Effects of Fermentation Time and Blending Ratio on Functional Properties and Organoleptic Acceptability of Complementary Food

High bulk and poor in organoleptic acceptability are a major characteristics of most complementary food used in developing countries. Fermentation and blending are afeasible approach to reduce bulkiness and organoleptic acceptability of such complementary foods. Therefore,this study aimed to develop nutritionally adequate and organoleptically acceptable complementary food from composite flour. Three fermentation times (0, 24 and 36 hr) and four blends of composite flour consisting of maize, haricot bean, and cooking banana, respectively, in the proportion of 65:20:15, 60:30:10, 50:35:15, 30:60:10 were used in the formulation with 100% maize as control. Fermentation causes significant (P˂0.05) reduction in bulk density from 0.90 to 0.59g/ml, dispersibility from 63.59 to 60.72%,and swelling power from 4.55 to 4.38 g/g. On the other hand increment of water solubility index from12.45 to 14.16% and water absorption capacity from 134.38 to 158.40% were recorded as fermentation time increased. Blending ratio significantly (P˂0.05) influenced some functional properties of composite flour. Bulk density ranged from 0.71 to 0.75 g/mL, water absorption capacity from 136.11 to 165.72%, dispersibility from 47.06 to71.83%, swelling power from 4.28 to 4.57g/g and water solubility index from 9.81 to 17.18%.The sensory acceptability of complementary food prepared in the form of porridge was evaluated by panelists. Among all the proportions, 60, 30 and 10% of maize ,haricot bean and cooking banana blends, respectively, fermented for24h rwas organoleptically highly preferred by panelists. Therefore, fermentation and substitution of maize with haricot bean and cooking banana could be, recommended in the production of nutritious and organoleptically acceptable complementary food for older infants and young children. Keywords:Blending, Complementary Food, Composite Flour, Cooking Banana, Haricot bean, Fermentation, Maize DOI: 10.7176/FSQM/104-03 Publication date: January 31st 202

The assessment of female students’ perceptions, practices and challenges in cooperative learning: the case of natural science stream of Mettu College of Teacher Education

The main purpose of this study was to assess perceptions, practices and challenges of female students in cooperative learning (one- in- five) at Mettu College of Teacher Education. To achieve this objective, descriptive case study research method was employed. The subjects of the study were 80 (22 low achievers,34 medium achievers, and 16 high achievers of third year regular female students,6 science and mathematics teachers, 1 vice dean and 1 gender office coordinator).  Stratified  sampling  followed by  Simple  random  sampling  (lottery method) technique was employed to select the sample female students, purposive sampling technique was used to select the college and availability sampling method was employed for teachers, college vice dean and gender office coordinator. To gather the necessary data, questionnaire, focused grouped discussion, interview and document analysis were used. The gathered information was analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods of data analysis. The result of the study revealed that there were statistically no significant difference among high, medium and low achievers of female students’ perceptions to cooperative learning and they have  strongly  believed  (M=4.3)  the academic  and  social  emotional  benefits  of cooperative learning (CL) in their teaching learning process. The study also showed that there was statistically significant difference among them in practicing the essential elements that are necessary to construct their effective cooperative learning experiences, with only few top female students, who were competent among the heterogeneous group members had above the expected practices. Whereas, all low achievers and majority of medium achievers of female students were practicing below the ordinary practice to accomplish a common goal and they were highly dominated by active male /female students of the group members. Their challenges  in  CL  were  extremely  related to  themselves  and  their  male student  group members, subject teachers and the college as well.Keywords: Cooperative learning, Perception, Practice Elements, Challenge

Genetic Variability and Trait Association Study in Ethiopian Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) Genotypes

Field experiment was conducted on 25 Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) genotypes to estimate genetic variability and trait association of yield and yield related traits in 5x5 simple lattice design during 2019 main cropping season. The analysis of variance showed highly significant differences (P<0.01) among the genotypes for all quantitative traits except days to maturity and biomass yield per hectare which was non-significant. Days to flowering, plant height and capsule length showed low Phenotypic and Genotypic Coefficient of Variations and genetic advance percent mean. Branches per plant showed medium Phenotypic and Genotypic Coefficient of Variations, heritability and genetic advance percent mean. Capsule per plant, seed yield per plant and seed yield per hectare showed moderate Phenotypic and Genotypic Coefficient of Variations and high heritability with genetic advance percent mean. Biomass yield per plant and harvest index showed high Phenotypic and Genotypic Coefficient of Variations, heritability and genetic advance percent mean. Both phenotypic and genotypic correlation coefficient analyses showed positive and significant association of seed yield with seed yield per plant and harvest index. Generally, this study painted the presence of significant genetic variation among tested sesame genotypes and the possibility to get genetic progresses in the succeeding breeding generations. Keywords: Correlation, genetic advance, GCV, heritability, PCV and sesame DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/13-16-01 Publication date:September 30th 202

Proximate, Anti - Nutrients and Sensorial Acceptability of Some Cereal and Legume Based Composite Biscuits: Review

The major determinants of malnutrition in Africa are low availability of nutritious foods and inadequate consumption of protein-rich diets. Consumption of nutritious snacks could help to reduce protein-energy malnutrition in children and adults. Biscuits are a ready-to-eat, convenient and cheap snack that is consumed by all age group in many countries. It can be produced from cereal and legume flour blends. A proximate composition such as protein, ash, crude fiber, and fat content of some cereal-legume based biscuit increased with increase in the percentage substitution of legumes flour. Carbohydrate content of biscuits decreased as legume substitution increased. The Ash (total mineral) content of some cereal and legume-based biscuits increased as the level of legume flour incorporation increased. The increased in some nutrient composition of the biscuit in cereal and legume blends could be due to the significant quantity of nutrients in legumes. Anti-nutritional factors (ANF) such as tannin and phytic acid affect digestibility and nutrient bioavailability for absorption. Substitution of malted cereal flour with legume flour resulted decreased in the level of both tannin and phytate in the composite biscuits and vice versa. Lower tannin and phytate content observed could be due to degradation of tannin and phytate during malting. Sensory attributes such as color, texture, aroma, taste, and overall acceptability of some cereal and legume-based biscuits were highly rated (in acceptable ranges). Keywords: Nutrient composition, Cereal, Anti-nutritional factors, Biscuits, Legume, Sensory acceptability, composite flour DOI: 10.7176/FSQM/98-03 Publication date:June 30th 202

Review on Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) Breeding in Ethiopia

Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is a self-pollinated diploid species with 2n = 26 chromosomes. Sesame improvement research in Ethiopia was started in the late l960s at Werer Agricultural Research Center. The objective of sesame breeding in Ethiopia is to develop the potential by creating cultivars which meet the demands of the sesame farmers, processor and user. The improvement of sesame has lagged behind due to a lack of research shortage of trained personnel, limited financial support and limited international cooperation. Although Indeterminate flowering nature and shattering of capsules at maturity, insects, pests and diseases, heat and drought, among other things are the major factors for low yields of sesame are seen as the challenges of the crop breeding. Suitability of different agro ecology, availability of genetic resource and diversities, market proximity, mutation breeding and different biotechnology approaches are some opportunities of Sesame breeding in Ethiopia. Application of biotechnology together with conventional breeding methods is a valuable approach for breeding superior varieties in a short period of time. Keywords: diversity, importance, opportunities and Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/9-17-07 Publication date:September 30th 201

Verification of Fungicide and Its Application Frequency for Management of Frog Eye Leaf Spot (Cercospora capcisi) on Hot Pepper Under Rain Fed Condition at Bako

Cercospora leaf spot is caused by Cercospora capcisi is an important disease which reduces the productivity of hot pepper (Capsicum spp.). Field experiment was conducted to evaluate different fungicides and its application frequencies against Cercospora leaf spot in order to select an important fungicides and its application frequency at Bako Agricultural Research Center. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with three replication. Two different fungicides (Mancozeb 80WP and Trust-Cymocop 439.5WP) and four application frequencies (two, three, four and five) times with untreated control were used.  Data on disease severity, area under disease progress curve, marketable yield and unmarketable yield of hot pepper were recorded. The result revealed that, both fungicides sprayed control Cercospora leaf spot which is significantly different from untreated check in disease severity, area under disease progress curve (AUDPC) and marketable yield. However, application frequencies of fungicides were not significantly different on disease severity, AUDPC and marketable yield of the plant. Application of Trust Cymocop 439.5WP reduces 26.67% relative yield loss of hot pepper over control check. An economic analysis was done for fungicides and shows feasibility of fungicide application for management of Cercospora leaf spot. Fungicide which has the highest Marginal Rate of Return was used for recommendation. Two times application of Trust-Cymocop 439.5WP was recommended to reduce disease severity and yield loss of the plant. Keywords: Cercospora leaf spot, frequency, hot pepper, and trust-Cymocop 439.5WP DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/12-9-01 Publication date:May 31st 202

A Study of School Principals' Practices to Ensure Teacher Accountability for Curriculum Implementation in Ethiopian Primary Schools

This study investigates the curriculum implementation practices of principals in public elementary schools in East Wollega Zone, Ethiopia. Using an exploratory case study approach and a multiple case study research design, data were collected through semi-structured interviews and document review, and analyzed using thematic analysis. The results of the study confirm that principals prioritize holding teachers accountable for tasks other than curriculum implementation in the classroom. They pay insufficient attention to curriculum implementation while effectively managing subordinate accountability. The research reveals that stringent actions, such as removal from promotion and salary cuts, are imposed when teachers' performance in subordinate tasks declines. When teachers are present at schools, their shortcomings in implementing the curriculum are usually addressed by moving them to lower grades instead of imposing harsh punishments. In contrast, sanctions such as fines equivalent to three months' salary, demotion, and dismissal are reserved exclusively for violations of the teachers' code of ethics, not for performance issues in the classroom. Based on the findings, the study suggests that the government create a fresh educational accountability policy. This policy should motivate school principals to emphasize and strengthen accountability for executing the curriculum successfully

The Role of Conservation Agriculture for Soil Quality Improvement: A Review

አህፅሮት በኢትዮጵያ በሰብል መሬት ላይ ያለው የአፈር መከላት በዓመት ከ40-130 ቶን በሄክታር የሚደርስ ሲሆን፣ ከ1.0-1.5 ሚሊዮን ቶን እህል ምርትን እያሳጣት ይገኛል፡፡ የዕቀባ እርሻ በሶስት እርስ በእርስ በሚደጋገፉ መሰረታዊ መርሆዎች ላይ ተመስርቶ የአፈር መከላትን በመቀነስ፣ የአፈርን ጥራት በማሻሻል እና ዘላቂነት ላለው የግብርና ምርት አስተዋጽኦ እያደረገ ስለመሆኑ በሰፊው ይታወቃል፡፡ በኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ ከሶስት አስርት ዓመታት በላይ የምርምር እና የሰርቶ ማሳያ ጥረቶች ቢኖሩም የረጅም ጊዜ ጥናቶች ለአፈር ጥራት መጎልበት ያለዉን ጥቅሞች በበቂ ሁኔታ በማሳየት ላይ ውስንነት አለባቸው፡፡ በሀገር ውስጥም ሆነ በውጭ የረጅም ጊዜ የዕቀባ እርሻ ጥናቶችን መዳሰስ እና ያለውን እውቀት መቀመር የወደፊት የዕቀባ እርሻ አጠቃቀም ላይ ትክክለኛ ውሳኔዎችን ለመስጠት፤ እንዲሁም የምርምር እና የማስተዋወቅ ስራዎች ለመምራት ይረዳል፡፡ ይህ ጥናት ዓላማው የዕቀባ እርሻ ለአፈር ጥራት መሻሻል እና ተያያዥ ተግዳሮቶች ላይ የተሰሩ ጥናቶችን በመተንተን በኢትዮጵያ የወደፊት አቅጣጫን ለማሳየትና አርሶ አደሮች ተጠቃሚ የሚሆኑበትን መንገድ ለመጠቆም ነው፡፡ የዕቀባ እርሻ ከ3-5 ዓመታት ውስጥ የአፈር ጥራትን ሊያሻሽል እንደሚችል እና ዘላቂነት ላለው የግብርና ምርት አስተዋፅዖ እንደሚያበረክት የታዩት ጥናቶች ያመለክታሉ፡፡ በተጨማሪም ዝቅተኛ ርጥበት ባለባቸው አካባቢዎች የሰብል ምርት መሻሻልን በአጭር ጊዜ ውስጥ ማምጣት እንደሚችል ያሳያሉ፡፡  ሆኖም በኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ የዕቀባ እርሻ የመጠቀም ልምድ በአርሶ አደሩ ዘንድ እምብዛም አልሰፋም፡፡ ለዚህም ዋና ዋና ምክንያቶች የሰብል ተረፈ-ምርቶች ለተለያዩ ጠቀሜታዎች መዋልና የአቅርቦት እጥረት፣ ለዕቀባ እርሻ ተብለው የተመከሩ አሰራሮች እና ግብዓቶች ውስንነት፣ ለዕቀባ እርሻ ምቹና አቅም ያላቸው አካባቢዎችን ቅድሚያ ሰጥቶ አለመሥራት፣ የኤክስቴንሽን አገልግሎቶች ውስንነት እና ለዕቀባ እርሻ ትግበራ ምቹ ሁኔታዎች የማመቻቸትና የማስቀጠል ውስንነቶች ናቸው፡፡ በአጠቃላይ ከተለያዩ የሙያ ዘርፎች ባለሙያዎችን በማሳተፍ፣ አካባቢያዊ ማህበራዊና ኢኮኖሚያዊ ሁኔታዎችን ያማከለ የዕቀባ እርሻን በማጎልበት ለተጠቃሚው ማቅረብ እና ለሚኖሩት ተግዳሮቶች ቀድሞ ተገቢዉን አማራጭ መፍትሄዎችን በመተግበር ከዕቀባ እርሻ ሊገኝ የሚችለውን ጥቅም ለአርሶ አደሩ ማሳየትና ተጠቃሚ ማድረግ ያስፈልጋል፡፡ ለተመራማሪዎች፣ ለኤክስቴንሽን ሰራተኞች ለልማት ባለሙያዎች እና ለአርሶ አደሮች እንዲሁም ለወሳኝ ባለድርሻ አካላት የሚታዩትን ውስንነቶች የሚቀርፍ በቂ የአቅም ግንባታ ሥራም ወሳኝነት አለው፡፡   Abstract Ethiopia experiences a very high soil loss of 40–130 t ha-1year-1 from croplands that costs the country about 1.0-1.5 million tons loss of grain production per year. Founded on its three interlinked principles, Conservation Agriculture (CA) is widely documented to reduce soil loss, improve soil quality and contribute to sustainable agricultural production. Despite more than three decades of research and promotion efforts on CA in Ethiopia, long-term comprehensive studies are scanty to sufficiently demonstrate its benefits for soil quality enhancement. Drawing lessons from long-term CA studies both within and outside the country would help to make informed decisions for wider use of CA and guide future research and promotion activities. Available pertinent CA literatures from peer-reviewed journals, research reports, dissertations, and proceedings were reviewed. This review was aimed to collate and analyse studies documented the effect of CA practices on soil quality improvement and associated challenges, and suggest the way forward for its application by smallholder farmers in Ethiopia. The review indicated that, when properly implemented, CA improves soil quality in 3-5 years and contributes to sustainable agricultural production. Besides, yield improvement is possible in early stages of CA application in the low moisture areas under sufficient crop residue retention. However, CA adoption in Ethiopia is generally low which is mainly attributed to limited availability and competing uses of crop residue, limited availability and use of CA based recommendations, mis-location of CA promotions, limited participatory extension services and enabling conditions. Overall, the review suggested the need for a concerted multi and inter-disciplinary research effort to develop CA innovations suiting to the different biophysical environments and socioeconomic circumstances. Effectively demonstrating the power of CA on relieving soil problems, and providing alternative solutions for the challenges surrounding it are requisites to get its full benefits. Capacity building on innovative CA practices is crucial for researchers, extension workers, development practitioners and the smallholder farmers. &nbsp

Diversity of Useful Plants in the Coffee Forests of Ethiopia

Plant use diversity and their forms of use and management were studied in four coffee forests of Ethiopia. A coffee forest is a segment of moist montane forest with occurrence of wild Arabica coffee populations. The present study was conducted in four forest fragments located in the southwestern and southeastern parts of the country. These forests represent three different indigenous ethnic groups that live in and around the coffee forests. On the bases of ethnobotanical and floristic studies, a total of 143 useful plant species representing 54 families were identified in all study areas. Nearly all species are native except one which is naturalized. The identified use categories include medicine, food, honey, material sources, social services, animal fodder and environmental uses. Overall, Yayu and Harenna shared a high number of useful plant species in common. Of the total, about 25 species (19%) were similarly used across three or more studied ethnic groups. The implication is that there is a difference between and among the four communities studied for general plant knowledge and uses. As observed, deforestation, over-harvesting, cultivation of marginal lands and overgrazing appear to be threatening the plant resources and their habitats in the studied areas. Ecosystem conservation will ensure in situ conservation of many useful plant species by applying sustainable harvesting methods for collecting plants for any type of use from wild habitats

Factors Influencing Smallholder Farmers’ Decision to Abandon Introduced Sustainable Land Management Technologies in Central Ethiopia

The Ethiopian government has made efforts to rehabilitate degraded lands using a range of sustainable land management (SLM) initiatives. One of the key components was the use of improved structural soil and water conservation (SWC) technologies. However, the effectiveness of technology adoption varies greatly among households and abandoning previously accepted measures is a typical occurrence. Thus, this study sought to discover factors influencing smallholder farmers’ decisions to abandon already accepted SWC measures. The analysis was conducted based on data collected from 525 sample households surveyed in two districts in Central Ethiopia. An ordered cumulative logistic (POM) regression model was used to examine variables explaining households’ decision behavior. The study findings have revealed that sampled households were at different adoption stages, i.e., dis-adopters (22%), pilot-level adopters (14%) and adopters (64%). The results from the POM model also show that a range of variables influenced farmers’ dis-adoption decisions. Factors such as awareness about the risks of land degradation, access to training, incentives, land fragmentation, gender, full-time labor size, gentle slope plots, economic returns on investment and post-adoption follow-up were found to substantially influence smallholder farmers’ adoption discontinuance decisions. Thus, policymakers should consider these variables in designing strategies to overcome barriers to SLM practices