Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T08:34:36.372Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Importance of determining the climatic domains of sheep breeds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 November 2017

D. Petit  and
I. Boujenane
D. Petit*
Affiliation:
UMR 1061, Université de Limoges, 123, Avenue Albert Thomas, 87060 Limoges Cedex, France
I. Boujenane
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Production and Biotechnology, Institut Agronomique et Vétérinaire Hassan II, PO Box 6202 Rabat-Instituts, 10101 Rabat, Morocco
*
†E-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

The main purpose of the study was to compare the capacity of the major sheep breeds in Morocco to cope with climate changes through the ranges of several climate parameters in which they can be found. We first delimitated the climatic ‘domains’ of each breed by constructing a database including altitude and climatic parameters (minima mean of the coldest month, maxima mean of the hottest month, annual rainfall, pluviothermic coefficient of Emberger Q2, annual minima mean and annual maxima mean) on a 30-year period using the representative stations of each breed distribution. The overlap between each breed combination was quantified through a canonical analysis that extracted the most discriminant parameters. The variance analysis of each climatic parameter evidenced two breeds remarkable by their tolerance. The first one is the Timahdite, mainly settled in areas over 1100 m, which can tolerate the greatest variations in annual rainfall and pluviothermic coefficient. In spite of this feature, this breed is endangered owing to the decreasing quality of pastures. The second one is the D’man which apparently can support high variations in extreme temperatures. In fact, this breed is not well adapted to pastures and requires a special microclimate offered by oases. The information reported in this study will be the basis for the establishment of characterization and selection strategies for Moroccan sheep.

Keywords

Moroccan sheepclimate changeclimatic domaincanonical analysisstress tolerance
Type
Research Article
Information
animal , Volume 12 , Issue 7 , July 2018 , pp. 1501 - 1507
Copyright
© The Animal Consortium 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ashour, G and Benlemlih, S 2001. Adaptation of Mediterranean breeds to heat stress and water deprivation. In Livestock Production and Climatic Uncertainty in the Mediterranean: Proceedings of the Joint ANPA-EAAP-CIHEAM-FAO Symposium (ed. F Guessous, N Rihani and A Ilham), pp. 63–74. Wageningen Pers, Wageningen, the Netherlands.Google Scholar
Benfekih, L, Foucart, A and Petit, D 2011. Central Saharan populations of Locusta migratoria cinerascens (Orthoptera: Acrididae) in irrigated perimeters: is it a recent colonizing event? Annales de la Société Entomologique de France 47, 147–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boujenane, I 1999. Les ressources génétiques ovines au Maroc. Actes Editions, Rabat, Morocco. 136pp.Google Scholar
Boujenane, I 2005. Small ruminant breeds of Morocco. In Characterization of Small Ruminant Breeds in West Asia and North Africa. Volume 2: North Africa (ed. L Iniguez), pp. 5–54. International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Aleppo, Syria.Google Scholar
Boujenane, I and Petit, D 2016. Between- and within-breed morphological variability in Moroccan sheep breeds. Animal Genetic Resources 58, 91–100.Google Scholar
Boulanouar, B and Paquay, R 2005. L’élevage du mouton et ses systèmes de production au Maroc. Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Rabat, Morocco. 348pp.Google Scholar
Chaponniere, A and Smakhtin, V 2006. A review of climate change scenarios and preliminary rainfall trend analysis in the Oum Er Rbia Basin, Morocco. Working Paper 110, Drought Series: Paper 8, International Water Management Institute.Google Scholar
Daget, P 1977. Le bioclimat méditerranéen: analyse des formes climatiques par le système d’Emberger. Vegetatio 34, 87–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Pauw, E, Rischkowsky, B, Abou-Naga, A, Ansari-Renani, HR, Boujenane, I and Gursoy, O 2011. Use of GIS tools for the integration of production environment descriptors of animal genetic resources. Final Report of Project “Practical Application of Production Environment Descriptors for Animal Genetic Resources – country case studies for sheep and goat breeds” (Letter of Agreement of FAO with ICARDA PR 43410).Google Scholar
Driouech, F, Déqué, M and Sánchez-Gómez, E 2010. Weather regimes-Moroccan precipitation link in a regional climate change simulation. Global and Planetary Change 72, 1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eyraud, E 1934. La production ovine au Maroc. Les Journées Marocaines du Mouton, Casablanca. pp 49–70.Google Scholar
Hoffmann, I 2010. Climate change and the characterization, breeding and conservation of animal genetic resources. Animal Genetics 41, 32–46.Google Scholar
Hoffmann, I 2013. Adaptation to climate change-exploring the potential of locally adapted breeds. Animal 7, 346–362.Google Scholar
MARA 1980. Plan Moutonnier. Direction de l’Élevage, Ministère de l’Agriculture et de la Réforme Agraire, Rabat, Morocco.Google Scholar
Mason, IL 1996. A world dictionary of livestock breeds, types and varieties. CAB International, Wallingford, UK.Google Scholar
Parish, R and Funnell, DC 1999. Climate change in mountain regions: some possible consequences in the Moroccan High Atlas. Global Environmental Change 9, 45–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SAS 2002. SAS/STAT, user’s guide. SAS Institute, Cary, NC, USA.Google Scholar
Sauvage, C 1963. Etages bioclimatiques. Comité National de géographie du Maroc. Atlas du Maroc, notices explicatives, section II: physique du globe et météorologie, Rabat.Google Scholar
Schilling, J, Freier, KP, Hertig, E and Scheffran, J 2012. Climate change, vulnerability and adaptation in North Africa with focus on Morocco. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 156, 12–26.Google Scholar
Seo, SN, McCarl, BA and Mendelsohn, R 2010. From beef cattle to sheep under global warming? An analysis of adaptation by livestock species choice in South America. Ecological Economics 69, 2486–2494.Google Scholar
SPSS Inc 1997. SYSTAT ver. 12. The System for Statistics. Inc, Evanston, IL.Google Scholar
Zine-Filali, R 1978. Effets des hautes températures ambiantes sur quelques paramètres physiologiques et biochimiques chez le mouton. Unpublished veterinary doctoral thesis I.A.V. Hassan II, Rabat, Morocco.Google Scholar