Evaluation of Seed Rates and Sowing Methods on Growth, Yield, and Yield Attributes of Tef [Eragrostis Tef (Zucc.) Trotter] in Ada District, East Shewa, Ethiopia

Tef is a major staple cereal crop in Ethiopia. However, its productivity is limited, amongst others, by the use of improper sowing methods and inappropriate seed rates. A field experiment was conducted at Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Centre, East Shewa Zone during the 2012 main cropping season under rain-fed condition, to assess the effect of seed rates and sowing methods on growth, yield, and yield attributes of tef. Factorial combinations of two sowing methods (row and broadcast) and six seeding rates (2.5, 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 kg ha-1) were laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Seed rate significantly affected days to panicle emergence, days to physiological maturity, main panicle weight, main panicle seed weight, and thousand seed weight. Accordingly, the maximum values of these parameters were obtained at the seed rate of 2.5 kg ha-1. Moreover, significant main effects of both seed rate and sowing method were observed on the number of total tillers, productive tillers, plant height and grain yield. Row planting method and seed rate of 2.5 kg ha-1 had produced the maximum number of total and productive tillers with concurrent decrease in plant height and grain yield as compared to the other treatments. Higher grain yield of 2702 kg ha-1 was obtained at seeding rate of 25 kg ha-1 followed by 15 and 20 kg ha-1 which had produced grain yield of 2453 and 2371 kg ha-1, respectively. There were significant interaction effects of sowing methods and seed rates on shoot biomass yield, straw yield, lodging percentage, culm length and harvest index. The highest seed rate of (25 kg ha-1) with both sowing methods produced higher shoot biomass yield, straw yield, and lodging percentage. However, combining the highest seeding rate with the broadcasting method resulted in lower harvest index. Lodging index was consistently increased with increasing seed rate under row planting. Hence, considering the growth and yield obtained from the current study by using 25 kg ha-1 seed rate together with row planting can be suggested for higher tef production in the study area. Key words: Tef, row sowing, broadcasting, seed rate, yield, and yield attribute

AMMI BIPLOT ANALYSIS OF GRAIN YIELD PERFORMANCES OF TEF (ERAGROSTIS TEF [ZUCC.] TROTTER) VARIETIES ACROSS DIFFERENT LOCATIONS OF SOUTH AND SOUTHWESTERN ETHIOPIA

Objective: The objective of the study was to identify high yielding and stable tef varieties across different locations of South and Southwestern part of Ethiopia. Methods: The experiment was conducted using 21 tef varieties obtained from a tef breeding program based at Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Center. The trial was laid out using a randomized complete block design with three replications at six locations during the 2018 cropping season. Data for all relevant agronomic traits were collected, but only plot yield data converted to kg/ha was subjected to statistical analysis. Results: The results of combined analysis of variance for grain yield of 21 tef varieties across six locations revealed that there is a highly significant difference among the locations, genotypes, and interaction effects with the contributions of 67.4, 8.1, and 17.8% of sum of squares, respectively. Analysis of variance of AMMI model revealed the two interaction principal component analysis (IPCA1 and IPCA2) were highly significant according to Gollob’s test and accounted for 42.8 and 20.6% of variance, respectively. Conclusion: Based on AMMI Biplot analysis, Ambo location could be the representative area among tested locations to determine the tef varieties and the variety Heber-1 (G11) and Dukem (G15) were recommendable for broad adaptation since they were stable and high yielding across locations

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

Effects of Sowing Methods, Seed Rates and Sowing Depths on Growth Performance and Grain Yield of Tef [Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter]

Three field experiments were carried out on black soil (Vertisols) at Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Center during the main season between 2011 and  2013 to determine appropriate sowing/planting methods, seed rates, inter- and intra-row spacings, and planting depth for tef. Each experiment was laid  out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Data were taken on days to panicle emergence and to maturity, plant height, panicle  length, lodging index, shoot biomass, and grain yield. Combined analyses of variance over years showed that sowing methods had no significant effect  on any of the traits assessed, while sowing methods and seed rates interaction effects were significant for all the traits evaluated. Irrespective of sowing  methods significantly higher grain yields were recorded with higher seeding rates (10-25 kg/ha). Among the spacing treatments, sowing with 10 cm row  spacing showed the highest mean grain (2621 kg/ha) and shoot biomass (21861 kg/ha) yield. Hill planting irrespective of the row spacing gave the lowest  grain and shoot biomass yield, while transplanting, gave intermediate grain and shoot biomass yield comparable to those of row sowing. In the third  experiment that combined row spacing and sowing depth, the highest grain yield (2404 kg/ha) was obtained from 20 cm row spacing by 3 cm planting  depth followed by 20 cm row spacing by 5 cm planting depth (2292 kg/ha). Overall, based on the results of this study, seed rates of 10-15 kg/ha for both  broadcasting and row spacing, and row spacing of 20 cm and sowing depth of 3 cm would be recommended for tef production on black soils at Debre  Zeit and other similar areas. &nbsp

Pests of Belg and Irrigated Tef (Eragrostis tef) in the Amhara Region, Ethiopia

አህፅሮትበበልግ ዝናብ እና በመስኖ የሚመረት ጤፍን ሰለሚያጠቁ ፀረ-ሰብሎች ማንነት መሠረታዊ መረጃ ለማመንጨት በ 2008 እና በ 2009 ዓም በአምስት ዞኖች ቅኝት ተካሄደ፡፡ የአረም ናሙና የተወሰደው 50 ሳሜ በ 50 ሳሜ በሆኑ አራት ካሬዎች ሲሆን በእያንዳንዱ ካሬ ውስጥ የነበሩ የአረም ተክሎች ብዛት እና የዝርያ ማንነት በመመዝገብ ነበር፡፡ የተባይ እና የበሽታ ናሙና የተወሰደው ደግሞ ሙሉውን ማሳ በዓይን በመመልከት እና የተባዩን እና የበሽታውን ምልክት በመለየት የጉዳቱን መጠን በመገመት ነበር፡፡ የጤፍ ግንጫፍ ዝንብ ፣ የበቆሎ ክሽክሽ እና ማንነቱ ያልተለየ ግንድ ቦርቧሪ ተባይ በበልግ ዝናብ እና በመስኖ የሚለማ ጤፍን ያጠቃሉ፡፡ እነዚህ ተባዮች የጤፍ ተክል ላይ የሚያደርሱት የጉዳት መጠን ዝቅተኛ ሲሆን እስከ 10 በመቶ ሊደርስ ይችላል፡፡ ሁለት የጤፍ በሽታዎች ማለትም የጤፍ ዋግ  እና ገሳሽ በተወሰኑ የጤፍ ማሳዎች ብቻ ተገኝተዋል፡፡ የተለያዩ የወፍ ዝርያዎች ጤፍን ያጠቃሉ፡፡ በ 14 ቤተሰብ ውስጥ የሚመደቡ ከ 22 የሚበልጡ የአረም ዝርያዎች በሁለቱም ዓመት ተመዝግበዋል፡፡ በ 2008 ዓም እንግጫ፣ የጥጃ ሥጋ፣ ቅንጨ አረም፣ የውሻ ጎመን እና የሞኝ ፍቅር በብዛት የተገኙ የአረም ዝርያዎች ሲሆኑ፤ በ 2009 ዓም ደግሞ የውሻ ስንደዶ፣ ቅንጨ አረም እና ነጭ ለባሽ በብዛት የተገኙ የአረም ዝርያዎች ነበሩ፡፡ ስርጭቱ በምስራቅ፣ ደቡብ  ምዕራብ እና ምዕራብ ሸዋ ዞኖች ብቻ የተወሰነው ጋሻ ነቃይ አረም ቁንጮ በተዘራ አንድ ማሳ ውስጥ ብቻ ተመዝግቧል፡፡   AbstractField surveys were conducted in 2016 and 2017 belg season to generate baseline information on the type of pests prevailing in Belg and irrigated tef. The survey was conducted in five zones. Weeds were sampled in four 50 cm x 50 cm quadrats and the number of individual weed plants were counted and identified to species level in situ. Insect pests and diseases were determined by visual search for damages done by insects or symptoms of diseases throughout the field. Tef shoot flies (Atherigona spp.), maize aphid (Rhopalosiphum padi) and unidentified stalk borer infested tef. But the severity of damage caused by these insect pests was trace to 10%. Tef rust (Uromyces eragrostidis) and Sclerotium sp. were prevalent in limited tef fields. Tef is also attacked by different bird species. More than 22 weed species in more than 14 families were recorded throughout the surveyed areas. The two families Poaceae and Compositae accounted for the larger proportion of weed species. In the 2016 season Cyperus spp., Portulaca oleracea, Parthenium hysterophorus, Amaranthus hybridus and Xanthium strumarium, in decreasing order, were the most abundant weed species, whereas in the 2017 season  Setaria pumila, Eragrostis cilianensis, P.  hysterophorus and Argemone ochroleuca, in decreasing order, were abundant weed species. Field bindweed, Convolvulus arvensis, which is found only in East, Southwest, and West Shewa Zones, was found in one field sown to Quncho

Agro-Morphological Traits Diversity in Tef [Eragrostis Tef (Zucc.) Trotter] Genotypes from Various Sources

አህፅሮትጤፍ መገኛው በኢትዮጵያ የሆነ ፈርጀ-ብዙ የአመራረት፣ የአመጋገብና የጤና ጠቀሜታ ያለው ሰብል ቢሆንም ምርታማነቱ በተለያዩ ማነቆዎች የተነሳ በሰፊው ከሚመረቱት የብርዕና አገዳ ሰብሎች አንፃር እጅግ ዝቅ ያለ ነው፡፡ ያለንን የጤፍ ዝርያ ብዝሃነት ማጥናት ግን እነኚህን የምርት ማነቆዎች ተቋቁመው የተሻለ ምርት ሊሰጡ የሚችሉ ዝርያዎችን ለመለየት ዕድል ይፈጠራል፡፡ የዚህ ጥናት ዓላማ ከተለያዩ ምንጮች የተገኙ 188 የጤፍ ብዝሃ-ዘሮችን በሆለታና በደብረ ዘይት ምርምር ማዕከል ውስጥ በኮምፕሊቲሊ ረንዶማይዝድ ብሎክ ዲዛይን ዘርቶ በመገምገም ያላቸውን የዝርያ ተለያይነት፣ ብዝሃነትና ስብጥር ምን እንደሚመስል ለማወቅ ነበር፡፡ በዚህ ጥናት መረጃዎችን ለመተንተን የቫሪያንስ፣ የክላስተር እና የፕሪንሲፓል ኮምፖንነት ትንተና ዘዴዎች ሥራ ላይ ውለዋል፡፡ የዚህ ትንተና ውጤት በስብስቦቹ መካከል ከፍተኛ የሆነ የመድረሻ ጊዜ (ፌኖሎጂ)፣ የምርታማነትና የምርት ኮምፖነንት፣ የግሽበት እና የሞርፎሎጂ ባህሪያት ተለያይነት እንዳለ ይጠቁማሉ፡፡ በተጨማሪ የክላስተር ትንተና በጥናቱ ውስጥ የተካተቱ 188 ብዝሃ-ዘሮችን ወደ ስድስት ቦታ ሲመድባቸው፤ 14 ፖፑለሽኖች ደግሞ ወደ አራት ምድብ ከፍሏቿዋል፡፡ እነዚህ ቡድኖች ግን በማህበረሰብ ከቦታ ቦታ ዝውውር የተነሳ የግድ የዘረ-መል ዝምድናንና የአካባቢ ቅርበትን መሰረት ያደረጉ ብቻ ሆነው አልተገኙም፡፡ የዚህ ጥናት ውጤት በአጠቃላይ ወደፊት በጤፍ ምርምር ማሻሻያ ውስጥ ልንጠቀምባቸው የምንችላቸው የብዝሃ-ዘር ተለያይነት እንዳለ ይጠቁማል፡፡ AbstractA total of 188 tef genotypes including 144 pure lines selected from germplasm collection, 35 released varieties, eight breeding lines and their parents were evaluated in three replications at two locations in Ethiopia. The objectives were to assess the magnitude and pattern of phenotypic diversity in tef genotypes obtained from various sources in Ethiopia. Combined analysis of variance revealed highly significant (P < 0.01) differences among genotypes, locations and genotype by environment interaction for all studied traits. Thus, wide ranges of variations were observed for days to heading (40.3 to 60.8 days) and maturity (101 to 122.5 days), plant height (60.7 to 107.1 cm), panicle length (19.5 to 39.5 cm), number of fertile tillers per plant (2.1 to 5.5) and spikelet per panicle (156.7 to 441.7), 1000 kernel weights (20.7 to 33.0 mg), grain yield (3.7 to 7.3 t/ha) and lodging index (44.7 to 79.3%). Cluster analysis revealed six distinct clusters of 188 individual tef genotypes while the 14 populations were grouped into four distinct clusters. In general, existence of sufficient level of genetic variation was revealed for future use in tef improvement

Tef (Eragrostis tef) variety Kora

Tef [Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter], is a staple food crop of Ethiopians that originated and diversified in Ethiopia. It has existed in Ethiopia throughout recorded history. Annually, it occupies 3.02 million hectares thereby ranking first among all cereals cultivated in the country. However, the national average yield of tef is low 1.6 t ha-1. The use of unimproved local cultivars and biotic and abiotic stresses are partially attributed to the low yield of the crop. Thus, the experiment was designed to develop high yielding and desirable quality improved varieties of tef suitable for diverse agro-ecologies, farming systems and purposes. Fourteen tef genotypes including two checks were laid out in randomized complete block design using four replications for two years (2012 and 2013) at eight locations. The combined data analysis across locations and over the years indicated that candidate variety Kora (DZ-Cr-438 (RIL No. 133B) performed better than the two checks and other test genotypes. Consequently, Kora was identified and approved for large scale production

Genotype-by-Environment Interaction and Stability Analysis in Grain Yield of Improved Tef (Eragrostis tef) Varieties Evaluated in Ethiopia

Aims: To assess the magnitude of genotype by environment interaction; possible existence of different mega-environments; and discriminating ability and representativeness of the testing environments. Study Design: Randomized complete Block Design with three replications. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at Debre Zeit, Holetta and Alem Tena for two years (2015 and 2016) and at Adet, Axum and Bako for one year (2015). Methodology: Thirty-five improved tef varieties were evaluated at nine environments. The G × E interaction were quantified using additive main effects and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) and the genotype and genotype by environment (GGE) biplot models. Results: Combined analysis of variance revealed highly significant (P = 0.01) variations due to genotype, environment and genotype by environment interaction effects. AMMI analysis revealed 4.3%, 79.7% and 16% variation in grain yield due to genotypes, environments and G x E effects, respectively. G6 gave the highest mean grain yield (3.33 t/ha) over environments whereas G29 gave the lowest mean yield (2.49 t/ha). The GGE biplot grouped the nine testing environments and the 35 genotypes into four mega environments and seven genotypic groups. The four mega environments include: G-I (E1, E4 and E6); G-II (E2, E3, E7 and E8); G-III (E9), and G-IV (E5). E5, E6, E7 and E8 which had the longest vector were the most discriminating of all environments while, E1 and E4 which had the smallest angle with the average environmental axis were the most representative of all environments. Regarding genotypes, G6, G25, G34 and G16 were identified as the best yielding and relatively stable genotypes to increase tef productivity. Conclusion: AMMI and GGE were found to be efficient in grouping the tef growing environments and genotypes

Semi-dwarfism and lodging tolerance in tef (Eragrostis tef) is linked to a mutation in the α-Tubulin 1 gene

The semi-dwarf and lodging-tolerant kegne mutant linked to defects in microtubule orientation has the potential to enhance the productivity of an African orphan crop tef (Eragrostis tef