Abstract

Nearly half the world’s 1 200 million cattle live in the tropics proper, i. e. between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, while sheep and goats are largely concentrated in the semi-arid zones just south and north of the two tropics. Pigs are more common in the temperate zones, but still some 15-20 percent of the world total of about 600 million pigs are kept in the tropics. The adaptability and reproductivity of the livestock in the tropical areas is therefore of great importance to overall world availability of livestock products. Animal productivity in these areas is low. The average lactation yields of cows used for milk production in Africa and the Indian subcontinent are generally of the order of 300-500 Kg only. 

J. Rendel

Proceedings of the World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production, Volume 2, Madrid, Spain, 211–279, 1974