Confronting pastoralists’ knowledge of cattle breeds raised in the extensive production systems of Benin with multivariate analyses of morphological traits

Cross-border seasonal livestock movements in West Africa bring into close contact several cattle breeds. In the coastal countries hosting migrating herders from the Sahel, it often affects the genetic variability and geographical distribution of traditional cattle breeds, through their indiscriminate but also intended crossbreeding with larger-framed Sahelian cattle breeds. The need to secure and effectively manage this genetic variability, in order to respond to changing production and market conditions, is widely recognized by the scientific community, livestock herders and policy-makers. This however requires a comprehensive knowledge of the breeds’ characteristics. The indigenous criteria used by pastoralists to characterize and distinguish cattle breeds remain unclear and further validation is required. This study was therefore designed to document and validate herders' knowledge on cattle breeds. From June 2015 to June 2016, 803 cattle herders participated in a phenotypic breed description in seven pastoral communities across the country. Each cattle herder was asked to name and describe morphologically the different cattle breeds in his herd. Subsequently, fifteen body measurements taken on a total of 1401 adult cattle (964 cows and 439 bulls) were submitted to multivariate analyses. Participants distinguished ten different cattle breeds kept in traditional herds according to six primary morphological traits and clearly separated zebuine from taurine breeds. These results were consistent with those of the multivariate analyses of the measured traits. However, herders’ classification approach proved to be more accurate in distinguishing breeds within the zebuine subspecies. Hence, while metric measurements and molecular genetic analyses are promising approaches to fill the knowledge gap on the diversity of local farm animal genetic resources, they should integrate livestock herders’ traditional knowledge for more precision.

西非跨境季节性牲畜迁徙使得多个肉牛品种得以近距离接触。在接待来自萨赫勒地区迁徙牧民的沿海国家中，这种迁徙往往会通过与体型更大的萨赫勒肉牛品种进行无计划但兼具目的性的杂交，影响传统肉牛品种的遗传多样性与地理分布。为应对不断变化的生产与市场环境，保护并有效管理这类遗传多样性已成为科学界、牧民与政策制定者的广泛共识。但这一目标的达成，需建立在对各肉牛品种特征的全面认知基础之上。目前牧民用于表征和区分肉牛品种的本土判别标准仍不明确，有待进一步验证。因此，本研究旨在系统记录并验证牧民对肉牛品种的认知体系。2015年6月至2016年6月期间，研究团队在全国7个牧区社区开展了肉牛品种表型描述调研，共有803名牧民参与。每位受访牧民需对其牧群中的各类肉牛品种进行命名，并从形态学角度加以描述。随后，研究团队对共计1401头成年肉牛（其中母牛964头、公牛439头）的15项体尺指标进行了多变量分析。受访牧民依据6项主要形态性状，将传统牧群中的肉牛划分为10个不同品种，并清晰区分了瘤牛（zebuine）与普通牛（taurine）两个亚种。这一分类结果与体尺指标多变量分析的结果相一致。但在瘤牛亚种内部的品种区分上，牧民的分类方法展现出更高的准确性。因此，尽管体尺测量与分子遗传分析是填补本地畜禽遗传资源多样性认知空白的有效手段，但为进一步提升精准度，此类研究应纳入牧民的传统知识。