The author would like to express his gratitude to the MEKARN project, supported by the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), Department for Research Cooperation (SAREC), for funding this research and scholarship for this MSc. Programme.
Special appreciation is extended to the Royal Project Foundation of Thailand for giving permission to participate in this study programme and providing facilities during my experimental period in the Royal Project Demonstration Farm.
I m very grateful and would like to express my special thanks to my supervisor Prof. Dr. Inger Ledin, for all her valuable knowledge and advice, encouragement, and discussions throughout the study.
I would like to express deep appreciation to my supervisor in Thailand Assistant Prof. Dr. Choke Mikled, Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Chiang Mai University, for his encouragement, invaluable suggestions, guidance for the experiment, corrections, and helping me to bring this thesis to full completion.
Thanks to all my teachers who gave useful lectures and encouraged me during the courses.
To all my classmates, from Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam who have helped me and gave friendship and warm hospitality during the study. Also special thanks are extended to all other whose names do not appear herein.
Last but not least, I am grateful to my family, especially my mother, for their love and encouragement.
And special thanks for every person in Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand who have shared and gave me special experiences during the course.