Policies and institutions to enhance the impact of irrigation development in mixed crop-livestock systemsLength: pp.168-184

Irrigation managementInstitutional developmentPolicyCrop productionLivestockWater demandIrrigation waterSmall scale systemsInvestmentFarmer managed irrigation systemsPovertyFarmersGenderWater users’ associations

Stable Food Crops Turning Into Commercial Crops: Case Studies Of Teff, Wheat And Rice In Ethiopia

Teff, wheat and rice are becoming important market oriented crops in Ethiopia. This study aims at measuring the level of market orientation of households in these crops, identifying the important market places and market outlets used by producers, and analyzing the determinants of market orientation in these crops. Results are based on analysis of data collected from community (peasant association) and household surveys in three districts in three regional states of the country in 2005. Analysis of descriptive information and econometric analysis are used. About 65 - 77% of households produce these market oriented commodities in the study areas, on about 27 – 44% of the total cultivated land. About 47 – 60% of the produce of these market oriented commodities is sold. The important market places for producers of these commodities are the district town markets and markets located at the peasant associations within the district. Wholesalers and retailers are the most important buyers from producers. Average distance to market places for these commodities is about two walking hours. Econometric analyses show that market orientation of households is affected by a host of factors related to household demographics, household endowments of human and physical capital, access to institutional services, and village level factors. Size of cultivable land and traction power, and household labor supply are important factors that induce households to be market oriented. While household size tends to favor food security objectives, number of dependents is associated with market orientation. Population control measures could contribute to market orientation through their effect of reducing household subsistence requirements. Our results also imply that interventions to improvements markets operations in order to benefit producers need to consider the operation of district level markets. Improving the operations of factor markets of land, traction and farm labor could contribute to enhancing market orientation of farm households. Special attention is needed to female headed households in the process of commercial transformation of subsistence agriculture. The development and institutionalization of marketing extension warrants due consideration

Cattle milk and meat production and marketing systems and opportunities for market-orientation in Fogera woreda, Amhara region, Ethiopia

This study was conducted in Fogera woreda, South Gondar Zone of the Amhara National Regional State in northwestern Ethiopia in 2005/06. The aim was to characterize cattle milk and meat production and marketing systems, identify the major constraints and provide development interventions for more market-orientation. Twelve kebeles were randomly selected (five from the Fogera plains and seven outside the plains) based on their potential for cattle milk and meat production. A total of 480 households were sampled from these kebeles and focus group discussion, personal observations and administration of semi-structured questionnaires on milk and meat production practices were employed. Only 12 (2.52%) of the respondents were female-headed households. About 98.8% of cattle milk and meat production was based on traditional husbandry using indigenous cattle breeds. The Fogera cattle is the major breed used and is mainly found in the Damote, Sendeye and Tigre mender villages. The main feed resources in the woreda are communal grazing land and crop residues of teff, rice, finger millet, barley, wheat, chickpea, field pea and maize. The communal grazing land currently accounts for about 9602.4 ha; out of which 3418.5 ha (35.6%) is infested by a noxious weed known as Asracantha longifolia (amykila). Over a period of two years, large area of communal grazing land has been transformed into crop farms, mainly to rice production, and this has apparently created severe feed shortage in the woreda. Flooding of the plains during the wet season from Gumara and Rib rivers further reduced the availability of grazing land. In addition, large number of animals are trekked from the highlands of Fogera and adjacent woredas of Dera and Estie to the plains during the dry season and this has resulted in inter-breeding of the Fogera cattle breed with highland zebus and has exacerbated the feed shortage. Rice husk, a by-product from rice polishers, is becoming an important feed resource. On average, about 35 kg of rice husk is produced from a quintal of rice. The major water resources are wells (48.8%), rivers (47.2%), lake (3%), ponds (2.3%) and tap water (0.2%). Cattle are watered once a day. Trypanosomiasis, facioliasis and schistosomiasis are the most prevalent diseases

Radical Scavenging Activity and Preliminary Phytochemical Screening of Pods of Cassia arereh Del. (Fabaceae)

Cassia arereh is traditionally used as a fish poison and to manage different disease conditions including gastrointestinal tract (GIT) disorders, infertility, diabetes, insect bite, and infections. Free radicals have been implicated in the pathogenesis of a range of chronic diseases; and many medicinal plants are thought to be effective in managing such diseases, mainly through their free radicals scavenging ability. The objective of this study was to conduct phytochemical screening and investigate the free radical scavenging activity of various extracts of pods of C. arereh. Petroleum ether, ethanol, and water extracts were prepared from the pods powder and tested for their radical scavenging activity using 1, 1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. The pods powder was also subjected to preliminary phytochemical screening. The results revealed that ethanol and water extracts possessed strong DPPH radical scavenging activity with 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) values of 8.84 and 16.76μg/ml, respectively. Ascorbic acid was used as a standard and exhibited a radical scavenging IC50 value of 2.0μg/ml. Results of preliminary phytochemical screening indicated the possible presence of anthraquinones, carbohydrates, deoxy-sugars, saponins, tannins, and terpenoids. It can be concluded that pods of C. arereh may contain medicinally relevant constituents such as terpenoids and displayed strong radical scavenging activity, which may partly contribute to the possible scientific basis for its traditional use to alleviate different disease conditions.Keywords: Cassia arereh, Phytochemical screening, Radical scavenging, Traditional medicine, Ethiopia

STABILITY ANALYSIS OF FOOD BARLEY GENOTYPES IN NORTHERN ETHIOPIA

Barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.) is one of the founder crops of the old world agriculture and was one of the first domesticated cereals. The objective of this study was to estimate the magnitude of genotype x environment interaction and stability for barley grain yield and yield related traits in the growing areas of Tigray. Eight nationally released varieties, together with four farmers\u2019 varieties, were planted in randomised complete block design, with three replications. The additive main effects and multiplicative interaction analysis of grain yield showed that environment, and GEI were highly significant (P<0.01), whereas variations due to genotypes were not significant. They accounted for 72.21, 9.16, and 4.47% of the total sum of squares, respectively. Large sum of squares indicated that the environments were diverse; causing most of the variation in grain yield. The multiplicative variance of the treatment sum of squares due to GEI was partitioned into the interaction principal component axes IPCA1, IPCA2 and IPCA3, which explained 58.06, 27.11 and 14.82% of the interaction sum of squares, respectively; but only the IPCA1 was highly significant. Atena, Shediho, Basso and Agegnehu with a lower IPCA1 score, were stable genotypes; whereas HB-1307, Estayish, Himbilil and Yidogit with relatively higher IPCA1 scores were unstable genotypes. The same was observed in ASV as AMMI stability. Maychew, with a low IPCA value was favourable environment for all genotypes; whereas Korem with a high IPCA score was unfavourable one.L\u2019orge ( Hordeum vulgare L.) est une culture de l\u2019agriculture antique et \ue9tait l\u2019une des premi\ue8res c\ue9r\ue9ales domestiqu\ue9es. Un essai \ue9tait fait pour estimer le niveau d\u2019interaction g\ue9notype x environnement et la stabilit\ue9 du rendement en grains et autres traits de rendement de l\u2019orge dans les milieux de Tigray. Huit vari\ue9t\ue9s diffus\ue9es dans le pays et les vari\ue9t\ue9s locales des fermiers, \ue9taient plant\ue9es en bloc complet randomis\ue9 avec trois r\ue9p\ue9titions. Les effets principaux additifs et l\u2019analyse de l\u2019interaction multiplicative du rendement en grains a montr\ue9 que l\u2019l\u2019interaction environnement et GEI \ue9taient hautement significatif (P<0.01), pendant que les variations dues aux g\ue9notypes n\u2019\ue9taient pas significatives. Elles comptaient pour 72.21, 9.16, et 4.47% de la somme totale des carr\ue9s, respectivement. Une large somme des carr\ue9s pour les environnements indiquait que les environnements \ue9taient divers, causant ainsi la plupart des variations dans le rendement en grain. La variance multiplicative de la somme des carr\ue9s des traitements due au GEI \ue9tait partitionn\ue9e dans l\u2019interaction des axes des composantes IPCA1, IPCA2, et IPCA3 expliquant les 58.06, 27.11 et 14.82% d\u2019interaction de la somme des carr\ue9s, respectivement, mais seul le IPCA1 \ue9tait hautement significatif. Atena, Shediho, Basso et Agegnehu dot\ue9s d\u2019un IPCA1 plus bas constituaient des g\ue9notypes stables, alors que HB-1307, Estayish, Himbilil et Yidogit avaient enregistr\ue9s un IPCA1 plus \ue9lev\ue9 et constituaient des g\ue9notypes instables. Ceci \ue9tait observ\ue9 sur ASV comme stabilit\ue9 de l\u2019AMMI. Maychew avec une valeur basse de l\u2019IPCA constituait un environnement favorable pour tous les g\ue9notypes alors que Korem avec son IPCA plus \ue9lev\ue9 \ue9tait d\ue9favorable

Community natural resource management: the case of woodlots in Northern Ethiopia

This paper examines the nature of community management of woodlots and investigates the determinants of collective action and its effectiveness in managing woodlots, based on a survey of 100 villages in Tigray, northern Ethiopia. Despite limited current benefits received by community members, the woodlots contribute substantially to community wealth, increasing members' willingness to provide collective effort to manage the woodlots. We find that benefits are greater and problems less on woodlots managed at the village level than those managed at a higher municipality level, and that the average intensity of management is greater on village-managed woodlots. The factors that do significantly affect collective action include population density (higher collective labor input and lower planting density at intermediate than at low or high density), market access (less labor input, planting density and tree survival where market access is better), and presence of external organizations promoting the woodlot (reduces local effort to protect the woodlot and tree survival). The finding of an inverse U-shaped relationship between population density and collective labor input is consistent with induced innovation theory, with the increased labor/land ratio promoting collective effort to invest in resources as population density grows to a moderate level, while incentive problems may undermine collective action at high levels of population density. These findings suggest collective action may be more beneficial and more effective when managed at a more local level, when the role of external organizations is more demand-driven, and when promoted in intermediate population density communities more remote from markets. In higher population density settings and areas closer to markets, private-oriented approaches are likely to be more effective

USING TIME SERIES TO STUDY DYNAMICS OF SWEAT RATES OF HOLSTEIN COWS EXPOSED TO INITIAL AND PROLONGED SOLAR HEAT STRESS

Sweating is a very important way for cows to cope with heat stress. We are interested in the ability of Holstein cows to sustain high sweat or evaporation rates when exposed to solar radiation. There were two solar heat stress treatments: onset and prolonged. The onset data provided an opportunity to examine the impact of sudden exposure to a solar thermal load. The prolonged data allowed us to examine the impact of exposure to solar heat stress for an expended period (5 hr). Two questions of interest were: Do cows sweat at a constant or cyclic rate? Is there a difference in the dynamics of the two treatments: onset and prolonged solar heat stress? The data were examined for stationarity. In the time domain, we fit ARIMA models and estimated the parameters. In the frequency domain, we used nonparametric spectral estimation to identify cyclic patterns in the sweat rates. The usefulness of each technique for analyzing the dynamics of sweat rates is discussed

Two novel amino acid substitutions in highly conserved regions of prion protein (PrP) and a high frequency of a scrapie protective variant in native Ethiopian goats

BackgroundPolymorphisms of the prion protein gene may influence scrapie susceptibility in small ruminants through modified protein conformation. At least 47 amino acid substitutions and 19 silent polymorphisms have been described in goat PRNP reported from several countries. The objective of this study was to investigate PRNP polymorphisms of native Ethiopian goat breeds and compare the results with other goat breeds.ResultsThe analysis of the prion protein gene PRNP in 229 goats belonging to three of the main Ethiopian native goat breeds showed a remarkably high frequency (>34.6%) of p.(Asn146Ser) in these breeds, a variant involved in scrapie resistance in Cyprus. In addition, two novel amino-acid substitutions p.(Gly127Ala) and p.(Thr193Ile), with frequencies ranging from 1.5 to 7.3% were detected. Both amino acids are well conserved in prion proteins (PrP) of most species and these changes have never been reported before in goats worldwide. Residue 127 is within the N-terminal domain of PrP and is probably involved in the recruitment of neural cell adhesion molecules (NCAM). Residue 193 is within the highly conserved string of 4 threonines that plays a role in determining the efficiency of prion protein conversion towards its pathological form.ConclusionTwo novel coding polymorphisms and a high frequency of a scrapie protective variant indicate a high level of genetic diversity in PRNP of Ethiopian goats. This finding increases the interest in exploring PRNP polymorphisms of native goat breeds in areas where cross breeding with foreign goats has rarely occurred