ABDESSAMAD ABDESSALEM¹

KSONTINI MUSTAPHA¹

AMMARI YOUSSEF ¹

¹ Laboratory of Forest Ecology, National Researches Institute of Rural Engineering, Water and Forests, University of Carthage, Tunis, Tunisia

Abstract - By its geographical position, Tunisia presents a great diversity of biotopes occupied by an important floristic richness presenting the various plant species. It includes among others the genus Quercus which is represented by five species, two of which are deciduous (zeen oak and afares oak) and three sclerophyll (cork oak, kermes oak and holm oak). A morphological study of afares oak compared to zeen oak and cork oak was carried out under semi-controlled conditions (in the nursery) where the results show a higher germination rate in afares oak (96%), a morphological variability of acorns and leaves increase in height in cork oak (12.04 cm) compared to zeen oak (8.76 cm) and afares oak (5.1 cm). Under natural conditions (on the ground) dendrometric measurements carried out on adult trees show that the height is greater in afares oak and zeen oak (about 15 m) and to a lesser degree in cork oak (about 10 m) while the leaves showed a great morphological variability except for the cork oak and the afares oak where the latter constitutes a forest species of intermediate form between the two oaks mainly due to the mix of stands in the station. The afares oak species differs from other acorn size oak species, especially with cork oak as well as the increase in height and diameter (young plants and adult trees) as well as the size of leaves. All these parameters of afares oak are close to that of zeen oak and cork oak at the same time while retaining an intermediate form between them and admitting the idea of hybridism.

Keywords: Quercus afares, Quercus canariensis, Quercus suber, germination, morphological parameters.

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AYADI M.¹

ABIDI S.¹

BRAHMI E.² 

SOULI A.^1,2

¹Département de Biotechnologie Animale, Institut Supérieur de Biotechnologie de Beja, Université de Jendouba, Tunisie.

² Environmental Biomonitoring Laboratory (LR01/ ES14); Faculty of Sciences of Bizerte - University of Carthage Tunisia.

Abstract - The objective of this work was to evaluate the productive and morphological changes of the udders of local-crossbreed cows (Brune de l’Atlas x Frisonne) in Tunisia. A total of 10 multiparous cows milked twice a day using portable machine milking were used. Milk production, physical-chemical composition of milk, and somatic cell count were collected for 4 months. Evaluations of the external morphology of udder as well as posterior and anterior teat were performed before evening milking. Time of udder preparation (T1), time between the end of udder preparation and cluster attachment (T2), and total machine milking time (T3) were performed. Average milk flow rate was calculated and residual milk was determined after oxytocin injection. Milk production varies significantly by recording month with a peak production level in April (10.2 ± 0.84 l/d). The content on milk fat; protein; lactose and total dry matter were 3.7; 2.9; 4.8 and 12.2%, respectively. The average somatic cell count was 256.000 cells / ml. The values of T1, T2 and T3 were 1.52 min; 2.05 min and 5.35 min, respectively. Residual milk represents 19.4% of total milk production. Udder measurement shows that the local-crossbreed cow was characterized by a more or less developed udder with teats a little thick and long. In addition, a positive correlation was observed between milk production and length as well as circumference of the udder. It is concluded that the local breed-cross cow in Tunisia has an interesting productive potential. Improved milking management can significantly increase the productive potential of this breed.

Keywords: Local cattle breed, breeding management, udder morphometry, milk production, machine milkability, residual milk.

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EL KHALDI RABEB¹²

DHAOUADI LATIFA¹

IMED EZZAGHDOUDI³

¹ Regional Center for Research in Oasian Agriculture, 2260, Tozeur, Tunisia.

²UR13AGR09- Integrated Horticultural Production in the Tunisian Centre East, Regional Centre of Research on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture, University of Sousse, 4042, Chott-Mariem, Tunisia.

³ Regional Commissary for Agricultural Development Tozeur Avenue Farhat. Hached- 2200 Tozeur.

Abstract - Geo-greenhouse farming, along with oasis agriculture, represents one of the main agricultural activities with a vital socio-economic importance in the Tozeur region. However, in recent years this activity showed an accelerated decline. The diagnosis of the situation allowed to identify several factors affecting the sustainability of this system production. The continuous salinization of the soil and the water quality are the main environmental constraints affecting geothermal greenhouses crops. Socio-economic problems are mainly associated with the size and the social nature of the projects. Faced with this situation, rational management of non-renewable natural resources, in this case the soil, and restructuring and strengthening of projects types would be imperative for a sustainability perspective.

Keywords: Geo-greenhouse, Tozeur, current situation, sustainability.

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TRIMECHE A¹

MAALAOUI A²

MAJDOUB H²

MLIKA M¹

BEN LAYA W ¹ 

MEKNI M.A¹

BEN YOUNES A¹

ZAIEM I³

BEN SAID MS⁴

TAINTURIER D⁵

MARNET PG⁶ 

FRANCK M.⁷

¹Service de Zootechnie et Economie Rurale, ENMV Sidi Thabet, Université de la Manouba, Tunisie

²Institut Supérieur agronomique de Chott-Mariem, Université de Sousse, Tunisie

³Service des Sciences et Pathologie de la Reproduction, ENMV Sidi Thabet,Université de la Manouba, Tunisie

⁴Service de Pathologie de Bétail, ENMV Sidi Thabet,Université de la Manouba, Tunisie

⁵Service de Biotechnologie et Pathologie de la reproduction, ENV Nantes, France

⁶Service de sciences et productions animales, AGROCAMPUS OUEST, Rennes, France

⁷ADNucleis, Grezieu, La Varenne, France

Abstract - The aim of this work is to evaluate milk production in large dairy cattle herds and to study the health situation of dairy cows, to estimate production losses. The work was done on a sample of three dairy farms located in three different regions; Farm 1 in Utica, Farm 2 in SidiThabet and Farm 3 in BirMchargua. The evaluation of milk production is done month by month from a model of lactation curve, which is based on two curves such as a theoretical curve and a real curve. The estimate of milk production loss is determined by the difference between the optimal theoretical production curve and the real production curve. The health observation of the cows was carried out by serological tests, virological screening and followed reproduction. The results of estimating losses of milk production on the three farms showed that for farm 1 the loss varies from 86.6 liters to 187.9 liters per cow and per month and for farm 2 it varies from 55.4 liters to 124 liters per cow and per month. While for Farm 3, a production loss of between 61.2 liters and 148 liters per cow and per month was reported. The assessment of the herd health situation showed that for Q fever, the seropositivity rate is less than 20%. As for infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR), the seropositive animals are about 80% for farms 3 and 1, while it is only 40% for farm 2. For BVD, farm 3 and farm 1 present a relatively lower virology rate than on farm 2. All three farms had a high rate of Candida infection.

Keywords: Dairy cow, Dairy production, Loss of production, Sanitary situation, followed reproduction

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RACHED ZOUHAIR1¹

ALI CHEBIL²

SALAH SELMI³

Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique de Tunisie, Tunisie.

² Institut National de la Recherche en Génie Rurale Eaux et Forêts, Tunis, Tunisie.

³ École Supérieure d’Agriculture de Mograne, Tunisie.

Abstract - In Tunisia, date palm production is an important source of income for the farmers located in the major production regions in the southern Tunisia (Tozeur and Kebili). However, the average yield in this country is still low compared with those observed in the world. This work aims to study the economic and technical performance of farms in the Tunisian oases. The data used in this study were obtained in 2016 from 160 producers of dates in the main regions of production. The reconstituted costs approach was used to calculate the production costs of dates in the target regions. In addition, the Total Factors Productivity (TFP) and gross margin for each farms were estimated. The results show that economic performance indicators (production cost, gross margin and TFP) depend on the production region and farm sizes. The gross margin and the TFP are inversely related to the farm size.

Keywords: Production Cost, Gross Margin, TFP, Dates, Tunisia.

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