Incubation and Brooding Practices of Local Chicken Producers in Ethiopia: The Case of Western Zone of Tigray

A survey was conducted in Western Zone of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia to asses indigenous practices of incubation and brooding, egg and broody hen selection practices and causes of hatchability failure. Multi stage sampling produres were employed to select weredas, sample kebeles and respondents in which three rural weredas were selected by purposive sampling technique; stratified purposive techniques were employed to select nine sample kebeles and purposive random sampling techniques were used to select a total of 385 respondents. Pretested structured questionnaire and focused group discussion were employed to generate data. All generated survey data were analyzed using descriptive statistics of SPSS 16. Kruskal- Wall’s test option of Non-parametric tests of SPSS 16 was employed to test proportion difference of each variable among the altitudes. Broody hens were the sole means of egg incubation and chick brooding.  Broody hens selected based on plumage color, egg yield, body weight (size) and mothering ability. Eggs Laid at home was the predominant sources of incubation and selected mainly based on egg type, egg age and season/month of laying. Clay pots, ground, plastic, bamboo cages, bin, cartons and dish were used as egg setting materials and grasses, straws, cotton seeds, feather of broody hens, soil, clothes, cow dung, sand were used as bedding materials.  June to February were the most preferred while March to May was the worst months of the year to incubate eggs and to achieve best hatchability eggs. Environmental temperature, lack of proper laying nest and post handling were the critical causes of failure of egg hatchability in the study area. Visual examination, floating in water, shaking, cooking sample eggs, breaking sample eggs and weighing were the traditional techniques of egg fertility checking prior to incubation.  Farmers attempt to increase egg production by stimulating broody hens to resume laying through hanging upside down, disturbing in the nest, moving to neighbors, tying both wings together, tying outside the original laying nest, tying plastic materials on legs and piercing of noise. However, great emphasis should be given to wards selection of farmers with healthy flock when our option of breaking brooding behavior of hens is moving to neighbors otherwise it may serve as sources of infection for our flocks. There is a strong need for training of chicken producers in increasing hatchability performances through preparation of proper brooding nest or laying nest, egg selection, feeding, housing, health care, proper post handling and chick management to increase their economic returns.  Community based holistic improvement programs is also very imperative to design in order to improve the genetic potential through selective breeding and conservation of the indigenous chicken genetic resources. Further research on hatchability performance evaluation of the indigenous chickens in both on farm and station as well as effect of the twelve months of the year on incubation and hatchability of eggs. Keywords: Fertility Checking, Breaking Broodiness Behavior, Bedding, Egg Setting Material

Genetic Variability and Characters Association of Hot Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) Genotypes Tested under Irrigation in Northern Ethiopia

Hot pepper production in most areas of Ethiopia especially in Tigray region is constrained by shortage of varieties, the prevalence of fungal and bacterial as well as viral diseases. Sixty-four hot pepper genotypes were evaluated to obtain the extent of genetic variability, association among characters. The experiment was laid out using 8x8 simple lattice design at Axum Agricultural Research center in 2017/18. Data were collected for 19 agronomic characters and analysis of variance revealed significant differences (p<0.01) among the genotypes for all characters. Fruit yield ranged from 0.8 to 4.5 t ha-1 with a mean of 2.7 t ha-1. The genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) and phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) ranged from 3.57and 3.84 for days to maturity to 42.4 and 42.9% for average single fruit weight. All the traits had moderate to very high broad sense heritability while genetic advance as percent of mean (GAM) ranged from 8.34 for days to maturity to 85% for average single fruit weigh. High heritability coupled with high GAM was obtained for average single fruit weight, fruit length, dry fruit yield per plant, fruit diameter and thousand seed weight reflecting the presence of additive gene action for the expression of these traits and improvement of these characters could be done through selection. Fruit yield per hectare had positive and highly significant phenotypic and genotypic correlations with dry fruit yield per plant, average single fruit weight, fruit pericarp thickness, thousand seed weight, fruit diameter and fruit length, but it had negative and highly significant genotypic and phenotypic correlations with days to maturity. Estimates of genotypic and phenotypic direct and indirect effects of various characters on fruit yield showed that dry fruit yield per plant, fruit pericarp thickness had the highest positive direct contribution to fruit yield indicating that selection based on these characters will improve fruit yield. In conclusion, the research results showed the presence of significant variations among genotypes for agro-morphology traits. Therefore, it is recommended further evaluation of genotypes or hybrids that exhibited highest yield, quality and disease resistance in subsequent breeding programs to improve the productivity of the crop

Assessment of the Effectiveness of Watershed Management Intervention in Chena Woreda, Kaffa Zone, Southwestern Ethiopia

The main purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of watershed management intervention in Chena Woreda. The study was conducted in this specific area because of that the experience in Ethiopia in general and Chena Woreda in particular showed that the practice of evaluation of the effectiveness of the project is overlooked. A systematic sampling technique was used to select sample micro watersheds, and random sampling method was used to select individual households from both intervention and non intervention areas. Data was collected through field observation, household questionnaire survey, focused group discussion, in-depth interview and key informant interview. Moreover, physical soil and water conservation structures layout measurement was conducted. Descriptive statistics, t-test, chi-square test and participation index were used for data analyses. The study revealed that the intervention has good achievements in reducing soil erosion, improving water availability and quality, developing tree plantation and diversifying household income sources in the catchment. However, poor community participation, lack of the structures design alignment with standards, inappropriate time of implementation, lack of diversified soil water conservation measures, absence of regular maintenance and management of the structures were some of the major limitation of the intervention. Therefore, this study recommends that the stakeholders should make appropriate correction measures for observed failures and further interdisciplinary study should be conducted to explore the problems. Keywords: Chena Woreda, Effectiveness, Intervention, Standards, Watershed Managemen

The perception of preparatory students of the risk of contracting human immuno-deficiency virus and sexually transmitted infections in Adama, Eastern Showa, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

This study explored preparatory students’ perceptions of the risk of contracting the Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in Ethopia. It utilised a non-experimental exploratory survey methodology. A range of findings was revealed. Most respondents (67.14%) were knowledgeable about HIV/AIDS and more than half of the respondents knew about STIs. A significant number of respondents (67.1%) were able to describe HIV transmission prevention methods. Twenty one percent of respondents were sexually active and 17.0% of these reported to have used condoms. Twenty nine percent and 4.25% of the respondents had selfperceived risk of contracting HIV infection and STIs respectively. In spite of increased awareness of HIV/AIDS, school youths still engage in high-risk sexual activities and believe that they are unlikely to contract the disease. The study findings have implications for practice, and recommendations are offered for further researchHealth StudiesM.A. (Public Health

On Farm Performance Evaluation of Three Local Chicken Ecotypes in Western Zone of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia

The study aimed to assess performances of three local chicken ecotypes under free scavenging production system in western Tigray. Multi stage sampling procedure was applied for the study, hence three rural weredas, nine kebeles and 385 respondents were selected by purposive, stratified purposive and purposive random sampling techniques, respectively.  Pretested questionnaire was employed to generate data. Household characteristics were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Kruskal Wall’s of SPSS 16 was employed to test qualitative variable proportion difference across agroecologies. Performance traits were analyzed by GLM Procedures of SAS 9.2. Tukey test was used to compare means for significant traits. Significant differences were observed among chicken ecotypes in almost all studied performance traits. Lowland chicken ecotypes earlier to mature sexually, slaughter and onset egg laying in comparison to the other two ecotypes but yielded lower hatchability and egg yield.  The overall mean age of sexual maturity of local chicken was 7.19±0.04 and 5.71±0.03 month for female and male respectively. Average age at first egg laying was 7.19±0.04 months. Egg yield / clutch / hen showed an increase trend from 1st to 3rd clutch in which optimal egg yield was attained and then started to decrease from 4th Clutch. Average egg laid/clutch and year/hen was 12.01±0.12 and 52.68±0.57 respectively. The average hatchability of local chickens was 74.37±0.57%. Performance differences among the local chicken ecotypes indicate genetic diversity exists among the three chicken ecotypes. Future sustainable improvement, utilization and conservation of the indigenous chicken genetic resources are dependent on the genetic variations present within and among the local chicken ecotypes. Thus, agro-ecologically friendly and community based holistic genetic improvement strategies should be designed and implemented to improve their performances and to enhance sustainable utilization and conservation of the indigenous chicken genetic resources. In depth studies on assessment of genetic variations of the chicken ecotypes are required to validate the detected performance discrepancies. Key words: Hatchability, Performance, Age at first egg laying, Sexual Maturit

On Farm Carcass Performance Evaluation of Three Local Chicken Ecotypes in Western Zone of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia

The study was designed to determine the effects of chicken ecotypes, sex and their interaction on carcass performances of local chicken ecotypes in their natural environments of western zone of Tigray. Forty eight matured local chickens with 24 females (8 / ecotype) and 24 males (8 /ecotype) with age ranging from 10-12 months were purchased for carcass trait evaluation. Chickens were immediately slaughtered and defeathered manually after the purchased chickens were deprived of feed and water over night and weighted to get the actual live, carcass and carcass cuts of each chicken using a Sensitive balance of weighing scale of one gram precision. GLM procedure of SAS 9.2 was employed to determine the effects of chicken ecotypes, sex and their interaction on carcass traits of the local chickens. Tukey test was used to compare significant traits. Male chickens performed significantly (P<0.05) higher than females in all carcass traits. Lowland chicken ecotypes had significantly performed better than either of the rest two chicken ecotypes in all considered carcass traits except skin weight. Sex by chicken ecotypes interaction had significant effect in all considered traits (p<0.05).  Both chicken sexes from lowland ecotypes significantly performed higher than their respective counter parts from either of the two ecotypes in almost all considered carcass traits. The variation in carcass trait performance among the chicken ecotypes is an indicator of their genetic variation with respect to carcass traits. In depth further studies on molecular assessment of genetic variations are required to validate the detected variations in carcass performances. Thus, environmentally friendly and community based holistic genetic improvement programs should be designed and implemented in order to assure sustainable improvement, utilization and in-situ conservation of the indigenous chicken genetic resources. Key words: Carcass traits, local chicken ecotypes, western Tigra

Brief on Proceeding of International Conference on Transforming Food Systems through Climate-Smart Agriculture

Accelerating the impact of CGIAR Climate Research in Africa (AICCRA-ILRI) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with 27 public Universities in Ethiopia including Haramaya University to advance research and outreach in the field of climate sciences. Haramaya University and AICCRA – ILRI signed MoU on December, 2021 that will serve from 2011-2023 (Fig 1). As stipulated in MoU, AICCRA-ILRI is fully engaged with Haramaya University in revamping the existing curriculum with contemporary climate products, running short courses in climate risk management in Agriculture (CRMA), thesis examination, advance climate smart small ruminant and organizing international workshop to disseminate climate related research outputs and products

Enhancing Women-led Community-Based Breeding Programs (CBBPs) in Ethiopia

Community-based breeding program (CBBP) is a genetic improvement program based on the local stock, local experiences and scientific methods of genetics. CBBP is a participatory genetic improvement program that considers informal and community-driven community-based organizations (CBOs). CBBP was initiated in 2009, and over 150 CBBP villages are functional, with considerable success, in Ethiopia through the engagement of research centers, universities, agricultural extension, and NGOs. Women are traditionally responsible for caring for sheep and goats, but men usually make decisions and sales. While the original CBBP programs were theoretically open to all genders, we noticed that the involvement of women in these programs was minimal. Therefore, we started intervening through gender-targeted capacity development and transformative-action community conversations. But gender norms run deep, and we found that, in mixed-gender settings, women were unlikely to speak up or show leadership. When you put everyone together, usually, the men dominate. So, to get an idea of women's roles in breeding programs and other value generators, it's always good to consult the women separately. And at some stage, we said, 'why don't we just start a women's CBBP? Hence, we established women CBBPs in a few villages in Ethiopia starting in 2019. In doing so, we created a safe space for women to speak freely, participate in decision-making, and claim leadership and committee positions. Women-led cooperatives are characterized by the following: Women are the drivers of the CBBP cooperatives, the members of the cooperatives are women, the leadership of the cooperatives is women, and any training and communication are made with women. Women are decisionmakers in CBBPs in women-led CBBPs. The small ruminant innovations are channeled through women's groups. Hence, there is a need to establish more women-led CBBP cooperatives to exploit the inherent indigenous knowledge of women and ensure women's empowerment

Investment by Ethiopian Government Universities to Run Community-based Breeding Programs (CBBPs) in Nearby Villages as part of their Outreach Program

CBBP is a proven innovation that has been tested over the years through the engagement of multiple stakeholders. However, the pilots have not scaled to the extent they wished. The actors of CBBP were research institutes, extension and NGOs. To bring about impact at scale, various partners need to join hands to disseminate the innovation to a wider area and reach more beneficiaries. Engaging multiple stakeholders having a shared mandate is important to scale up the proven technology. Universites, although they have a tremendous role in scaling of innovations as part of their outreach program, their involvement was minimal. Initiating CBBPs in nearby villages ensures the synergy of research, education and community service of the Universities. With this rationale, we undertook awareness creation at different levels of the University staff and we were able to convince them to allocate resources to benefit from CBBP to synergize the triple mandates of the Universities. The Universities have, therefore, allocated a budget by considering CBBP as a flagship project covering over five years. The budget allocation passed through a rigorous review process under the community services program. The budget allocation is meant for enumerator contractual payments, material purchases to run baseline information, medicaments, supervision cost and capacity building at each stage. There is a consistent increase of participating universities in running CBBP, and benefiting from the experience. As a result, more than 16 Universities have allocated a budget (40,337,656 Birr (706,108 USD)) to run 42 CBBPs

Climate-Smart Small Ruminant Innovations (Smart Pack) Implemented by Universities

The International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), in partnership with ILRI and Ethiopian NARs, has been pilot-testing climate-smart integrated small ruminant value chain development innovations (Smart Pack) over many years in Ethiopia. Smart pack encompasses innovations such as sheep and goat genetics, improved feeding, gender capacity development and transformation, herd health package and marketing. Results of the evaluation of the implementation of the Smart Pack have revealed that such packages are technically feasible to implement and result in the improvement of the livelihood of the resource-poor. Therefore, they are ready to scale. Consequently, we worked with Ethiopian Universities to see if they could assist in the scaling of the innovations in nearby villages to meet their teaching, research and community service mandate. Our sustained effort has resulted in 16 Universities investing in establishing 42 breeding cooperatives involved in implementing Smart Pack