Public-private partnership to transform malt barley value chain in Ethiopia

Poster prepared for a share fair, Addis Ababa, May 201

Sustaining farming systems for food security and economic growth in Ethiopia

Poster prepared for a share fair, Addis Ababa, May 201

Variability in Ethiopian Durum Wheat under Rainfed Environment Subjected to Drought at Anthesis

አህፅሮትምርምሩ በ2016 64 የሰብሌ ዘመን በደብረዘይት አካባቢ በሚገኝ አሸዋማ አፈር ሊይ የተደረገ ሲሆን በጥናቱም የተሇያዩ የዘረመሌ ምንጭ ያሊቸው 64 የዱረም ስንዴ ዝርያዎች ሲምፕሌሊቲስ በሚባሌ የጥናት ዘዴ በሁሇት ድግግሞሽ ሙከራ ተካሂዶባቸዋሌ፡፡ የጥናቱ ዋና ዓሊማ ያተኮረው 15 የሚያህለ ማሳያዎችን በመጠቀም በእድገት ዑደት ማጠናቂቂያ ወቅት ከሚያጋጥም ድርቅ ሳቢያ በዱረም ስንዴ ዝርያ ዘረመሌ ባህርያት ሊይ ሉታዩ የሚችለ ባህርያትን ሇመሇየት ነው፡፡በጥናቱም የተሻሇ ምስሌ ሇማግኘት ሲባሌ በባህርያቸው የተሇያየ ባህርይ ባሊቸው በዘረመሌ ዓይነቶች ሊይ ጥናት ተደርጓሌ፡፡ ውጤቱም እንደተመሊከተው ከተጠኑት 15 ማሳያዎች መካከሌ በ8ቱ ሊይ የባህርይ ሌዩነት ታይባቸዋሌ፡፡ በሰብለ ዕድገት መጨረሻ ሊይ የሚፈጠር የዝናብ እጥረት በአበቃቀሌ ሽፋን፣ በአፈዳ ዕድገት በፍሬ ሙሊት እና በምርታማነት ሊይ ከፍተኛ ተጽዕኖ እንደሚፈጥር በየፕልቱ ከተደረገው ጥናት መመሌከት ተችሎሌ፡፡ በምርታማነት እና የገሇባ መጠን በ ፌኖታይፒክ ሌዩነት እና ጄኔቲክ አድቫንስ ከፍተኛ ሌዩነት ማሳየቱ እንደተጠበቀ ሆኖ ምርቱ ሇስብሰባ በመድረስ ሊይ በአንጻሩ አነስተኛ ተጽዕኖ ተመዝግቧሌ፡፡ በዝርያዎች መካከሌ በባህርይ መወራረስ ረገድ የተደረገው ጥናት እንዳመሇከተውም በምርት ግኝት ሊይ የታየው ተጽዕኖ አነስተኛ ሲሆን በፍሬ ሙላት ፍጥነት እና በፍሬ ዝግጅት ማጠናቀቅ ፍጥነት( 91%) ሊይ የታየው ተጽዕኖ በአንጻሩ ከፍተኛ ሆኖ ተመዝግቧሌ ፡፡ ማንኛቸውም ዓይነት በጥናት የተዳሰሱት ባህርያት ከፍተኛ GCV መጠን አሇማሳየታቸው ድርቅ የዝርያ ባህርይን በመቀየር ረገድ ከፍተኛ ተጽዕኖ እንደሚፈጥር ያሰያሌ ፡፡ የሙላት የፍጥነት ጊዜ እና የፍሬ ሙላት ከዝቅተኛ የጄኔቲክ አድቫንስ 5.15 እና 3.01 እንደተመሇከተው የታየው ሌዩነት ከጂን አክሽን ጋር የተያያዘ አይደሇም፡፡ አምስቱ መሰረታዊ አካሊት ከ eigenevalue ከ 1.1 እስከ 3.75 ሲተነተን በተደራራቢ ድምር 78.6% የሚሆነውን የፌኖታይፒክ ሌዩነት መታየቱ በዱረም ስንዴ ዝርያዎች መካከሌ የድርቁ ተጽዕኖ ከፍተኛ መሆኑን ያሳያሌ፡፡ በክሊሊስተር ትንታኔም የ 64ቱ ዱረም ስንዴዎች ዝርያዎቹ በአምስት ግሩፕ ከፍሏቸዋሌ፡፡ በዚህም መሰረት አምስቱን ዓይነቶች ከ 5 እስከ 15 ዝርያዎቹ መመሌከት በውጤቱ ተስተውሎሌ፡፡ በተሇያዩ ክፍልች እንደተጠኑት ዝርያዎቹ (ዘረመልቹ) በተሇያ የስብጥር እና ሁኔታ ሲባዙ የተሇያየ ድርቅን የመቋቋም ባህርይ ማሳታቸው ተስተውሎሌ፡፡ በዚህም መሰረት የዱረም ስንዴ ዘረመልች የዕድገት ዑደት ማጠናቀቂያ ሊይ የሚከሰት ድርቅን የመቋቋም ባህርያቸው በየዘረመሌ ዓይነት የሚሇያይ መሆኑን በጥናቱ ማረጋገጥ ተችሎሌ፡፡AbstractSixty-four durum wheat genotypes comprised of different sources of origin were field evaluated in a simple lattice design with two replications at Debre-Zeit sandy soil environment during the 2016 main season. The objective was to assess the extent of genetic variability for durum wheat genotypes under rain-fed terminal moisture stress using fifteen agronomic and yield related traits. There were wide ranges of variation for some of traits studied. Analysis of variance also revealed that there were significant variations among durum wheat genotypes for eight out of 15 traits studied, suggesting the possibility of improving durum wheat for these traits. The terminal drought had a highly significant effect on grain yield per plot, aboveground biomass, spike length, days to heading and grain filling. Grain yield per plot and straw yield showed the highest phenotypic coefficients of variations and genetic advance, whereas days to maturity and harvest index had the lowest values, respectively. Across traits, the broad sense heritability was lowest (12 %) for harvest index and highest for days to heading (91%) followed by grain filling period (73%). None of the traits had high GCV values indicating that the effect of drought was severe for trait expressions. The existence of high heritability for days to heading and grain filling period along with low genetic advance of 5.15 and 3.01 suggested that the variation observed may not indicate the expression of additive gene action. Five principal components (PCs) with eigenvalue between 1.1 and 3.73 explained a cumulative of about 78.6% of the total phenotypic variability observed among the durum wheat genotypes. Cluster analysis also classified the 64 durum wheat genotypes into five groups. The genotypes found into five clusters ranged from seven to 15. The genotypes maintained under different groups had specific characters and it may give desirable genetic recombinants in developing drought tolerant varieties. Overall, the present study revealed that there is sufficient variability existed in durum wheat genotypes tested under terminal drought environment

Impact of Grazing on Soil Seed Bank Replenishment under the Mediterranean Climate of Northern Syria

Rangelands represent 70% of the semi-arid and arid Mediterranean land mass. It is a habitat for millions of people whose livelihood depends on animal husbandry. The revolutionary developments in the animal husbandry and veterinary medicines resulted in exponential increases in livestock and human populations living on and from dry lands. To respond to population growth, expansion on urbanization, transportation and road networks, land reform and rural development policies forced nomads to adopt sedentary lifestyles. The demographic changes coupled with national and international border crossing restrictions escalated opportunistic cultivation, and excessive exploitation of the scarce and slowly renewable vegetation cover of rangelands (Louhaichi, 2011). In an attempt to stop and reverse the degradation process, large-scale re-vegetation programs based on transplanting and reseeding with perennial shrubs, resting and grazing management systems were devised and implemented (Mosallam, 2007; Mourad et al., 2000; Le Houerou, 1981). This study aimed to evaluate the impacts of the rehabilitation programs on the above-ground vegetation cover and soil seed bank replenishment in the Syrian rangelands. The underlying assumption of the rehabilitation program is that with a wellestablished perennial plant cover and proper grazing management, top soil is stabilized, soil moisture, nutrients and seed bank are replenished, organic matter is accumulated and microorganisms’ activity is promoted resulting in greater abundance, species richness and diversity of annuals. To test the above hypothesis, field and controlled environment based studies were carried out with quantitative data collection and processing on plant species abundance, richness and diversity of above-ground vegetation and soil seed bank for fully protected rotationally and continuously grazed areas of 10 rangeland sites in northern Syria for two consecutive seasons based on Russi et al., 1992; Magurran, 2004)

Forage Seed System, Indigenous Knowledge and Constraints of Forage Production in Afghanistan

The Afghanistan seed sector is in transition after the postwar reconstruction and rebuilding (Kugbei et al., 2011). Though the national seed policy and law was enacted in 2009 (Gazette, Govt. of Afghanistan, 2009), its implementation is yet to take off. Availability and access to quality seed is one of the major limiting factors for the crop-livestock production system in Afghanistan. Informal seed sector is dominant where the vast majority of farmers are saving their own seed of both local and improved varieties of forage crops. The purpose of this study is to understand the status of the forage seed system, indigenous knowledge of farmers and constraints in seed production of forage crops and the possible options to improve it

Mainstreaming Efficient Legume Seed Systems in Eastern Africa: Challenges, opportunities and contributions towards improved livelihoods

Legumes are important components of sustainable farming systems. They are useful to diversify and intensify cropping systems as double, catch, relay and intercrops; fix ‘free’ nitrogen to soils from the atmosphere and improve soil health that boost cereal crop yields; act as rotation crops for breaking disease and pest cycles; increase and diversify smallholder incomes (and hence buffer them from the effects of price, pest and climate-related production fluctuations); enhance quality of household diets because of their higher protein and micro-nutrient content compared with starch-based staple cereal crops; and provide good sources of animal feed (high protein crop residues and byproducts) and low carbon footprint, mitigating climate change..