Limpopo Leader - Spring 2005 - University of Limpopo

Dr David Norris
tTO WATCH DR DAVID NORRIS WORKING WITH HIS
CHICKENS IS TO CATCH SIGHT OF A SCIENTIFIC
INTEREST BORDERING ON OBSESSION. He laughs
a lot. He’s an easy man to be around. Yet his focus is
very firmly on his chickens.
‘All these are indigenous African chickens,’ he
says, indicating the scruffy scratching poultry in
several pens on the School of Agriculture and
Environmental Science’s experimental farm not far
from the Turfloop campus of the University of Limpopo.
‘Those on that side are naked-necked chickens, and
they’re found all over South Africa. These here – the
black and white speckled ones – are called Venda
chickens.’
Nothing much to look at, these indigenous chickens.
A few of the roosters have most of their tail feathers
missing, and the naked-necked bunch seems vaguely
reminiscent of vultures. Yet they have one huge
strength. They’re adapted to local conditions. In other
words, they have developed physiological and
anatomical systems that make any exotic breeds look
positively puny.
‘The imported breeds are especially engineered for
high egg or meat production,’ explains Norris, ‘but in
Southern African conditions they need high inputs –
inoculations, special feeds, and so on – and mortality
rates are high. In other words, they’re expensive -
much too expensive for local conditions. On the other
hand, the indigenous chickens represent a huge
genetic resource. If we’re serious about poverty
alleviation, let’s work with the local stock. That’s the
thinking behind my research.’
Although an estimated 75% of South African chicken
production is from local breeds, most scientists are
marginalising the indigenous strains. But not Norris,
who’s a quantitative geneticist at Turfloop. The initial
phase of his research was to do a ‘phenotypic characterisation’
study that examined such elements as size,
growth rate, feeding requirements, egg size and output.
‘Because of the wholesale neglect of the past,’ says
Norris, ‘we know nothing of the respective breeds. So
it’s been important to carry out genetic characterisation
that begins to match the external characteristics
with the genetic types. It’s important for another
reason as well. Conservation. We are identifying
and conserving African breeds that have been around
for a very long time but that have almost become
extinct.’
Norris was born and grew up in Botswana, doing
his undergraduate studies at the university in
Gaberone. He then moved to the University of
Reading (in the United Kingdom) and Michigan State
University (USA) where he completed his master’s and
PhD degrees respectively. His doctoral thesis dealt
with ‘the dominance effects in genetic variation’.
Norris has also done special courses in quantitative
genetics in the United States (Michigan) and Canada,
and he taught for a period of two years at Austin Peay
State University in Tennessee. ‘I really loved the Deep
South,’ he recalls. ‘It was so much warmer than
Michigan or Canada – much more suitable for
someone from Southern Africa.’
Norris returned to Botswana in 2000 and made
the move to Turfloop a year later. Asked why, he
replies: ‘I loved the opportunity to combine teaching
and research that Turfloop offered.’
And the marginalised indigenous chickens all over
Southern Africa have benefited. Norris has established
linkages with the University of Venda, as well as tertiary
institutions in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Relationships are also in the pipeline with Swaziland
and Botswana. ‘These links enable us to exchange
information and research findings on indigenous poultry.
I have also made personal visits. I’m now looking for
funding to more formally establish the international
interactions to cover the whole of the SADC region.
This will enrich our understanding of a significant
regional resource and improve its utility in our fight
against poverty and under-development.’
Next step in Norris’s indigenous chicken research
is a programme of selective breeding to improve the
productivity of the chickens without damaging their
adaptability to the environment. At the same time, a
genuine African livestock resource will be conserved
and used as a realistic alternative to much more
vulnerable and expensive breeds imported from
America and Europe.
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