Takele Taye Desta

• PhD in Life Sciences (Genetics)
• Professor (Assistant) at Kotebe University of Education

Indigenous village chickens (IVCs) are self-reliant, and they have accumulated traits that assure their survival as a species. The reproductive characteristics and behavioral traits are mainly ascribed to maternal instincts. This study reports the maternal instincts of IVCs gathered using face-to-face interviews with small-scale farmers. Indeed, lo...

Background In Ethiopia, STIs (sexually transmitted infections) are among the most important diseases in the childbearing age group and adults. This study aimed to assesses the knowledge, attitudes, practices, and risky behaviours related to STIs among preparatory school students in western Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods A cross-sectional study des...

Background: ABO–rhesus (Rh) blood testing screens blood types according to the antigenic properties of red blood cells. Objective: This study reports the allelic and phenotypic frequency distribution of the ABO and Rh blood groups in pregnant women who attended antenatal care (ANC) at Zewditu Memorial Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and the like...

Wetlands take various forms; accordingly, they may include artificial or natural water, permanent or temporary water, fresh, brackish, or salt water that is static or flowing, including seawater that is not deeper than 6 meters at low tide. We reviewed the status and unique attributes of wetlands. Wetland characteristics can differ spatially and te...

Water hyacinth, Eichhornia crassipes, is an obtrusive aquatic vascular plant native to South America (Neotropics). It is among the notorious and invasive weeds that adversely affect the tropical and subtropical world. In Ethiopia, E. crassipes was first reported in 1956 on Lake Koka and a flooded waterway of Awash River. It was introduced to Ethiop...

Background Indigenous village chickens (IVCs) significantly contribute to rural development. There is considerable variation in family flock size and age–sex structure of IVCs. Objectives This study reports the family flock size, age–sex group structure, and demographic history of IVCs. Methods This work involved a cross‐sectional study conducted...

Background Indigenous village chickens (IVCs) show a wide variation in production performance and reproductive characteristics. This high variation is occurred due to genetic and environmental factors and gene-environment interactions. Results This work reports the results of a cross-sectional study conducted using a face-to-face interview with 119...

Background Indigenous village chickens, or (IVCs), significantly contribute to rural livelihoods. Although natural selection has a disproportionate impact on the genetic structure of IVCs, farmers have developed locally tailored breeding practices to get the most out of their flocks. Objectives Small‐scale farmers’ insights on trait breed preferen...

Background Urban agriculture significantly contributes to food security. The two primary components of urban agriculture are livestock production and horticulture. The goat, Capra hircus, is one of the commonly raised food animals. Goats can be used to generate income, produce milk, meat, skins, furs (hairs) and manure and provide various sociocult...

Indigenous Village Chickens (IVCs) obtain most of their feed from a scavenging feed resource base. Free roaming makes IVCs express their instincts at will, which could enhance their welfare. Free-ranging has also endowed IVCs with excellent explorative behavior. However, predators might have also co-evolved, which necessitates special interference...

Background Routine tasks performed by equids have been taken over by motorised transportation and agricultural mechanisation services, and both are rapidly expanding in developing nations. For instance, in developing nations, the length of all‐season roads annually has increased by 0.2% and the number of vehicles by 15% to 17%. Consequently, rural...

Indigenous Village Chickens (IVCs) obtain most of their feed from a scavenging feed resource base. Free roaming makes IVCs express their instincts at will, which could enhance their welfare. Free-ranging has also endowed IVCs with excellent explorative behavior. However, predators might have also co-evolved, which necessitates special interference...

Social distance is the most promising technique for containing respiratory disorders such as coronaviruses. However, social separation is impractical in some situations where physical proximity is unavoidable. This research proposes alternative and complementary preventive and suppressive social distancing measures. This study explored the literatu...

SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) is an unparalleled challenge for the international community. Subsequently, an extraordinary effort has been made to contain SARS-CoV-2. However, this has been largely limited to behavioral changes and vaccination. To make the containment strategies effective, behavioral changes and vacci...

In developing nations, indigenous village chickens, or IVCs, signi cantly contribute to rural livelihoods. IVCs are well-suited for small-scale farmers' multiple breeding objectives and low-input, low-output production systems. Although natural selection has a disproportionate impact on the genetic structure of IVCs, small-scale farmers have develo...

Indigenous village chickens (IVCs) display a wide variation in production performance and reproductive characteristics. This variation is ascribed to genetic and environmental factors and gene-environment interactions. This work reports the results of a cross-sectional study recorded using a face-to-face interview of 119 small-scale farmers regardi...

In developing nations, indigenous village chickens, or IVCs, significantly contribute to rural livelihoods. IVCs are well-suited for small-scale farmers' multiple breeding objectives and low-input, low-output production systems. Although natural selection has a disproportionate impact on the genetic structure of IVCs, small-scale farmers have devel...

Background: The Coronavirus pandemic triggered a worldwide partial lockdown. The lockdown instigated the school’s shutdown making the students follow their courses in the virtual modalities while staying at home. Methods: The data were collected using an online survey using a semi-structured questionnaire. The study involved anonymous as well as v...

For smallholder farmers, indigenous village chickens (IVCs) serve as a source of food, income, and ritual items. In practice, there is a high demand for IVC products, and when this demand is coupled with low investment in production inputs, it makes IVC production a rewarding rural business. Regardless of a lot of complaints about its efficacy, the...

Eucalyptus is a popular fast-growing evergreen perennial tree. Attributable to its diverse economic importance and wide range of adaptations, the eucalyptus is commonly grown in tropical and subtropical regions. Eucalyptus is an economically important tree. However, the economic value of eucalyptus ensued at the expense of undesirable ecological co...

Civet musk, a precious perfume ingredient, is under threat. Steps to support Ethiopian producers and protect the animals

This study proposes a balanced and combined use of immunity developed from vaccination and natural infection. This work reviewed literature and enriched further using critical thoughts on integrating vaccination with naturally-induced immunity. Undoubtedly, coronavirus is an extraordinary challenge the present-day world has faced. However, efforts...

Desta TT, Teklemariam H, Mulugeta T. 2022. The insight of smallholder farmers on special attributes of the genetically robust mule. Biodiversitas 23: 3561-3566. A mule (Equus asinus X Equus caballus) is the offspring of a jack, a mature male donkey, and a mare, a mature female horse. Mule is the artifact of distant hybridization, and interspecific...

Desta TT, Teklemariam H, Mulugeta T. 2022. The insight of smallholder farmers on special attributes of the genetically robust mule. Biodiversitas 23: 3561-3566. A mule (Equus asinus X Equus caballus) is the offspring of a jack, a mature male donkey, and a mare, a mature female horse. Mule is the artifact of distant hybridization, and interspecific...

Eucalyptus is a popular evergreen perennial tree that grows quickly. Due to its diverse economic value and wide range of adaptations, the eucalyptus is commonly grown in tropical and subtropical regions. Eucalyptus is an economically important tree. However, the economic importance of eucalyptus ensued at the expense of undesirable ecological conse...

The COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the lives of the global community, consequently, many parts of people's lives have been jeopardized. Therefore, there is a need to curb the spread of coronavirus. Accordingly, countries are enforcing partial or full-fledged lockdown to restrict all sorts of socialization. However, studies reported that people ha...

The multi-purpose indigenous village chickens (IVCs) are kept in low- and middle-income countries. IVCs are hardy and are resilient to disease, hostile environment, global warming, and climate change. The IVCs are a little impacted by anthropogenic effects; consequently, they possess high genetic and phenotypic diversity. Likewise, the genetic stru...

Background Roosting in trees exhibits the instinct and widespread practice of the night enclosure system in indigenous village chickens (IVCs) of the tropics. This work reviews the predisposition of IVCs for night-time roosting in trees and summarizes the pros and cons of this natural behavior. It is largely focused on personal insights which were...

Indigenous village chickens (IVCs) greatly contribute to food security and rural development. Consequently, IVCs cover incidental expenses, economically empower women, and support the livelihood of disadvantaged groups. Interestingly, ritual practices of traditional communities across the Global South utilise IVCs. IVCs provide several ecosystem se...

Chicken is a homeothermic animal; consequently, regardless of fluctuation in weather conditions, it maintains constant body temperature. However, in hot regions and seasons, chickens suffer from heat stress. To dissipate excess heat, besides modifying the environment, which is costly, however, chickens with efficient heat dissipation capacity might...

Poultry play an important role in the agriculture of many African countries. The majority of chickens in sub-Saharan Africa are indigenous, raised in villages under semi-scavenging conditions. Vaccinations and biosecurity measures rarely apply, and infectious diseases remain a major cause of mortality and reduced productivity. Genomic selection for...

Objective This piece of work proposes a way for the wise management of pseudoscience and conspiracy theories.Methods This work encompassed a review of relevant literature and synthesized the critical thoughts on the proper management of pseudoscience and conspiracy theories.ResultThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) overwhelmingly challenges the...

The coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic is imposing an extraordinary threat to global health. Consequently, fear has been raised in that the COVID-19 pandemic could disproportionately affect lowincome countries. Low-income countries are mainly concentrated in the Global South of the tropics with a high diversity of pathogens, and a considera...

Serological data for Salmonella and Infectious Bursal Disease Virus (IBDV) were recorded for 760 indigenous Ethiopian village chickens raised in two distinct geographical regions, Horro and Jarso. Chickens were gen-otyped with a 620K SNP array. A multidimensional scaling analysis showed that the two populations were genetically distinct. In Horro c...

Desta TT. 2019. Enhanced enrichment is inevitable to carry on the legacy of African civet (Civettictis civetta) captive farming. Biodiversitas 20: 1575-1579. African civet secrets an aromatic compound called civet musk. Ethiopia has a long-lasting production and trading history of civet musk. Ethiopia holds about 90% of the international market sha...

Junglefowl display adaptive characters like seasonal breeding, well-established social hierarchy, explorative behaviour, territoriality, aggression and short ranged flight, however, they are smaller, produce less and mature later than commercial breeds. Non-green junglefowl cocks display eclipse plumage – a reliable indicator of genetic purity and...

Junglefowl display adaptive characters like seasonal breeding, well-established social hierarchy, explorative behaviour, territoriality, aggression and short ranged flight, however, they are smaller, produce less and mature later than commercial breeds. Non-green junglefowl cocks display eclipse plumage-a reliable indicator of genetic purity and a...

This study involves two village chicken populations sampled from Horro and Jarso regions of Western and Eastern Ethiopia respectively. This study maps the phenomic and genomic landscape of the two chicken populations using morphological markers and a high density (600K) SNP array. Although the two chicken populations tend to display nondescript mor...

Village chickens are ubiquitous in smallholder farming systems, contributing to household, local and national economies under diverse environmental, economic and cultural settings. However, they are raised in challenging environments where productivity is low while mortality is high. There is much interest in utilizing indigenous genetic resources...

Background: The majority of chickens in sub-Saharan Africa are indigenous ecotypes, well adapted to the local environment and raised in scavenging production systems. Although they are generally resilient to disease challenge, routine vaccination and biosecurity measures are rarely applied and infectious diseases remain a major cause of mortality...

Background EAV-HP is an ancient retrovirus pre-dating Gallus speciation, which continues to circulate in modern chicken populations, and led to the emergence of avian leukosis virus subgroup J causing significant economic losses to the poultry industry. We mapped EAV-HP integration sites in Ethiopian village chickens, a Silkie, Taiwan Country chick...

Contents 79 The Chicken Leads the Way in Avian Genomics. Prepared by J. Smith. 80 The Chicken Genome: Current Status of Genome Assembly and Annotations. Prepared by D.W. Burt, L. Eöry, A.L. Archibald, B.L. Aken, P. Flicek, K. Howe, W. Chow, M. Dunn, J.M.D. Wood, R. Nag, and W.C. Warren. 83 The Avian RNAseq Consortium: A Community Effort to Annot...

This study involves two village chicken populations sampled from Horro and Jarso regions of Western and Eastern Ethiopia respectively. This study maps the phenomic and genomic landscape of the two chicken populations using morphological markers and a high density (600K) SNP array. Although the two chicken populations tend to display nondescript mor...

Amongst the four species of Gallus is the red junglefowl, the main ancestor of the domestic chicken (G. gallus spp). However, other species may have also contributed to the genetic pool of some domestic populations. This study aims to unravel at genome wide level, the possible introgression of non-red junglefowl species into domestic chicken and vi...

Chickens raised under village production systems are exposed to a wide variety of pathogens, and current or previous infections may affect their susceptibility to further infections with another parasite, and/or can alter the manifestation of each infection. It is possible that co-infections may be as important as environmental risk factors. Howeve...

Serological data for Salmonella and Infec-tious Bursal Disease Virus (IBDV) were recorded for 760 indigenous Ethiopian village chickens raised in two distinct geographical regions, Horro and Jarso. Chickens were gen-otyped with a 620K SNP array. A multidimensional scaling analysis showed that the two populations were genetically distinct. In Horro...

The observed genetic divergence likely emanated from limited gene flow, variation in demographic history and route and time of introduction. Moreover, the two populations might be descended from different ancestral origins and they have been established and developed under different management histories. Ecological variability and demographic struc...

Coccidiosis, caused by species of the apicomplexan parasite Eimeria, is a major disease of chickens. Eimeria species are present world-wide, and are ubiquitous under intensive farming methods. However, prevalence of Eimeria species is not uniform across production systems. In developing countries such as Ethiopia, a high proportion of chicken produ...

Village chickens have been kept for millennia under patronage of smallholder farmers. Our study was intended at dissecting the signature of artificial selection and ecological variation on morphological structures of Ethiopian village chickens. This report was based on visual traits of 798 chickens and a concise one-to-one interview of 399 farmers...

Due to its high agro-ecological variation and favorable production environment, Ethiopia has been endowed with high diversity of animal genetic resources and huge livestock population. However, the per capita consumption of livestock products is among the least in the world. To increase this consumption level, Ethiopia needs to keep livestock speci...

Little effort has been made to improve village chickens housing, feeding, and health care. Due to this, the amount of output obtained is usually low. The aim of this study was to elicit farmers' knowledge on the routine husbandry practices of village chickens. One hundred nineteen farmers were one-on-one interviewed in the highland and lowland area...

The rearing of indigenous chickens is an integral part of the smallholder farming system in the tropics, where they are kept by the rural poor to fulfil multiple functions. Their special adaptation to environmental stresses and poor husbandry practices has made them the choice of breed for smallholder production systems. However, little effort has...

In the humid and subhumid tropics, trypanosomosis is an economically important zoonotic protozoan disease of the commonly kept farm animal species and their wild relatives. For example, more than 20% of the humid western and southwestern Ethiopia, which is home to more than 14 million heads of cattle, is under varying levels of trypanosomosis risk....

Rearing of scavenging chickens is among the most commonly practiced farm activities in Ethiopia. This system is dominated by indigenous chickens. Output from indigenous chickens is low due to poor management and absence of intense selection that is intended to improve economically important traits. This showed that village chickens are rather evolv...

Like their smallholder subsistence counterparts in developing countries, breed and trait preferences of Sheko cattle keepers have broad perspectives. Our study has documented breed and trait preferences of Sheko cattle keepers in southwestern Ethiopia--the natural breeding tract of Sheko cattle. Our results showed that due to their multifunctionali...

Breed and trait preferences of Sheko cattle owners in south western Ethiopia - Volume 1 Issue 2 - Takele Taye Desta, Workneh Ayalew, B. P. Hegde