Scientometric analysis of the Ethiopian Journal of Agricultural Sciences

A Scientometric analysis of the Ethiopian Journal of Agricultural Sciences from volume 1 to 24 covering 279 papers is reported. The journal was covering all areas of agriculture with most papers having single, two or three authors and; in a rare cases up to nine and twelve authors. The number of papers in agronomy, field crop breeding and crop protection was large and very few in agricultural education, botany and taxonomy. The number of papers per volume varies from 16 to 7 with an average of 11 papers and a total number of pages per volume varying from 189 to84 with an average of 129 pages per volume. Similarly the average number of pages per paper citations per paper was 11.8 and 10.9 respectively. The highest authorship productivity was nine

Registration of Plant Varieties

No Abstrac

Diversity of castor (Ricinus communis L.) in Ethiopia

An experiment was carried out to assess the diversity of castor germplasm in Ethiopia. A total of 102 accessions, one elite genotype and two standard varieties were characterized at Melkassa and Arsi Negelle, in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia using 12 traits for one during 2013 main season. Analysis of variance, principal component and cluster analysis was performed for the combined data. The result showed that there is tremendous phenotypic variability for agronomic and morphological traits of castor among the tested accessions. For some traits such as 100 seed weight, wider variation was observed compared to the entire USDA germplasm collection. In this study the accessions were clustered in two five classes with cluster V having only one accession. Principal component analysis indicated that PC1 contributed 79% of the variation and capsules per plant and seeds per plant constituting the most to variation among accessions. In this study, number of capsules and seeds per plant were the two most important yield component traits to be considered in the future breeding program

Inheritance of plant height in two Ethiopian castor varieties

Castor varieties are tall in plant height which makes them difficult for harvesting. A study was carried out to investigate the inheritance of plant height among two tall Castor varieties Hiruy and Abaro and one dwarf experimental line MD-1 during 2012 to 2014 at Melkassa. The F1 from reciprocal crosses of Abaro and Hiruy with MD 1 were all tall. The F2 plants segregated in to 1 dwarf to 3 tall plants and the backcross plants to the tall parents were all tall while plants from the backcross to the dwarf parent segregated into 1 tall to 1 dwarf. The data in this study shows that plant height in castor varieties Abaro and Hiruy is controlled by a single gene at one locus. Dwarf plants appeared at a homozygous recessive condition (ht1ht1) while tall plants can be either homozygous (ht1Ht1) or heterozygous (Ht1Ht1). The results of this study will assist in the breeding for semi-dwarf genotypes of castor varieties in the future

Precision Agriculture and the Need to Introduce in Ethiopia

አህፅሮትየዕቅጩ እርሻ የተለያዩ የረቀቁ የእርሻ መሳሪያዎች፣ የአይሲቲ ቴክኖሎጂዎችንና አሰራሮችን የሚያጠቃልል ሲሆን የሰብል ምርትን ሊቀንሱ የሚችሉ በማሳ ውስጥ ያሉ በተለይም የአፈር ተለያይነትን በመቀነስ ትክክለኛና ሰብሉ የሚፈልገውን  የማሳ ዝግጅት፣ ዘር አዘራር፣ የመስኖ ውሀ አሰጣጥ፣ የማዳበሪያና ፀረ አረም በመጠቀም የሰብል ምርትንበማሳደግ ወጭን በመቀነስ ትርፋማነትን ማሳደግና በአካባቢ ላይ ሊደርስ የሚችል ተፅዕኖን በተለይም የአፈር ጨዋማነትንና በፀረ ተባይ የሚደርስ ጉዳትን በእጅጉ መቀነስ ነው፡፡ የዕቅጩ እርሻ በማሳ ውስጥ የሚታይና በዕፅዋት ፍላጎት  ላይ የተመሰረተ ሲሆን የአፈር ካርታን ወይም በእርሻ ማሳሪያዎች ላይ የተገጠሙ የዕፅዋት ወይም አፈር የረቀቁ ሴንሰሮችን በመጠቀም ትክክለኛ ግብአትን መጠቀም ያስችላል፡፡ በአገራችን የሚታየው የአነስተኛ አርሶ አደሮች የማሳ ይዞታ የዕቅጩ እርሻን ለመተግበር ተግደሮት ቢሆንም፤  በክለከስተር የተደራጁ፤ ሰፋፊ እርሻዎች እና የስኳር ፕሮጀክቶችን ማሳን ለማስተካካልና ትክክለኛ የግብዓት መጠን በመጠቀም ምርታማነትን፣ ትርፋማትንና የምርት ጥራትን በእጅጉ ሊያሳድግ ይችላል ፡፡ ምንም እንኳ ለዕቅጩ እርሻ የሚውሉ የእርሻና የመገናኛ መሳሪያዎች ዋጋ እና የሚጠይቀው አጠቃቀቀም ዕውቀትና ክህሎት ከፍ ያለ ቢሆንም  የሚሰጠው ጥቅም ከወጪው በእጅጉ እንደሚልቅ ጥናቶች አረጋግጠዋል፡፡  AbstractPrecision Agriculture (PA) includes several techniques, technologies and management factors aimed at addressing field variation that affect crop yield by using more precise land leveling, seeding, fertilizer application, irrigation and pesticide use in order to optimize crop production, improve profitability and reduce environmental risk. PA recognizes temporal and spatial variability of production fields through information acquisition; interpretation; evaluation; and control. This can be achieved using map or management zones based on soil survey and property data or real time based for variable rate application of inputs while on the go. It has been shown that PA conserves irrigation water and power, improves profitability through correct application of fertilizers and pesticides, and reduces environmental risk. PA can be implemented in large and cluster farms as well as lowlands of Ethiopia particularly in irrigated fields. It can help to precisely level land, correct seeding, and application of the right amount of fertilizer, irrigation water, and pesticide based on the plant need. Despite its superior advantage, the high cost of machineries, software and skilled labor could scare the adoption of PA in Ethiopia. However, studies have shown that the benefits of PA out weights the cost and it can contribute to food security significantly.

Physic nut (Jatropha curcas): miracle plant or a treat in Ethiopia?

Physic nut or Ayderkie in Amharic and Gullo in Oromiffa is a bush or small tree adapted in the drier and warmer areas of Ethiopia. It endures moisture stress by dropping its leaves during dry period and flourishes when the rain comes. The plant has received enormous attention of the government as raw material for biodiesel industry. Hence a serious of silvicultural and genotype testing have been carried out in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia. The result indicated that physic nut has a very narrow genetic base probably due to its ease of vegetative propagation. Furthermore, the plant needs intensive improved management such as sufficient moisture, mulching, fertile soil, and pruning for successful seed production. Although, physic nut is thought to have least disease and insect incidence, it is not the case in Ethiopia. Physic nut is not used as food, feed, or firewood; its use lies only in hedges and in the soap industry. Over all, the myths of physic nut are unfounded and its distribution needs to be regulated

A unique purple castor (Racinnus communis L.) variety: Hiruy

No Abstrac

Effect of plant and row spacing on the yield and oil contents of castor (Ricinus communis L.) in the Central Rift Valley, Ethiopia

Castor (Ricinus communis L.) is an industrial non edible oilseed adapted to drier areas. An experiment was conducted in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia to determine optimum plant population of castor variety Hiruy. Four plant (50, 60, 70 and 80 cm) and four row spacing (60,80,100 and 120 cm) were arranged in factorial combination and RCBD design in three replications. The experiment was carried out for two years at Melkassa and Arsi Negelle in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia. The result showed that plant population has no effect on the oil content of Castor. Plant spacing of 60 cm and row spacing of 80 cm resulted in longer main raceme, heavier seed weight and higher seed yield. Therefore, a plant population of about 20 833 plants per hectare or plant and row spacing of 60 x 80 cm can be used for castor production in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia for an upper branching variety such as Hiruy. Length of main raceme, capsules per plant and seed weight are the main yield components in castor.Keywords: Castor, Plant spacing, row spacing, seed yiel

Genetic Variability Assessment of Ethiopian Caraway (Trachyspermum ammi L. Sprague ex Turrill) Genotypes at Mersa, Ethiopia

Thirty-six local accessions of Ethiopian caraway were evaluated to assess their genetic variability and to determine their essential oil contents at Mersa, North Wollo using 6 x 6 lattice designs with three replications. Fourteen parameters were recorded and statistically analyzed The analysis of variance for these parameters indicated that the mean squares due to genotypes were highly significant for days to emergence, days to maturity, plant height, secondary branches/plant, seed yield and essential oil content. Genotypic variance contributed the larger portion of the phenotypic variance in all of the parameters. Moderate values of PCV and GCV were noted for number of secondary branches (15.1% and 14.16%), plant height (12.3% and 10.84%) and essential oil content (16.1% and 15.7%); however, the values of PCV and/or GCV were low for the rest of the parameters. Highest value of heritability were observed for essential oil (94.2%) and secondary branches (87.6%).Genetic advance (GA) and GA% were higher for dry matter, seed yield, secondary branches and plant height. Heritability, GA and GA% were higher for number of secondary branches, plant height and essential oil. Significant positive correlations were observed for number of umbel with number of secondary branches (0.98**), number of seeds per umbel (0.6**) and plant height (0.44**).Genotypically seed yield was positive and highly significant with number of primary branches (0.48**), secondary branches (0.5**), number of umbel per plant (0.8**), number of seeds per umbel (0.98**) and plant height (0.79**). Keywords: essential oil, harvest index, heritability, variability, genetic advance, correlation

Genetic divergence in Ethiopian coriander accessions and its implication in breeding of desired plant types

The genetic divergence among 49 Ethiopian coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) accessions was assessed using employing Mahalanobi’s distance (D2) analysis based on 15 characters. The accessions were grouped in to eight clusters. Cluster II and III were the largest each with 12 accessions, followed by clusters I and V each consisting of seven accessions. The highest inter-cluster distance (480.5) was observed between clusters I and VIII, followed by clusters V and VIII (462.2), and then clusters II and VIII (336.1). Hence, crossing between accessions included in these clusters may give high heterotic response, and thereby better sergeants. Maximum contribution toward total genetic divergence was possessed by thousand seed weight (15.67%), followed by basal leaf number (13.48%), plant height (10.29%), seeds umbellet-1 (9.81%) and umbel number plant-1 (7.84%). Based on means of all characters, accessions in clusters III, VII and VIII could be regarded as useful sources of genes for yield and its components, and the accessions from these clusters, therefore, could be used in improvement programmes to develop desirable types in coriander. Key Words: Coriandrum sativum, cluster, quantitative characters RÉSUMÉ La divergence génétique parmi 49 accessions de coriandre éthiopienne (Coriandrum sativum L.) était évalué