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Barbados Blackbelly: the Caribbean ovine genetic resource

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Abstract

Ovine production is one of the most important activities in animal production in tropical regions. The Barbados Blackbelly, a very interesting genetic resource, particularly well adapted to a harsh home environment in the humid tropics of the Caribbean. This review concerns this breed. It comprises aspects related to the breed history and standards and most importantly its reproductive and productive performances and gastrointestinal parasite tolerance in the Caribbean, North America and Central America and their introduction and use in crossbred trials in other regions of the tropics.

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Acknowledgements

The author acknowledges the kind collaboration of Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine (St. Kitts and Nevis), its faculty and student, as well as the Kittitian and Nevisian farming communities and associations for all the fruitful discussions on Caribbean domestic animal genetic resources. The author finally thanks the kind collaboration of the British Library for allowing the use of the map depicted in Fig. 4.

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  1. Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017, Lisbon, Portugal

    André M. de Almeida

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Correspondence to André M. de Almeida.

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de Almeida, A.M. Barbados Blackbelly: the Caribbean ovine genetic resource. Trop Anim Health Prod 50, 239–250 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-017-1475-5

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