Participatory tomato variety selection in the lowland areas of North Shewa

The production and productivity of tomatoes in Ethiopia as well as in Amhara Region are very low because of lack of improved and adapted varieties, inadequate knowledge of production and management, and a poor marketing system. The field experiment was carried out during the 2018 irrigation seasons at Ataye and Shewarobit to identify adaptive, high yielding and disease tolerant varieties of tomato. Eight improved tomato varieties were laid out in a randomized complete block design and replicated three times. The collected biological data were analyzed using SAS statistical software version 9.4, and farmers’ preferences for those varieties were also assessed based on selection attributes set by them. The combined analysis of variance revealed that there was significant difference between the varieties on the number of fruits per cluster, plant height, marketable number, unmarketable number and average weight of a tomato. The highest number of fruits per cluster was recorded from variety Mersa (3.83), followed by Melkasalsa (3.73) and Melkashola (3.7). The variety Mersa was the tallest followed by Weyno with plant heights of 110.5 cm and 110.96 cm, respectively.  The highest average fruit weight was recorded for the variety D2 (61.25 g) followed by Cochoro (46.46 g). Even though it was not statistically significant, the variety Melkashola has given the highest marketable yield (32.98 t ha-1) and showed a better reaction to late blight disease as low as 27.5 %. In addition to this, variety Melkashola was highly preferred by the farmers. Based on the biological data and farmer’s preference variety Melkashola has been recommended for Ataye and Shewarobit as well as for other similar agro-ecologies

Evaluation of Macro Propagation Techniques for Multiplication of Banana (Musa spp.)

Banana (Musa spp.) is propagated naturally by its sucker and corm. However, they are very slow and prone to the prevalence of insects and pests. It can be propagated commercially using tissue culture. However, this is skill demanding and unaffordable for small-scale farmers. To address this gap, macropropagation techniques have been introduced as an alternative propagation technology, called the Plant Issues of Shoot fragments technique, which means plants resulting from stem fragments. This method can be implemented with limited investment and skill on a small scale. Hence, the purpose of this study was to evaluate in situ and ex situ PIF techniques on two banana varieties (Poyo and Giant Cavendish). The data on the number of suckers for each decortication, days to emergence after decortication, and sucker vigor were collected and analyzed using an independent sample t-test. Furthermore, a cost comparison was conducted for the two techniques. The result showed that the in situ PIF technique could produce 16 suckers in three months with the cost of 0.43 Ethiopian Birr per sucker while the ex situ PIF technique could produce 7 suckers costing 8 ETB on one production cycle in three months period. The emergence date of the first decortication phase was shorter for in situ (12 days) than ex situ (44 days). The in situ technique could be a good alternative for banana seedling production under small-scale farming conditions. It is important to popularize this technique for the better production of banana suckers at a relatively low cost