Improving Awassi Sheep Productivity by Using Frozen Semen in Jordan, Egypt, and Palestinian Authority Names of the Team Members and Participating Countries: 1) Jordan: a- Professor Nabil Hailat DVM, PhD, Project coordinator. Email: [email protected] , Mobile: +962 79 5885219 Office: +962 2 7201000 ext: 22026 b- Dr. Mohammed Ababneh BVM&S, PhD, Diplomat, American College of Theriogenologists c- Professor Shawkat Lafi Hailat, DVM, PhD d- Dr. Falah Shidiafat, DVM, PhD. Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Jordan University of Science and Technology Irbid - Jordan 2) Egypt: a- Professor Ahmad Abed-Raheem, DVM, PhD. b- Dr. Abed Al-Rasiq Khalifeh Al-Rasiq, DVM, PhD c- Dr. Alaa Zain Al-abdeen DVM, PhD Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. Assiut University Assiut - Egypt. 3) Palestinian Authority: a- Dr. Hatem Attalah, Bsc, PhD b- Dr. Salameh Barhoum DVM, PhD c- Dr. Nemer Khreem DVM, Msc. Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Al Najah University Nablus – P.A i Table of content I. Chapter one: Technical and administrative report. 1) Table of content………………………………………………………………3 2) Executive Summary……………………………..….…………………………4 3) Introduction ...................................... ..........................................................5 4) Project background……………………………………………………………8 5) The project documents………………………….……………………………..9 6) Implementation of the Project …………….………………………………....10 Stage1: I.A. Purchasing, Preparation and Characterization of the Superior Rams Used in this Study………………………………………...…10 Stage1: I.B. Farmers Questionnaire Stage1: I.C. Meeting at Assiut University, Egypt, 13-14, April, 2003 Stage1: I.D. Problems facing sheep farmers according to the survey and personal interviews in Mafraq, and Ajloun areas Stage2: II.A. Special Workshop for the Counterparts……………………….18 Stage2: II.B Training An Agri. Engineer and graduate student for AI. Stage2: III.C Freezing of Ram Semen: Stage3: III.A special workshop for the counterparts. ………………………..21 Stage3: III.B Artificial insemination laboratory Stage4: Establishment of the laboratory……………………………………...27 II. Chapter two: Workshops, presentations, farmers participation and knowledge transfer. Workshop Programs ... ……………………………………………………… ….2 1) Workshop for the Jordanian Veterinarians and Agriculture Engineers. 2) Workshop for the Palestinian, Egyptian and Jordanian Veterinarians and Agriculture Engineer Counterparts. 3) Workshops for Farmers in Ajloun area. 4) Workshops in Al-mafreg area. 5) Teaching and Educational Materials in the workshops: a) Objectives of the workshops and mechanism of implementation ..….6 b) A.I in Jordan, paste and future, Dr. Mohammed Ababneh……….….9 ii c) Manipulating reproduction in sheep and goats, Dr. Mustafa Beni- Doumi………………………….……………………..………….....14 d) Present status of A.I in sheep and cattle, Dr. Hatim Atallah ….……19 e) Reprodutive endocrinology, Dr. Falah Shediafat ……..……….…...26 f) Arrificial insemenation in Jordan, Dr. Faris Al-Bakheet ……….….32 g) Ovine and caprine mastitis, Dr. Shawkat Lafi...……………………39 h) Abortion in sheep, Dr. Corrie brown ………………………………42 i) Pathology of brucellosis in ruminants, Dr. Nabil Hailat……………60 k) Abortion lectures to veterinarians and agriculture engeneer from jordan, Palastanian authority, and Egypt, Dr. Nabil Hailat ……….64 l) Mastitis, Dr. Shawkat Hailat………………..……………….……. 78 m) Artificial insemenation in sheep, Dr. Mohammed Ababneh……… 81 n) Breeding soundness examination of the ram, Dr. Mohammed Ababneh…………………………………………………………… 87 o) Care of pregnant doe and ewe, Dr. Mohammed Ababneh………... 95 p) Estrous synchronization in sheep, Dr. Mohammed Ababneh..……106 III. Chapter three: Brochures, Leaflets, and Dissemination of Knowledge IV. Chapter four: Teaching and Educational Materials: 1. Video on semen collection and evaluation. 2. Video on estrous synchronization. iii Figure legend Figure1: A map shows the population of sheep and goats in Jordan . 7 Figure2: Superior ram and Awassi ewe . ……… . 11 Figure3: A map shows locations of geographic locations that are related to project..12 Figure4: Semen collection using electro – ejaculator . ……….. 19 Figure5: An Awassi ewe ready for artificial insemination . ……….. 20 Figure6: Process of semen collection, evaluation, and insemination . ……… 22 Figure7: Modified artificial insemination kit . 24 Figure8: Computer Assister Semen-motility Analyzer (CASA) ……... 27 Figure9: Compares between lambs from superior dam, and normal Awassi . 28 Figure10: Lamb conceived by T-AI using frozen semen.from superior ram. .. 28 Figure11: A male offspring from the superior rams using frozen semen……… .. 29 Figure12: A ten- month old female from superior ram used in our study using frozen semen technique. .. .. 30 Figure13: A young ram from breeding a superior ram with a traditional Awassi ewe………………………………………………….30 Figure14: Compares fat tails from Awassi sheep, and a daughter of a superior ram .31 Figure15: Compares height from Awassi sheep, and a daughter of a superior ram . 31 Figure16: Compares heads from Awassi sheep, and a daughter of superior ram . 31 Figure17: A flock of goats and sheep . ……... 32 Figure18: An Assaf ram from a local sheep farm in AL-Mafraq…………………. 33 Figure19: Offspring lamb from a locally improved Awassi ram from Al-Mafraq….34 Figure20: Offspring lambs from a locally improved Awassi ram in Al-Mafraq…... 34 iv List and content of tables Table1: Population of small ruminant breeds (/thousand head) in Jordan and population change between 1991-1999 . .. .. …... 7 Table2: Population of small ruminant (/thousand head) in Jordan and population change between 2000-2005. ……. ….. 7 Table3: Distribution of small ruminant breeds in Jordan, 1999 . .. .. …..10 Table4: Productive and Genetic Characteristics of the Five superior Rams Used in the Study . ………………………………………………………………………….. .14 Table5: Some Results of Semen Analysis of the Superior Rams . .15 Table6: Main management characteristics of semi-intensive small ruminant production systems by month as used by the participants.. .15 Table7: Results of the structured questionnaire for the 50 Jordanian farmers participated in the regional Artificial Insemination Project in sheep, 2006 . 16 Table 8: Results of the structured questionnaire for the 12 Palestinian farmers participated in the regional Artificial Insemination Project in sheep, 2006 . 17 Table 9: Summary of the Freezing Procedure of Ram Semen . .. 20 Table 10: Summery of insemination procedures . .21 Table 11: Summary of the freezing procedures of ram semen . 26 Table 12: Summary of the freezing procedures of ram semen . .. 28 v Executive Summary The laboratory for Artificial Insemination (AI) in sheep and goats is established at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Jordan University of Science and Technology. It is furnished with all needed equipment, instruments, chemicals and established protocols for semen collection, evaluation, freezing and insemination. A line for semen production and dissemination currently is in place. Lambing from several experimental trials using superior-Awassi rams were obtained as shown in the tables and figures in the text. Some of the offspring will be used for breeding this year. The know-how is has been established and transferred to the counterparts in Egypt and the Palestinian Authority (PA) through several workshops, field days and station demonstrations. The know-how supported with the needed theoretical background was also transferred to the national veterinarians and agriculture engineers working in the Ministry of Agriculture, national research centers and academic institutions in Jordan, Egypt and PA. In addition, the technology of AI in sheep was transferred and practiced with the cooperation of Jordanian sheep farmers and results were obtained. Nowadays, more farmers are convinced with AI technology. Furthermore, the AI technology has been incorporated in the curricula to undergraduate and graduate students. On the other hand, limitations regarding the transfer of frozen semen to the PA and Egypt due to political and animal health concerns restricted the transfer of the genetics of those superior rams to Egypt and PA. However, semen from high quality rams in Egypt and P.A can be used for improving the productivity of local sheep breeds as the A.I technology has been transferred and established. 1 I. INTRODUCTION: Small ruminants are important for the livelihood of farmers in Jordan. The small ruminants (SR) population is nearly 2.4 million sheep and goats benefiting approximately 40-45 thousand families, which have an average of six members. There is an increasing demand for the products of these animals, mainly milk and meat, by the country’s five million people who are concentrated in urban areas (figure1). The contribution of the agriculture sector (254 million JD, 1JD= $1.4) to the total Gross National Product (GNP) (4,364 million JD) is approximately 5.5%, most of which (58%) derives from animal production. The contribution of animal production to the GNP is 3.19% (General Directorate for Statistic 1997). The contribution of the small ruminant sector to the GNP is not known but is likely to be less than 1%. The total amount of money invested in poultry and livestock amounts to 550 million JD. Jordan produces approximately 204,622 tons of milk and 14,972 tons of red meat per year. This represents 61.4% and 44% of its needs in milk and red meat, respectively. Sheep produce approximately 23.5% and 56% of the country’s total production of milk and meat, respectively, while goats produce approximately 13% the country’s milk and 18% of the meat. Most