of wate...

The livestock sector is a major contributor to food security and is mainly practiced by the rural poor but faces climate related threats. While there are many natural occurrences impacting the average global temperature and consequently livestock production, human activities in the sector continue to be a main contributing factor to climate change...

Acetaminophen is known to inhibit prostaglandin synthesis and activate the endocannabinoid system, thereby has been linked to the regulation of mammalian reproductive processes through the same. Growing evidence tends to link acetaminophen reproductive effects in the regulation of ovulation and/or implantation. To provide further evidence, this stu...

Abstract Climate change poses great risks to poverty alleviation, food security and livelihoods sustainability in sub-Saharan Africa, declining crop yields and livestock productivity, especially in ASALs that suffer from fragile ecosystems characterized by frequent droughts and low rainfall. Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) objectives of improving p...

Introduction : Currently, an estimated two thirds of the world population is water insufficient. As of 2015, one out of every five people in developing countries do not have access to clean sufficient drinking water. In an attempt to share the limited resource, water has been distributed at irregular intervals in cities in developing countries. Res...

Introduction : Currently, an estimated two thirds of the world population is water insufficient. As of 2015, one out of every five people in developing countries do not have access to clean sufficient drinking water. In an attempt to share the limited resource, water has been distributed at irregular intervals in cities in developing countries. Res...

Biodiversity is disappearing at alarming rate due to human civilization. The paper documents the benefits of adopting green concept environment ecosystem to salvage biodiversity loss through protection, conservation and preservation. Data was collected by surveying 97 households and five key informants using semi-structured questionnaires, intervie...

The detrimental effect of reactions of seminal plasma in goat semen with common components of extenders is known and has been the point of focus on developing appropriate extender for goat semen. The current study compared post-extension semen viability parameters of a laboratory generated, coconut water-egg yolk-based extender (COC), against simil...

Concerns were raised by pig farmers in Nairobi that suggested the presence of compounds within the water of Nairobi river capable of affecting male fertility through increased incidence of retained testis in piglets. Series of studies were conducted to verify the concerns of these farmers. Significant number (x 2 =72, p≤0.05, n=80) of the farmers r...

Reproductive inefficiency is one of major challenges affecting dairy farming in Kenya. This is partly caused by poor estrus detection, delayed determination of unsuccessful artificial insemination (AI) and sub-optimal calving to conception interval. Blood levels of progesterone hormone (P4) are a valid indicator of the reproductive status of an ani...

This study was designed to evaluate the effects of exposure of boars to wastewater/effluent contaminated water on testicular function. Boars reared on contaminated water were purchased, and their testicular tissue was processed for histopathological observations. The lesions observed included; vacuolated seminiferous epithelium, sloughing of germ c...

Mature male mice were used to study the possible effects of effluent contaminated river water on reproduction using testicular histopathology. Freshly collected contaminated river water was supplied to the caged mice daily ad libitum. The mice were serially euthanized and testicles obtained for histology. The testes showed vacuolation and sloughing...

ABSTRACT Water polluted with endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) has been demonstrated to cause reproductive problems in humans and wildlife. Rivers flowing through urban settlements have been shown to contain contaminated discharges from domestic, agricultural and industrial sources. Such discharges are suspected to have high levels of EDCs. The...

Residents practising pig farming along the Nairobi River Riparian in Kenyawere interviewed to evaluate theirknowledge and practices on the use of the contaminated riverfor farming and its effects on animal reproduction. Eighty (80) farms were purposively selected and questionnaires administered to the pig owners as respondents.Majority (72.5%) were...

The goal of a contemporary dairy farmer is to maximise the efficiency of milk production. Reproductive efficiency of the cow and bull fertility is major component of efficient production. General macro-and micro semen characteristics such as volume, motility and concentration have been majorly used to assess bull fertility in Kenya. Confounding rep...

Internal parasites are a significant determinant of the productivity of ruminant species in the tropics. Provision of anthelmintics has become a predominant part of animal health interventions in emergency drought responses, aiming to maintain the food conversion efficiency of livestock when pasture is scarce. This study aimed to assess the owner-p...

Disaster-vulnerable communities are mostly those reliant on livestock. Disasters causing loss of livestock often leave a secondary legacy of economic instability, debt and dependency in addition to immediate devastation of food insecurity and loss of human life. It is prudent to build capacity as a strategy to manage and mitigate these type of disa...

Gastrointestinal parasitism is a major problem among sheep and goats in arid and semi-arid areas like Marsabit County of Kenya. In this county, during drought, the animals are separated into two groups; the Mona group comprising of the pregnant and milking animals that are left with the women and children at the homestead and the Fora group compris...

Retrospective data from 311 goats comprising Galla and Toggenburg and their crosses for seven years was used to determine and compare their reproductive performance in Mwingi. Goats were kept under extensive conditions with natural breeding program. Kidding occurred all year round with a peak in August. The average age at first kidding was 1066.7±3...

The objective of this study was to establish the density of infestation of slum dogs with gastrointestinal helminths in locations where vaccination and deworming campaigns had been carried out for a period of 3 years. A total of 150 dogs were randomly sampled from a total of 300 animals that were attended to in a rabies control campaign in Nairobi...

Rabies is a zoonotic disease causing 55,000 human deaths every year and the domestic dog is a main reservoir in Africa. Vaccination of the dog population effectively reduces the incidence of rabies in dog and human population. A rabies control program was carried out in slums of Nairobi. A pre-and post-program knowledge, attitudes and practices sur...

Follicular dynamics is one of the most important subjects in ovarian physiology. In cows and heifers, it is characterized by waves of follicular growth and regression. This has been largely studied in European breeds while studies on Zebu cattle (Bos indicus) are limited. Differences between breeds of cattle exist and this information has been used...

Most Kenyan farmers are in need of services to improve their cattle breeds. The artificial insemination and bull services are the only available options to improve these breeds. A study was conducted to determine constraints associated to the use of breeding services in Kenya. The methods used to collect the data included random survey using questi...

In Kenya, good quality heifers are in high demand but are generally unavailable and expensive. Innovative usage of sexed semen in an in-vitro embryo production (IVEP) system has a potential to help deliver appropriate cattle genotypes to farmers efficiently. Sexed In-vitro Fertilization Embryo Transfer (SIFET), which involves both IVEP and embryo t...

Most Kenyan farmers are in need of services to improve their cattle breeds. The artificial insemination and bull services are the only available options to improve these breeds. A study was conducted to determine constraints associated to the use of breeding services in Kenya. The methods used to collect the data included random survey using questi...

Some of the world’s poor and most disaster-vulnerable communities are also those most reliant on livestock. Whenever disasters strike, in addition to the immediate devastation, food insecurity and loss of life, the loss of livestock can leave a secondary legacy of economic instability, debt and dependency. In 2011, a collaborative approach to mitig...

The Boran breed is mainly kept by pastoralist communities as a source of both milk and beef, and by commercial beef ranches mainly for beef production. Although this breed Boran may seemingly be low valued, it can be raised to higher reproductive potential using current reproductive technologies such as in-vitro embryo production and embryo transfe...

Effects of Ripe Carica Papaya Seed Powder on Testicular Histology of Boars Kipyegon AN*, HM Mutembei, VT Tsuma and JA Oduma1 Department of Clinical Studies, 1Department of Veterinary Anatomy and Physiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Nairobi, P.O. Box 29053- 00625, Kangemi, Kenya Key words: Pawpaw seeds Spermatogenesis Testicula...

A twenty year retrospective study was carried out in the Small Animal Clinic, University of Nairobi, Kenya and in a private Small Animal Clinic in Nairobi between the years 1988 to 2008. A total of 6548 bitches had been presented with reproductive problems. The cases were categorically grouped according to the type of infertility diagnosed. Non-inf...

Spermatogenesis and epididymal function depend on testicular steroids with estrogens being important regulatory factors. However, testicular estrogen secretion shows distinct species specificities, with the boar being characterized by the production of high amounts of estrone [E1] and estronesulphate [E1S]. As the boar testis also expresses estroge...

In the dog luteolysis is not affected by hysterectomy. This observation led to the hypothesis that paracrine/autocrine rather than endocrine mechanisms of PGF2alpha are responsible for luteal regression in the dioestric bitch. The present experiments tested for the capacity of canine CL to produce and respond to PGF2alpha by qualitatively and quant...

Contents Oestrogens are essential for male fertility targeting the testicular‐epididymal compartment. However, the underlying mechanisms are only vaguely known and species specificities must be considered. The boar has a remarkably high testicular‐oestrogen output, with the biologically inactive oestrone‐sulphate being the major oestrogen occurring...

In the dog CL are the only source of the progesterone in cyclic and pregnant animals. From a high expression of cyclooxygenase 2 (Cox2) at the beginning of the dioestrus and a low one at the end it was suggested that prostanoids may play a role in the formation of the CL. This led to the hypothesis that also in the dog PGE2 of luteal origin might a...

Contents The boar testis secretes high amounts of oestrogens. In order to test for a likely local significance, we investigated the expression of oestrogen receptors (ER) in immature and mature boar testes using immunohistochemistry (IHC), in vitro and in situ reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR). Samples were from 25 boars cast...

An epidemiological survey undertaken in Kenya indicated that 2 previously well-established factors, namely decline in reproductive efficiency with age, and non-seasonality of canine reproductive parameters, hold true for German shepherd (GSD) bitches in Kenya. Data collection forms were distributed to randomly selected GSD breeders and information...

Data relating to reproductive parameters of German shepherd bitches were collected from registered German shepherd dog (GSD) breeders with information kept over a 15-year period (1982-1997). The information obtained was verified using the East African Kennel Club records. A total of 594 bitches from 280 breeders were recorded. From these, 798 heats...

Estrogen action is mediated via estrogen receptor proteins (ERs). ERs occur in two forms, the classical ERalpha subtype and the novel ERbeta discovered in 1996. These proteins are also widely expressed in the male reproductive tract. Recent data from transgenic mice deficient in estrogen receptors or aromatase, points to an essential physiological...