Folksong based appraisal of bioecocultural heritage of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench): A new approach in ethnobiology

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Sorghum is one of the main staple crops for the world's poorest and most food insecure people. As Ethiopia is the centre of origin and diversity for sorghum, the crop has been cultivated for thousands of years and hence the heritage of the crop is expected to be rich. Folksong based appraisal of bioecocultural heritage has not been done before.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In order to assess the bioecocultural heritage of sorghum by folksongs various research methods were employed. These included focus group discussions with 360 farmers, direct on-farm participatory monitoring and observation with 120 farmers, and key informant interviews with 60 farmers and development agents. Relevant secondary data was also collected from the museum curators and historians.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The crop is intimately associated with the life of the farmers. The association of sorghum with the farmers from seed selection to utilization is presented using folksongs. These include both tune and textual (ballad stories or poems) types. Folksongs described how farmers maintain a number of varieties on-farm for many biological, socio-economic, ecological, ethnological and cultural reasons. Farmers describe sorghum as follows: <it>Leaf number is less than twenty; Panicle hold a thousand seeds; a clever farmer takes hold of it</it>. In addition, they described the various farmers' varieties ethnobotanically by songs. The relative importance of sorghum vis-à-vis others crops is similarly explained in folksong terms.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The qualitative description of farmers' characterisation of the crop systems based on folksongs is a new system of appraising farmers' bioecocultural heritage. Hence, researchers, in addition to formal and quantitative descriptions, should use the folksong system for enhanced characterisation and utilization of bioecocultural heritages. In general, the salient characteristics of the folksongs used in describing the bioecocultural heritages are their oral traditions, varied function, communal or individual recreation and message transmissions.</p

The Contribution of Farmers’ Breeders in Meeting Food Security: The Case of Sorghum (\u3cem\u3eSorghum bicolor\u3c/em\u3e (L.) Moench) in Ethiopia

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) is the fifth most important cereal crop worldwide and it is the third most important crop in Ethiopia. The national average yield amounts 1302 kg/ha. In order to assess the achievement in farmer breeding various types of research were undertaken. These include survey research to quantify the trend in productivity, the level of and reasons for adoption of improved varieties, yield performance and preference evaluation of farmers’ varieties (FVs) and improved varieties (IVs). As per the trend analysis over the last four decades, total production and yield per hectare has increased by 11.63% and 14.2% respectively. However, area allocated to sorghum has decreased over years by -2.93%. The lack of consistent productivity is attributed to the fluctuation of environmental factors. Sorghum production in Ethiopia is predominantly based on varieties developed by farmers. The share of IVs is very low. FVs and IVs are adopted by 87.3% and 12.7% of the farmers respectively. Besides, the adoption of IVs is limited to the lowland crop ecology. The comparative yield of FVs is higher than IVs by 132%. On top of yield, farmers do prefer their varieties for other multipurpose values namely feed, fuel wood and construction material. FVs under production are identified in each wereda. Farmer breeding has been successful compared to four decades of formal breeding. On the other hand, both farmer and formal breeding are not without weaknesses; a comparative balance sheet is outlined for both. Ideotypes for the three major crop ecologies are suggested and integrated plant breeding is anticipated to develop the proposed ideotypes thereby increase sorghum productivity in the region

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

Agronomic Performance and Compatibility of Common Bean Genotypes Intercropped with Maize

Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is one of the most important nutritious food and cash crops grown in Ethiopia. This study evaluated the&nbsp; compatibility of common bean genotypes to intercropping with maize and assessed land use efficiency of mixed cropping for sustainable intensification&nbsp; of maize-legume based farming systems. Twenty-five common bean genotypes were evaluated under sole and intercropping with a maize hybrid, BH540,&nbsp; in 2011 and 2012 at Bako. Significant variations were observed among the common bean genotypes for most studied traits under sole and&nbsp; intercropping conditions. On average, about 88% yield reduction was recorded for the common bean genotypes intercropped with maize as compared to sole cropping. Genotypes&nbsp; MEXICO235 X PAN-182 and UBR(92)25-13-1 had higher seed yield under both cropping systems and also showed relatively&nbsp; lower yield reduction due to intercropping, indicating the compatibility of these genotypes for mixed cropping. Seed yield had positive and significant&nbsp; correlation only with seeds per pod and harvest index under sole cropping, but it had strong positive association with days to maturity, plant height, pods&nbsp; per plant, harvest index and number of primary braches under intercropping. Maize-common bean ntercropping slightly increased land use&nbsp; efficiency and land productivity. Genotypes ICTAJU-95-28, UBR (92)25-13-1 and MEXICO235XPAN-182 exhibited relatively higher total land equivalent ratio&nbsp; (LER) and relative crowding coefficient (RCC) under intercropping. In general, common bean genotypes used in this study were highly affected by the&nbsp; competition imposed by maize, indicating the need for further research to develop more compatible varieties of component crops and adjust the time of&nbsp; common bean intercropping with maize

Genetic Diversity among Lowland Finger Millet (Eleusine coracana (L) Gaertn) Accessions

አህፅሮትዳጉሳ ብዙ ጥቅም ያሇው ስብል ሆኖ ሳሇ ምርታማነቱ በተሇያዩ ችግሮች ምክንያት እጅግ ዝቅተኛ ነው፡፡ የተሇያዩ የዳጉሳ ዝርያዎችን ብዝሃነትና ተሇያይነት ማጥናት እና የምርት ማነቆ የሆኑትን ችግሮች ማወቅ የተሻሇ ምርት ሉያስገኙ የሚችለ ዝርያዎችን ሇመምርጥ ያስችሊል፡፡ የጥናቱ ዋና ዓሊማ ከኢተዮጲያ ብዝሀ ህይውት ኢንስቲትዩት እና አዴት ግብርና ምርምር ማዕከል የተገኙ 225 የዳጉሳ ዝርያዎችን በቆጋ የመስኖ ምርምር ጣቢያ በሲምፕል ሊቲስ ዲዛይን በሁሇት ድግግሞሽ ተዘርተው የተገመገሙ ሲሆን ያሊቸውን የዝርያ ተሇያይነት፣ ብዝሃነት እና ስብጥር ምን እንዯሚመስል ሇማውቅ ነበር፡፡ መረጃዎችን ሇመተንተን ጥቅም ሊይ የዋለት አኖቫ፣ ፊኖታይፒክ እና ጅኖቲፒክ ቫሪያንስ፤ ሄሪታቢሉቲ፤ ጄነቲክ አድቫንስ፤ ክሊስተር እና ፕሪንሲፓል ኮምፖንነት የትንተና አይነቶች ናቸው፡፡ ውጤቱ ከሁሇት ባህሪያት ውጪ በሁለም ባህሪያት በዝርያዎች መካከል ከፍተኛ የሆነ ልዩነት መኖሩን ያሳያል፡፡ በተጨማሪ ሄሪታቢሉቲ (95.35-3.04)፤ ጄኔቲክ አድቫንስ (16.09-0.03)፤ ፊኖቲፒክ (69.28-0.0003) እና ጂኖቲፒክ ቫሪያንስ (61.09-0.0002) የትንተና ውጤት ልዩንት መኖሩን ያመሊክታል፡፡ እንዲሁም የክሊስተር እና የፕሪንሲፓል ኮምፖኔንት ትንተና ውጤት 225 የዳጉሳ ዝርያዎችን ወዯ አምስት እና ስድስት ቡድኖች ወይም ምድቦች ከፍሏቿዋል፡፡ በአጠቃሊይ የጥናቱ ውጤት ሇወዯፊት በዳጉሳ ምርምር ማሻሻያ ውስጥ ልንገሇገልባቸዉ የምንችሊቸው ዝርያዎች ሰፊ የሆነ ልዩነት እንዳሊቸው ያሳያል፡፡AbstractTwo-hundred and twenty-five finger millet germplasm accessions obtained from the Ethiopian Institute of Biodiversity and Adet Agricultural Research Center were evaluated in 15×15 simple lattice design with two replications at Koga Irrigation trials site during the 2016/17 dry season. The objective of the study was to assess the genetic diversity of finger millet genotypes based on morpho-agronomic traits. Data were collected on 16 morpho-agronomic traits. Analysis of variance, and cluster and principal component analysis were carried out, and estimates of genotypic and phenotypic coefficient of variability, broad sense heritability, and expected genetic advance were made. The analysis of variance revealed that finger millet accessions were significantly different for all of the traits except to days to emergence and number of fingers/ear-head. Genotypic and phenotypic coefficients of variation were highest for numbers of ear-heads/plant with values of 27.11% and 25.03%, respectively. Estimates of broad sense heritability were highest for clum diameter (95.35%) and the lowest for number of ear-heads/plant (3.04%). The expected genetic advance from selection of the top 5% of the accessions ranged from 18.4% for grain yield/plot to 51.46% for ear-heads/plant. The first six PCs explained about 65% of the entire genetic variations with 17.9%, 13.7%, 11.1%, 8.8%, 7% and 6.5% of the total variation accounted by the first to the sixth PCs respectively. Cluster analysis based on the 16 morpho-agronomic traits revealed five distinct clusters comprising 13 to 64 accessions. Culm diameter, numbers of ear-heads/plant, ear-head width, and grain yield/plant could be used as selection criteria due to high GCV, heritability and genetic advance. Overall, the results of the study depicted the presence of sufficient genetic diversity among finger millet accessions for further use in breeding program

Genotype by Environment Interaction and Yield Stability of Drought Tolerant Mung Bean [Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek] Genotypes in Ethiopia

A multi-environment evaluation of mung bean genotypes was conducted in six environments across Ethiopia to select promising genotypes. This study was conducted to estimate the magnitude of genotypes by environment interaction (GEI) and seed yield stability of the selected drought-tolerant mung bean genotypes across different environments. A total of fifteen mung bean genotypes were used. Out of these, two released varieties were used as standard checks. The field experiments were conducted during the 2019 main cropping season at six locations namely Humbo, Gofa, Melkassa, Konso, Jinka, and Kako using a randomized complete block design with three replications. Data were subjected to analysis of variance, Additive Main Effects and Multiplicative Interaction (AMMI), and GGE bi-plot analysis. A combined analysis of variance revealed significant variations among the genotype, environments, and GEI for yield and yield-related traits, indicating that seed yield was significantly affected by these factors. Analysis of variance from the AMMI model indicated the contribution of environment, genotype, and GEI was 59.6%, 16.8%, and 14.8% of the total variation in seed yield, respectively. Sum squares of the first and the second interaction principal component axis (IPCA) explained 47.4% and 7.4% of the GEI variation, respectively. The IPCA1 mean square was highly significant (P≤0.01) and that of IPCA2 was significant (p≤0.05), indicating the adequacy of the AMMI model with the first two IPCAs for cross-validation of the seed yield variation. The magnitude of the GEI sum squares was 4.4 times that of the genotypes sum squares for seed yield, indicating the presence of substantial differences in genotypic responses across the environments. The results for the AMMI, Yield stability index (YSI), AMMI Stability Value (ASV), and GGE biplot, analyses depicted that the genotypes G6 (NLLP-MGC-24), G13 (Acc006), and G3 (NLLP-MGC-15) were identified as stable and high yielders across the environments and should be considered for variety release. AMMI1 biplot showed Kako was the potential and favorable environment for mung bean production, while Humbo was an unfavorable for mung bean production

In-vitro evaluation of mung bean (Vigna radiata L., Wilczek) genotypes for drought tolerance and productivity

Drought stress is the most important factor that limits mung bean production and productivity at large in drought-prone areas of Ethiopia. It is hence necessary to identify and verify drought-tolerant and productive varieties of major crops grown in drought areas of the country like mung bean. The present study was conducted to evaluate mung bean genotypes for drought tolerance under in-vitro conditions and to assess the performance of the in-vitro developed regenerants under greenhouse conditions. The in-vitro experiment was thus arranged in a factorial experiment using a completely randomized design with three replications. Three mung bean genotypes, NLLP-MGC-06/G6 (tolerant), VC6368 (46-40-4)/G34 (moderate), and NLLP-MGC-02/G2 (sensitive) and five polyethylene glycol (PEG) levels (0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0%) were used. The analysis of variance exhibited significant differences among the genotypes for all the studied parameters except the number of roots per shoot. There were significant differences observed among PEG levels for all the studied parameters. Significant genotypes x PEG interactions were observed for all the studied traits except total roots per culture and survival percentage. Increasing polyethylene glycol concentration from 0% to 2.0% in the medium caused a gradual increase in root length from 0.49 cm at 0% PEG to 1.17 cm at 2.0% PEG, respectively. This revealed an adaptive mechanism to the decreased moisture content in the root zones of plants and enhanced increased root length to reach deeper water in the soil. Regenerant from the treatment combinations of G34 (0) exhibited the highest values for the number of primary branches per plant (4.00). Grain yield for the in-vitro regenerated plants evaluated at greenhouse conditions ranged from 552.52 kg ha-1 at the treatment combination of G2 (1) to 996.23 kg ha-1 at the treatment combinations of G6 (0). Most of the regenerants obtained from NLLP-MGC-06/G6 and VC6368 (46-40-4)/G34 showed the best performance under the greenhouse for drought-tolerance under the in-vitro condition, suggesting that the accumulated performance of the tested regenerants under in-vitro conditions was realized under greenhouse conditions. It also indicated that in-vitro culture is an important tool to identify and verify drought-tolerant genotypes and improve desirable agronomical traits. Further study is indeed required to understand the mechanism of drought tolerance for in-vitro-selected somaclones