2024/08/21 by Dzivakwi Rashidi, Recent, Makuza, Stanley Marshall, Murungweni, Chrispen
#Breeding #Inbreeding #Livestock #Reproductivity #Smallholder
paper · doi:10.60814/jts.v1i2.94
Effects of the natural mating and the artificial insemination breeding methods were reviewed. Breeding methods have significant impact on cattle reproductive performance in the smallholder sector livestock production sector. In Zimbabwe, over 80% of cattle population is found in the smallholder sector. Cattle production in smallholder sector is characterised by poor reproductive performance due to several reasons, among them the breeding method. A comprehensive systematic literature review search was conducted from August 2021 to July 2022 using search engines Google Scholar and EBSCO host to explore the impacts of different breeding methods used in smallholder sector of Zimbabwe. Fifty-seven full text articles met the inclusion criteria. Forty-one of the articles were research papers and sixteen were narrative reviews. The most common breeding method, the natural mating method, is easier for farmers but badly affected by communal system of grazing and limited number and diversity of bulls available. The alternative artificial insemination method is used by limited number of farmers due to lack of knowledge, skill and resources. Both methods of mating explored have their own advantages and disadvantages. The central problem to using the natural mating method is inbreeding. Inbreeding leads to a multitude of other problems all leading to poor reproductive performance. It was concluded that systematic revealing of problems and sequential chronicling of advantages can help farmers understand each of the two methods for better implementation and decision making on each method.