The Possible Overlap between Plant Variety Protection and Patent: Approaches in Africa with Particular Reference to South Africa and Ethiopia

No Abstrac

Assessment of Soil Seedbank Composition of Woody Species in Hgumbirda National Forest Priority Area, Northeastern Ethiopia

Detail study on soil seedbank composition and regeneration potential is needed for Ethiopian forests. In present work, soil seedbank assessment of woody plant species was made in Hgumbirda national forest priority area so as to evaluate composition and estimate their regeneration status. A total of 36 quadrates were established in selected four sites of the forest. The quadrates (20 m x 20 m) were laid along line transects. Soil samples were collected from sub-quadrates measuring 10 cm x 10 cm. Composition and status were determined by direct count and seedling emergence  technique. Results showed the presence of seeds of 19 plant species in the soil. Juniperus procera had the highest viable seed density. Only  Afrocarpus falcatus seeds were non-viable although very abundant  (266.7seeds/m2). Except Cupressus lusitanica, no exotic woody species were found. The Shannon diversity index demonstrated low value for soil seedbank in Hgumbirda NFPA (H’=1.763). There was also significant variation of seed distribution between soil layers of the four selected forest sites (p<0.05). Jaccard’s coefficient of similarity between the standing vegetation and soil seedbank showed low value (JCS = 0.21 - 0.43). From the results, appropriate management strategies including preparation of nursery sites for selected indigenous plant species is suggested.Keywords: Soil, Seedbank, Woody species, Viable seeds, Afromontane, Hgumbirda forest, Regeneration, Ethiopia

The distribution of ixodid ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) in central Ethiopia

Ixodid ticks were collected from domestic animals, mainly cattle, in 11 administrative zones covering 84 districts in central Ethiopia over a period of 2 years (July 1996 to June 1998). Nineteen tick species were identified. Four of these belonged to the genus Amblyomma, one to Boophilus, two to Haemaphysalis, three to Hyalomma and nine to Rhipicephalus. Amblyomma variegatum and Rhipicephalus evertsi evertsi were present in all 11 administrative zones and, with the exception of Afar, Boophilus decoloratus was present in nearly every district where collections were made. These three species constituted more than 50% of all ticks collected. Amblyomma cohaerens and Rhipicephalus bergeoni were common in the west of the survey region, and Rhipicephalus pulchellus in the east. Except for B. decoloratus, of which more females than males were collected, the numbers of male ticks recovered were equal to or exceeded those of females. Mortality in crossbred dairy cattle caused by heartwater ( Cowdria ruminantium infection) was reported during the survey period. An integrated approach to tick control is suggested.The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 600dpi. Adobe Acrobat v.9 was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format.Ethiopian Agricultural Research Organization (EARO).mn201

Productivity of Acacia angustissima accessions at two sites in the subtropics

Low leaf biomass yields coupled with small land sizes are some of the major constraints faced by smallholder farmers that grow protein-rich fodder trees and shrubs. Given these challenges, availability of highly productive seed sources would be important to enable farmers to produce leaf fodder in sufficient quantities. 14 accessions of Acacia angustissima were evaluated for leaf, wood and total biomass production at two subtropical sites with uni-modal rainfall in Zimbabwe, with the objective of identifying high leaf biomass yielding accessions. There were up to fourfold difference in biomass yield between the accessions. Leaf dry matter yield ranged from 1.65 to 8.81 Mg ha-1 and 3.7 to 12.4 Mg ha-1 for wood biomass at the higher altitude site (1530 m a.s.l.) but were much lower at 1272 m a.s.l. where they ranged between 0.37 and 4.88 Mg ha-1 for leaf and 0.4 and 7.2 Mg ha-1 for wood. The most productive accessions for leaf biomass were 16231 and 18579 at the higher altitude site, while 18586 and 18501 had the highest yields at the lower altitude. Although no one accession was consistently high yielding across the two sites, the least productive accessions were consistently poor at both sites. The advantage of using selected superior accessions over the unselect bulk seed was up to 85%. These findings underscore the need to promote the use of only high yielding accessions rather than unselect bulk seed. This study identified new, more productive accessions of A. angustissima that potentially widens the genetic base of the germplasm assembled in Zimbabwe.Key words: Leaf biomass, accession, accession × site interaction, Acacia angustissima

Molecular epidemiology of tuberculosis in the Somali region, eastern Ethiopia

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in low-income countries like Ethiopia. However, because of the limited laboratory infrastructure there is a shortage of comprehensive data on the genotypes of clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) complex (MTBC) in peripheral regions of Ethiopia. The objective of this study was to characterize MTBC isolates in the Somali region of eastern Ethiopia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in three health institutions between October 2018 and December 2019 in the capital of Somali region. A total of 323 MTBC isolates (249 from pulmonary TB and 74 from extrapulmonary TB) were analyzed using regions of difference 9 (RD 9)-based polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and spoligotyping. Results: Of the 323 MTBC isolates, 99.7% (95% CI: 99.1-100%) were M. tuberculosis while the remaining one isolate was M. bovis based on RD 9-based PCR. Spoligotyping identified 71 spoligotype patterns; 61 shared types and 10 orphans. A majority of the isolates were grouped in shared types while the remaining grouped in orphans. The M. tuberculosis lineages identified in this study were lineage 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7 with the percentages of 7.4, 2.2, 28.2, 60.4, and 0.6%, respectively. Most (87.9%) of the isolates were classified in clustered spoligotypes while the remaining 12.1% isolates were singletons. The predominant clustered spoligotypes identified were SIT 149, SIT 21, SIT 26, SIT 53, and SIT 52, each consisting of 17.6, 13.3, 8.4, 7.4, and 5%, respectively. Lineage 3 and lineage 4, as well as the age group (15-24), were associated significantly with clustering. Conclusion: The MTBC isolated from TB patients in Somali region were highly diverse, with considerable spoligotype clustering which suggests active TB transmission. In addition, the Beijing spoligotype was isolated in relatively higher frequency than the frequencies of its isolation from the other regions of Ethiopia warranting the attention of the TB Control Program of the Somali region

Mortality and Disability-adjusted Life-years (DALYs) for common neglected tropical Diseases in Ethiopia, 1990 to 2015: evidence from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015

Introduction: Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are important public health problems in Ethiopia. In 2013, the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) has launched a national NTD master plan to eliminate major NTDs of public health importance by 2020. Benchmarking the current status of NTDs in the country is important to monitor and evaluate the progress in the implementation of interventions and their impacts. Therefore, this study aims to assess the trends of mortality and Disability-adjusted Life-Years (DALY) for the priority NTDs over the last 25 years. Methods: We used the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2015 estimates for this study. The GBD 2015 data source for cause of death and DALY estimation included verbal autopsy (VA), Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), malaria indicator surveys (MICS) and other disease specific surveys, Ministry of Health reports submitted to United Nations (UN) agencies and published scientific articles. Cause of Death Ensemble modeling (CODEm) and/or natural history models were used to estimate malaria and NTDs mortality rates. DALY were estimated as the sum of Years of Life Lost (YLL) due to premature mortality and Years Lived with Disability (YLD). Results: All NTDs caused an estimated of 6,293 deaths (95% uncertainty interval (UI): 3699 – 10,080) in 1990 and 3,593 deaths (95% UI: 2051 – 6178) in 2015, a 70% reduction over the 25 years. Age-standardised mortality rates due to schistosomiasis, STH and leshmaniasis have declined by 91.3%, 73.5% and 21.6% respectively between 1990 to 2015. The number of DALYs due to all NTDs has declined from 814.4 thousand (95% UI: 548 thousand–1.2 million) in 1990 to 579.5 thousand (95%UI: 309.4 thousand – 1.3 million) in 2015. Age-standardised DALY rates due to all NTDs declined by 30.4%, from 17.6 per 1000(95%UI: 12.5-26.5) in 1990 to 12.2 per 1000(95%UI: 6.5 – 27.4) in 2015. Age-standardised DALY rate for trachoma declined from 92.7 per 100,000(95% UI: 63.2 – 128.4) in 1990 to 41.2 per 100,000(95%UI: 27.4 – 59.2) in 2015, a 55.6% reduction between 1990 and 2015. Age-standardised DALY rates for onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis and lymphiatic filariasis decreased by 66.2%, 29.4% and 12.5% respectively between 1990 and 2015. DALY rate for ascariasis fell by 56.8% over the past 25 years. Conclusions: Ethiopia has made a remarkable progress in reducing the DALY rates for most of the NTDs over the last 25 years. The rapid scale of interventions and broader system strengthening may have a lasting impact on achieving the 2020 goal of elimination of most of NTDs. Ethiopia should strengthen the coverage of integrated interventions of NTD through proper coordination with other health programs and sectors and community participation to eliminate NTDs by 2020

The roles and values of wild foods in agricultural systems

Almost every ecosystem has been amended so that plants and animals can be used as food, fibre, fodder, medicines, traps and weapons. Historically, wild plants and animals were sole dietary components for hunter–gatherer and forager cultures. Today, they remain key to many agricultural communities. The mean use of wild foods by agricultural and forager communities in 22 countries of Asia and Africa (36 studies) is 90–100 species per location. Aggregate country estimates can reach 300–800 species (e.g. India, Ethiopia, Kenya). The mean use of wild species is 120 per community for indigenous communities in both industrialized and developing countries. Many of these wild foods are actively managed, suggesting there is a false dichotomy around ideas of the agricultural and the wild: hunter–gatherers and foragers farm and manage their environments, and cultivators use many wild plants and animals. Yet, provision of and access to these sources of food may be declining as natural habitats come under increasing pressure from development, conservation-exclusions and agricultural expansion. Despite their value, wild foods are excluded from official statistics on economic values of natural resources. It is clear that wild plants and animals continue to form a significant proportion of the global food basket, and while a variety of social and ecological drivers are acting to reduce wild food use, their importance may be set to grow as pressures on agricultural productivity increase.</jats:p