Local Production: Solution to High Cost of GM Cotton Seed?

by George Kalungwe

Kholowa: we need affordable seed.

For many years now, the government of Malawi and agronomists have been encouraging local farmers to grow genetically modified (GM) cotton seed following its notable benefits on yield and disease resistance.

Black Swedish Duck Details

In Malawi, when it comes to exotic ducks, most farmers are used to Pekin and Khaki Campbell. Oh, yes, these are cute ducks! But today, let’s talk a little about Black Swedish or, alternatively, Swedish Black. Both names are used. I sourced this information from purelypoultry.com, a website that tries to put into perspective different types of poultry breeds by specifying their traits.

What is the Difference Between GMO and Cross Breeding, or Cross Pollination

What is the difference between GMO and cross breeding, or cross pollination and how prevalent genetic modification is?

Kevin Folta, Interim Chair and Associate Professor in the Horticultural Sciences Department at University of Florida, has created a video response to your question. Find a transcript of the video below:

So what are the big differences between GMO technology, cross-breeding and simple cross-pollination? Let’s start with the last one. Cross-pollination is simply a process where two sexually compatible plants happen to cross by virtue of pollen, which is the male contribution to this process, being carried by wind or insects or possibly by water – whatever process – to fertilize another member of the same species. So, cross-pollination happens all the time. And I shouldn’t say “same species” because sometimes plants can cross that barrier without much trouble.

The idea of cross-hybridization – or cross-breeding is the way that the question came in – is when scientists – or when plant breeders, could be farmers, could be scientists – deliberately select parents for their specific traits and then transfer the pollen from one plant to the pistillate parts of the other plant, in other words making a cross between two plants that may have never crossed naturally. We see this more and more in plant breeding. The idea is to create a plant which has outstanding attributes of both parents.

Nowadays, this is becoming a very common practice, even to take very wide crosses – meaning maybe plants that could have never crossed naturally. Maybe something from a mountainous region that carries a certain disease resistance or cold tolerance trait and cross that with something that comes from maybe a more coastal region that has superior quality food product. Maybe by incorporating these two, by crossing these two and incorporating and mixing all those genes, something favorable may come out. It may be a one-in-a million chance but that one-in-a-million plant could allow significant environmental advantages by being able to grow a plant in different environments and have resistance to that disease, maybe requiring less fungicide or insecticide. This is the idea of basic cross-pollination and the way it’s used as a tool, again, by humans. So, human intervention is involved.

Kind of the ultimate idea of in human intervention in plant cross-breeding is what we’re thinking of in terms of GMO technology. GMO technology can also be thought of – or I think of it as – precision cross-breeding. It’s where you’re able to take a single gene, or maybe a small set of genes, and transfer them into a new genetic background. So maybe something that has tremendous, elite qualities in terms of its traits – maybe has excellent ability to ship or be stored or maybe great flavor quality – but has some problems with disease susceptibility. And, maybe by adding one gene, you could solve that problem. In something like an apple tree, this might save 50 years of breeding time by being able to add that one single gene.

So this is the principle difference between cross-pollination, which just occurs naturally between sexually compatible plants, cross-breeding, which is a human-facilitated process by which humans do this, and GMO technology, where in a laboratory we’re able to move one trait with precision to confer some new quality or some new trait onto a plant product.

The last part of the question is, “How prevalent are GMOs?” And, what you find is that approximately 70 percent of food in our stores carry this technology, or at least has products that came through this technology. You’ll find that 90 percent of acreage of soy, corn, cotton and canola are all GM plants. There also are some GM sugar beets, papaya and some squash, but that’s very minor acreage.

You’ll also notice that there aren’t that many horticultural crops available as GM – so things like tomatoes or strawberries just aren’t available. And that’s simply because of the regulatory process is so high. In the future you might see that change as we begin to understand further the safety of these technologies, and how they may be applied to solve significant problems in our society.

Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/uVWsDUWRgT4

Disclaimer: the article has been published in totality without any alteration.

Understanding the Lohman Brown

A lot of people have been asking for info about Lohmann Brown layer chicken. Here is a brief.

The Lohmann Brown is a variety of chicken, raised specifically for egg-laying productivity. It is of crossbreed origin, selectively bred from New Hampshires and other brown-egg-laying breeds. They lay at about 18 weeks, producing up to 300 eggs per year. Eggs are laid nearly daily, normally at dawn or dusk.

Most Lohmann Browns have a caramel/brown shade of feathers, with white feathers in a pattern round their necks, and white feathers at the tips of their tail feathers.

How long do Lohmann Brown chickens live?

The chicken has a friendly temperament and is also highly adaptable. It is known for its large and brown eggs and has excellent laying rate of more than 300 eggs per year. The Lohmann Browns also have a long life expectancy of up to 10 years.

The Lohmann Browns, like the Lohmann Silvers, were developed in Germany.

Source:
1. ^ Ray Feltwell (17 March 2011), Small-Scale Poultry Keeping: A Guide to Free-range Poultry Production, Faber & Faber, pp. 5–6, ISBN 978-0-571-26539-8
2. ^ Pammy Riggs; Kimberley Willis; Rob Ludlow (2011), Keeping Chickens for Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, p. 49, ISBN 978-1-119-99417-6

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We nurture nature

Most often, poultry breeds that are considered improved and high productive, i.e. those that lay more eggs, have more meat, etc., have one disadvantage. They are not broody. They never sit on their eggs (incubate) or raise their young ones.

Take for example, Black Australorp (Mikolongwe) or Kuroiler chickens. These are good meat and egg birds but can’t brood. This is the same with Khaki and Pekin ducks. Nice breeds of ducks – more eggs; more meat but they do not brood. Where a male is provided, their eggs will be fertile since they mate just like any other bird but the hybrid genetics in them take away some part of nature.

Multiplying these types of breeds can be tricky if you do not have an artificial incubator. You have more eggs with no means of hatching them. Are you in this fix? Do not despair. Try natural incubation with a hen. A hen that is broody (local chicken) can sit on exotic duck eggs as well as eggs of these other hybrid chickens and hatch them so long they are fertile. Upon hatching, she will raise the chicks!

In the case of chicken-to-chicken, there should not be any problem but in chicken-to-duck, the hen is likely to start staying away from the ducklings after a month or so when she starts noticing her differences with them.

For ducks, you can withdraw the ducklings at four weeks and put them in an artificial brooder. For chicks, you can let them stay with it until it is naturally time to wean them off or withdraw them at two weeks into a brooder as well. This will encourage the hen to stay laying again in a few weeks.

The trick is notice the time the hen is going to get broody. Please, note that this must be a hen which has also been laying and by the time it starts sitting on its own eggs, you simply remove hers and replace with the others. I advise not to remove all of hers, otherwise she will abandon all the eggs. Mix them up.

If you mix chicken and duck eggs, remember that the chicken’s will hatch first followed by the duck’s four or five days later. When the chicks hatch, take them away after two days. The hen will continue sitting on the duck eggs for more days to satisfy their incubation period which is 28 to 30.

Here, we have our hen which incubated Khaki Campbell and Pekin eggs, and is now raising the ducklings.

Nature is fascinating. Isn’t it?

On Malawian Local Ducks and Exotic Breeds

Do you know what we normally call ‘local ducks’ here in Malawi are closely related, if not the same as the highly-priced Muscovy ducks? I have studied most of their traits and find them to be similar. So to describe the local duck and its benefits, I will use the Muscovy.

Muscovy duck (Cairina moschata) is a large duck native to Mexico, Central, and South America and Africa according to an entry on World's Poultry Science Journal.

They are some of the largest ducks on planet Earth. The males can grow up to 76 cm long and weigh up to 7 kilos. Females are usually smaller, growing up to 3.5 kg.

The bird is predominantly black and white, with the back feathers being iridescent and glossy in males, while the females are drabber. Both sexes have pink or red wattles around the bill, those of the male being larger and more brightly colored.

The one I recently slaughtered weighed 3 kg dressed weight!

Under scavenging, backyard farming conditions, the ducks can lay between 60 and 80 eggs each per year, and about 100 and 125 eggs per bird per year with an egg weight of about 72g under improved management conditions.

Fact

Partly due to the larger yolk, duck eggs are significantly higher in both fat and cholesterol than chicken eggs. But they're also higher in protein and have a higher concentration of omega-3 fatty acids, making them a favorite of paleo dieters, who seek high-fat foods. - https://modernfarmer.com.

Duck meat has a much stronger flavor than both chicken and turkey. The nearest comparison would be the darker parts of other poultry, but duck is still more flavorful, says nutritionadvance.com. As is the case with many foods, the higher fat content positively contributes to the overall taste profile.

Do you like baking? Try duck eggs, instead of chicken egg and you’ll love them forever.

Pricing

Despite these attributes, most farmers in Malawi, especially in rural areas, sell their ducks at low prices, ranging from K2000 (US 2.6) to K3500 (US 4.7). In urban set ups, the prices go up to K5000 (US 6.6) and K7000 (US 9.3) for fully-grown meat fowls. This is very low compared to the K10, 000 and K20, 000 for foreign breeds such as Pekin and Khaki.

Now, with all these benefits, why should local ducks fetch low prices? It is high time we appreciated what a delicacy and money spinner the ‘native Muscovy’ is.

Our Homemade Breeds 2

This cockerel is brother to the hens above. They were hatched together. I am cautious not to call it Hy-Line cock since I understand Hy-Line cocks are not necessary brown in colour. Nonetheless, I patiently wait to see what offspring it will give us. The legs and neck are such tall not be confused with anything. It is simply in a class of its own. In fact, it is improved on a similar we had last time.