Assessment of Irrigation Water Quality and Suitability for Irrigation in the Fincha’a Valley Sugar Estate, Nile Basin of Western Ethiopia

A number of factors like geology, soil, effluents, sewage disposal and other environmental conditions in which the water stays or moves and interacts are among the factors that affect the quality of irrigation water. This study was conducted to determine the quality and suitability of different water sources for irrigation purpose in Fincha’a Valley Sugar Estate (FVSE), within the Nile Basin of Western Ethiopia. A total of 80 water samples were collected from different sources viz., reservoir, rivers, diversion weir, canals, pump stations, drains, and groundwater of the study area. Physico-chemical properties including electrical conductivity (EC), hydrogen ion concentration (pH), total dissolved solids (TDS), major cations (Ca, Mg, K, Na) and anions (HCO3 and Cl) were analyzed in the laboratory and sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), residual sodium carbonate (RSC) and permeability Index (PI) were calculated from the major cations and anions studied for the criteria of irrigation water quality and suitability for irrigation. The study revealed that the values of EC, pH and TDS, and the amount of Cl-, HCO3, Na+, K+ , Ca2+ and Mg2+ varied from 100 to 730 µS cm-1, 6.6 to 7.3, 64 to 467.20 mg l-1,and 2.8 to 6.8, 2.04 to 5.6,3.8 to 7.8, 0.05 to 0.26, 8.4 to 19.9, 1.4 to 3.7 mmol l-1 and SAR, RSC, the PI values varied from 0.4 to 3. 9, -13 to -6.4 and 26.34 to 49. 9 %, respectively. The cationic and anionic constituents and SAR values of the samples increased from the upstream to the downstream. This is clear indication of the impacts of agricultural activities of the upstream and long-term irrigation in the downstream on the quality and suitability of water for irrigation purpose. If this trend continues, the gate for secondary salinization becomes  significant. This necessitates the undertaking of certain management measures in the area for sustainability and productivity of the irrigation system in the FVSE

Identification of Groundwater Level by Using Geoelectrical Resistivity Method at Fincha’a Sugar Estate, Blue Nile Basin, Western Ethiopia

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Patterns of Land Use/Cover Dynamics in the Mountain Landscape of Tara Gedam and Adjacent Agro-Ecosystem, Northwest Ethiopia

This study analyzed land use/cover dynamics in the mountain landscape of Tara Gedam and adjacent agro-ecosystem of northwest Ethiopia over a period of 46 years (1957–2003). The changes were measured through interpretation of aerial photographs taken in 1957 and 1980, and Land-sat satellite image of 2003 using Arc gis 9.2 software, supported by focal group discussions and field visits. Three separate maps (for years 1957, 1980 and 2003) of the study area were produced and six major land use/cover classes were identified: dense forest, woodland, shrub land, grassland, riverine vegetation and cultivated and settlement land. The results indicated that the main land trajectory was from natural vegetation cover to settlement and cultivated land. The cultivated and settlement land coverage increased by 90.60% between 1957 and 2003. However, woodland, dense forest, riverine vegetation, shrub and grasslands coverage declined by 97.87, 71.04, 37.00, 9.02 and 3.03%, respectively. These could be mainly attributed to anthropogenic factors. Increasing demands of more land for cultivation and settlement, overgrazing, deforestation for fuel wood and construction have resulted in a dramatic shrinkage of the area under natural vegetation. The 1975 national land reform proclamation of the country had also contributed to the expansion of cultivated and settlement land. The implications of these changes are increased land degradation and loss of biodiversity affecting the livelihood of the community. It is suggested that the study area needs an immediate intervention for developing sustainable land use practices and to manage the remaining natural vegetation and to rehabilitate the degraded lands

Statistical bias correction of regional climate model simulations for climate change projection in the Jemma sub-basin, upper Blue Nile Basin of Ethiopia

This study evaluates bias correction methods and develops future climate scenarios using the output of a better bias correctiontechnique at the Jemma sub-basin. The performance of different bias correction techniques was evaluated using several statisticalmetrics. The bias correction methods performance under climate condition different from the current climate was also evaluatedusing the differential split sample testing (DSST) and reveals that the distribution mapping technique is valid under climatecondition different from the current climate. All bias correction methods were effective in adjusting mean monthly and annualRCM simulations of rainfall and temperature to the observed rainfall and temperature values. However, distribution mappingmethod was better in capturing the 90th percentile of observed rainfall and temperature and wet day probability of observedrainfall than other methods. As a result, we use the future (2021–2100) simulation of RCMs which are bias corrected usingdistribution mapping technique. The output of bias-adjusted RCMs unfolds a decline of rainfall, a persistent increase of temperature and an increase of extremes of rainfall and temperature in the future climate under emission scenarios of RepresentativeConcentration Pathways 4.5, 8.5 and 2.6 (RCP4.5, RCP8.5 and RCP2.6). Thus, climate adaptation strategies that can provideoptimal benefits under different climate scenarios should be developed to reduce the impact of future climate change

Observed changes in extremes of daily rainfall and temperature in Jemma Sub-Basin, Upper Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia

Climate variability has been a threat to the socio-economic development of Ethiopia. This paper examined the changes in rainfall, minimum, and maximum temperature extremes of Jemma Sub-Basin of the Upper Blue Nile Basin for the period of 1981 to 2014. The nonparametric Mann-Kendall, seasonal Mann-Kendall, and Sen’s slope estimator were used to estimate annual trends. Ten rainfall and 12 temperature indices were used to study changes in rainfall and temperature extremes. The results showed an increasing trend of annual and summer rainfall in more than 78% of the stations and a decreasing trend of spring rainfall in most of the stations. An increase in rainfall extreme events was detected in the majority of the stations. Several rainfall extreme indices showed wetting trends in the sub-basin, whereas limited indices indicated dryness in most of the stations. Annual maximum and minimum temperature and extreme temperature indices showed warming trend in the sub-basin. Presence of extreme rainfall and a warming trend of extreme temperature indices may suggest signs of climate change in the Jemma Sub-Basin. This study, therefore, recommended the need for exploring climate induced risks and implementing appropriate climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies

Ocular Dermoid in Crossbred calf- A Case Report

The present paper deals with a typical case of ocular dermoid cyst in three weeks old crossbred calf. The patient had a history of lacrimation and a hairy growth in the left eye. Based on the history and clinical examination, the case was diagnosed as ocular dermoid cyst and removed successfully by superficial keratectomy.Key words: Calf, Dermoid, Keratectomy, Teratolog

Evaluation of regional climate models performance in simulating rainfall climatology of Jemma sub-basin, Upper Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia

This study examines the performance of 10 Regional Climate Model (RCM) outputs which are dynamically downscaled from the fifth phase of Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project (CMIP5) GCMs using different RCMs parameterization approaches. The RCMs are evaluated based on their ability to reproduce the magnitude and pattern of monthly and annual rainfall, characteristics of rainfall events and variability related to Sea Surface Temperature (SST) for the period 1981–2005. The outputs of all RCMs showed wet bias, particularly in the higher elevation areas of the sub-basin. Wet bias of annual rainfall ranges from 9.60% in CCLM4 (HadGEM2-ES) model to 110.9% in RCA4 (EC-EARTH) model. JJAS (June-September) rainfall is also characterized by wet bias ranges from 0.76% in REMO (MPI-ESM-LR) model to 100.7% in RCA4 (HadGEM2-ES) model. GCMs that were dynamically downscaled through REMO (Max Planck Institute) and CCLM4 (Climate Limited-Area Modeling) performed better in capturing the rainfall climatology and distribution of rainfall events. However, GCMs dynamically downscaled using RCA4 (SMHI Rossby Center Regional Atmospheric Model) were characterized by overestimation and there are more extreme rainfall events in the cumulative distribution. Most of the RCMs’ rainfall over the sub-basin showed a teleconnection with Sea Surface Temperature (SST) of CMIP5 GCMs in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, but weak. The ensemble mean of all 10 RCMs simulations was superior in capturing the seasonal pattern of the rainfall and had better correlation with observed annual (Correl = 0.6) and JJAS season rainfall (Correl = 0.5) than any single model (S-RCM). We recommend using GCMs downscaled using REMO and CCLM4 RCMs and stations based statistical bias correction to manage elevation based biases of RCMs in the Upper Blue Nile Basin, specifically in the Jemma sub-basin

Global, regional, and national under-5 mortality, adult mortality, age-specific mortality, and life expectancy, 1970–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016

BACKGROUND: Detailed assessments of mortality patterns, particularly age-specific mortality, represent a crucial input that enables health systems to target interventions to specific populations. Understanding how all-cause mortality has changed with respect to development status can identify exemplars for best practice. To accomplish this, the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2016 (GBD 2016) estimated age-specific and sex-specific all-cause mortality between 1970 and 2016 for 195 countries and territories and at the subnational level for the five countries with a population greater than 200 million in 2016. METHODS: We have evaluated how well civil registration systems captured deaths using a set of demographic methods called death distribution methods for adults and from consideration of survey and census data for children younger than 5 years. We generated an overall assessment of completeness of registration of deaths by dividing registered deaths in each location-year by our estimate of all-age deaths generated from our overall estimation process. For 163 locations, including subnational units in countries with a population greater than 200 million with complete vital registration (VR) systems, our estimates were largely driven by the observed data, with corrections for small fluctuations in numbers and estimation for recent years where there were lags in data reporting (lags were variable by location, generally between 1 year and 6 years). For other locations, we took advantage of different data sources available to measure under-5 mortality rates (U5MR) using complete birth histories, summary birth histories, and incomplete VR with adjustments; we measured adult mortality rate (the probability of death in individuals aged 15-60 years) using adjusted incomplete VR, sibling histories, and household death recall. We used the U5MR and adult mortality rate, together with crude death rate due to HIV in the GBD model life table system, to estimate age-specific and sex-specific death rates for each location-year. Using various international databases, we identified fatal discontinuities, which we defined as increases in the death rate of more than one death per million, resulting from conflict and terrorism, natural disasters, major transport or technological accidents, and a subset of epidemic infectious diseases; these were added to estimates in the relevant years. In 47 countries with an identified peak adult prevalence for HIV/AIDS of more than 0·5% and where VR systems were less than 65% complete, we informed our estimates of age-sex-specific mortality using the Estimation and Projection Package (EPP)-Spectrum model fitted to national HIV/AIDS prevalence surveys and antenatal clinic serosurveillance systems. We estimated stillbirths, early neonatal, late neonatal, and childhood mortality using both survey and VR data in spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression models. We estimated abridged life tables for all location-years using age-specific death rates. We grouped locations into development quintiles based on the Socio-demographic Index (SDI) and analysed mortality trends by quintile. Using spline regression, we estimated the expected mortality rate for each age-sex group as a function of SDI. We identified countries with higher life expectancy than expected by comparing observed life expectancy to anticipated life expectancy on the basis of development status alone. FINDINGS: Completeness in the registration of deaths increased from 28% in 1970 to a peak of 45% in 2013; completeness was lower after 2013 because of lags in reporting. Total deaths in children younger than 5 years decreased from 1970 to 2016, and slower decreases occurred at ages 5-24 years. By contrast, numbers of adult deaths increased in each 5-year age bracket above the age of 25 years. The distribution of annualised rates of change in age-specific mortality rate differed over the period 2000 to 2016 compared with earlier decades: increasing annualised rates of change were less frequent, although rising annualised rates of change still occurred in some locations, particularly for adolescent and younger adult age groups. Rates of stillbirths and under-5 mortality both decreased globally from 1970. Evidence for global convergence of death rates was mixed; although the absolute difference between age-standardised death rates narrowed between countries at the lowest and highest levels of SDI, the ratio of these death rates-a measure of relative inequality-increased slightly. There was a strong shift between 1970 and 2016 toward higher life expectancy, most noticeably at higher levels of SDI. Among countries with populations greater than 1 million in 2016, life expectancy at birth was highest for women in Japan, at 86·9 years (95% UI 86·7-87·2), and for men in Singapore, at 81·3 years (78·8-83·7) in 2016. Male life expectancy was generally lower than female life expectancy between 1970 and 2016, an

Biomass and Nutrient Accumulation of Green Manuring Legumes Terminated at Different Growth Stages

A field study was conducted at the experimental site of the Assosa Research Center, western Ethiopia, with the objective of generating information about the biomass and nutrient accumulation of four green manuring (GM) legume crops at different growth stages. Accordingly, factorial combinations of four legume crops [cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), soybean (Glycine max), and two common bean verities (Black Dessie and Awash Melka) (Phaseolus vulgaris)] and three growth stages of termination (mid-vegetative, mid-flowering and pod-setting) treatments laid in a randomized complete block design were used. Significant species by growth stage treatmentinteraction (