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Stephen Olinga working at AgResearch, Palmerston North.
From Uganda to
New Zealand on a
LEARN fellowship
Stephen Olinga graduated with a diploma
in Animal husbandry in 2004 and aims
to graduate with a BSc in Agriculture in
September 2014. Stephen is currently a
research technician in the Department of
Animal Production, National Agricultural
Research Organization (NARO) and he is
also working with Nabuin Zonal Agricultural
Research and Development Institute
located in north eastern Uganda (Karamoja
sub-region). He is currently involved in
projects on crop-livestock integration in
sustainable natural resource management,
strengthening germplasm collection and
forage seed production in Karamoja and
evaluation of production methods and
performance of Napier grass intercropped
with legume mixtures in north Eastern
Uganda.
Stephen has been awarded a LEARN
Technician Fellowship to visit AgResearch
Grasslands in Palmerston North, New
Zealand for 6 months to gain knowledge
and capability in methane measurement
techniques in ruminant livestock and to
measure nutritional value of forages and
feeds. The knowledge and capabilities
gained during the 6 month fellowship will be
used to support similar research efforts in
Uganda. During the fellowship, Stephen will
learn about SF
6
tracer technology to estimate
methane emissions from grazing ruminants
including construction and assembly of
SF
6
measurement equipment, permeation
tube manufacture and calibration, gas
subsampling and analysis and hands
on experience in a field trial with sheep
grazing pasture. Stephen will also gain an
understanding of the principles and set up
of
in vitro
batch culture systems including
hands-on training on the automated
in vitro
gas production technique. In addition, he will
Uganda has a large population of indigenous ruminants, and feeds of poor digestibility are associatedwith high energy
expenditure in ruminants. This limits production efficiency and this is assumed to result in relatively high greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions per unit of human edible product. However, there is little information on actual GHG emissions
from ruminants and about nutritive value of feeds under different farming systems that exist in Uganda.
be involved in the development and validation
of a simplified manual
in vitro
system that
can be directly translated for use in Uganda.
Stephen will also have the opportunity
to be involved in other projects to gain
experience with respiration chambers for
methane measurements, detailed pasture
measurements and digestibility trials with
sheep and/or cattle.
On his return to Uganda, Stephen would like
to collaborate with his colleagues within the
National Agricultural Research Organization
(NARO) and other research institutes to
develop research proposals and experiments
to find ways of reducing emissions of
methane from grazing ruminant livestock
in Uganda, improve animal productivity
and to get an better description of the
nutritive value of forages and feeds. The
new knowledge and skills will contribute to
building a regional network of collaboration
in East Africa among participants from
countries with similar livestock production
systems.