Extent and pattern of genetic diversity in Ethiopian white lupin landraces for agronomical and phenological traits

White lupin (Lupinus albus) is one of four economically important species of the Lupinus genus, and has been traditionally cultivated for thousands of years along the Nile valley, including in Ethiopia. An experiment comprising of 143 Ethiopian White lupin landraces and one genotype from Germany, was undertaken at Merawi in Ethiopia. The objective of the study was to cluster the Ethiopian white lupin accessions into similarity groups and assess the extent and pattern of diversity of the accessions. Data on 10 quantitative agronomic traits were recorded. Landraces significantly differed in most of the traits studied, and a significant number of local accessions performed as high as 5 metric tonnes per hectare of grain yield. Cluster analysis showed that landraces were grouped into seventeen clusters of different sizes, of which five were singletons. Some landraces were grouped together regardless of their geographic origin. On the other hand, landraces from Awi, South Gondar and West Gojam in Ethiopia were distributed over many clusters. Hence, the result did not support a definite relationship between geographic diversity and genetic diversity. Genetic distances between many pairs of clusters were significant, justifying crosses between parents from them to be desirable genetic recombinations and, hence, transgressive segregants.Keywords: Ethiopia, landrace populations, Lupinus albu

Assessment of genetic diversity in Ethiopian field pea (Pisum sativum L.) accessions with newly developed EST-SSR markers

Passport data of Pisum sativum ssp. sativum L. varieties from NordGen that were used for genetic diversity analyses. (DOC 28 kb

EXTENT AND PATTERN OF GENETIC DIVERSITY IN ETHIOPIAN WHITE LUPIN LANDRACES FOR AGRONOMICAL AND PHENOLOGICAL TRAITS

White lupin ( Lupinus albus ) is one of four economically important species of the Lupinus genus, and has been traditionally cultivated for thousands of years along the Nile valley, including in Ethiopia. An experiment comprising of 143 Ethiopian White lupin landraces and one genotype from Germany, was undertaken at Merawi in Ethiopia. The objective of the study was to cluster the Ethiopian white lupin accessions into similarity groups and assess the extent and pattern of diversity of the accessions. Data on 10 quantitative agronomic traits were recorded. Landraces significantly differed in most of the traits studied, and a significant number of local accessions performed as high as 5 metric tonnes per hectare of grain yield. Cluster analysis showed that landraces were grouped into seventeen clusters of different sizes, of which five were singletons. Some landraces were grouped together regardless of their geographic origin. On the other hand, landraces from Awi, South Gondar and West Gojam in Ethiopia were distributed over many clusters. Hence, the result did not support a definite relationship between geographic diversity and genetic diversity. Genetic distances between many pairs of clusters were significant, justifying crosses between parents from them to be desirable genetic recombinations and, hence, transgressive segregants.Le lupin blanc ( Lupinus albus ) est l\u2019une des quatre esp\ue8ces d\u2019importance \ue9conomique du genre Lupinus , cette esp\ue8ce a \ue9t\ue9 traditionnellement cultiv\ue9e pendant des milliers d\u2019ann\ue9es aux environs de la vall\ue9e du Nil, mais aussi en Ethiopie. Une exp\ue9rimentation comprenant 143 cultivars traditionnels de lupin blanc d\u2019origine Ethiopienne une accession d\u2019origine allemande, a \ue9t\ue9 conduite \ue0 Merawi en Ethiopie. L\u2019objectif \ue9tait de rassembler les accessions d\u2019origine Ethiopiennes au sein des groupes de similarit\ue9 et d\u2019\ue9valuer l\u2019\ue9tendue et la structure de diversit\ue9 de ces accessions. Des donn\ue9es sur 10 traits agronomiques ont \ue9t\ue9 collect\ue9es. Les cultivars ont montr\ue9 des diff\ue9rences significatives dans la plupart des traits \ue9tudi\ue9s et un nombre important d\u2019accessions ont eu des rendements impressionnants allant jusqu\u2019\ue0 5 tonnes de grains par hectare. La classification num\ue9rique a rassembl\ue9 les accessions au sein de dix-sept groups de d\u2019envergures diff\ue9rentes, dont cinq singletons. Certains cultivars ont \ue9t\ue9 group\ue9es ensemble ind\ue9pendamment de de leur origine g\ue9ographique. Par ailleurs, les accessions provenant de Awi, Gondar sud et Gojam oust en Ethiopie se sont disperses dans plusieurs groups diff\ue9rents. D\u2019o\uf9, le r\ue9sultat de l\u2019\ue9tude n\u2019a pas support\ue9 de fa\ue7on definitive la th\ue8se de relation entre l\u2019origine g\ue9ographique et la diversit\ue9 g\ue9n\ue9tique. Les distances g\ue9n\ue9tiques \ue9taient diff\ue9rentes entre plusieurs paires de groupes, justifiant ainsi que les croisements entre parents sont des d\ue9sirables de recombinaisons g\ue9n\ue9tiques, et donc s\ue9gr\ue9gants transgressifs

Morphology, Biochemical and Genomic Diversity of Hexaploid Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Varieties in Ethiopia: A Prospective Study

Hexaploid Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the most important food cereals grown in many areas worldwide. World population is to increase by 2.6 billion in 2050. Ethiopia is one of the world’s nine countries needed to increase food production. Since few studies on genetic diversity & in adequate evaluation of bread wheat varieties; my objective the project is to study genetic diversity of bread wheat varieties using morphological, SSRs, good baking quality, grain quality performance across environments, and compare and contrast all the mentioned characters. 121 bread wheat varieties, arranged in 11x11 simple lattice design, will be studied at 3 agro ecological regions of Ethiopia for 2013/14 using 25 morphological/phenotypic parameters as a preliminary genetic diversity study from the field; 10 baking and milling quality parameters of the varieties, seed storage protein using SDS electrophoresis banding patterns, and DNA finger printing microsatellite markers of each varieties in laboratory. Hence, the extent and nature of genetic diversity, grain quality, environmental effects on seed storage proteins, genetic variation using SSRs markers, and potential varieties for further breeding and improvement of nutritional and baking quality suggested. Genetic diversity, plant breeders rely on during selection in cultivar development, is one of the key factors for the improvement of many crop plants including wheat. This research is of great interest and is in line with the current Global Wheat Program, will contribute to the increasing of food security, improve productivity and profitability of wheat farming and sustain natural resources in the developing world.Key words: Genetic diversity, SSRs, Triticum aestivum L., Varieties

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

Challenges Associated with Crop Breeding for Adaptation to Drought-Prone Environments

Crop production is the main source of food, and drought is among the most important crop production constraints in the world, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. The use of improved cultivars can at least partly ameliorate the calamities of drought stress, and considerable investments and efforts have been made worldwide to develop drought tolerant crop cultivars. A number of improved cultivars of different crops have also been released for production in different countries. As related to the situation under normal environments, it is yet hardly possible to say that these investments and efforts have modernized the production under drought-prone environments as a whole and boosted the actual productivity as desired. Therefore, the limitations and strategic implications of past experiences made to develop drought tolerant crop cultivars needs to be synthesized in order to formulate better strategies and approaches. In this review article, the scope and impacts of drought, approaches to breeding for drought tolerance and the associated challenges and ways out of the challenges have been discussed. We believe that this review will enhance the efforts underway to meaningfully adopt plant breeding for improving crop production in the face of the changing climate.Keywords፡ Adaptation to drought, drought-prone environments, drought toleranc

Phenotypic Diversity in Ethiopian Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Germplasm Accessions for Phosphorus Uptake and Use Efficiency

Ethiopia is known as the secondary center of diversity for chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). Plant breeders primarily interested in utilizing the available  germplasm for improving phosphorus uptake and use efficiency have no background information on the genetic diversity for this attribute. A field study  involving 155 chickpea genotypes was undertaken at Ambo and Ginchi, Ethiopia, in 2009/2010 to characterize the genotypes for nutrient uptake and use  efficiencies. Cluster analysis grouped the genotypes into five clusters in the absence and six clusters in the presence of phosphorus. The higher number  of clusters when the crop was grown with phosphorus may be a manifestation of more genetic diversity due to the application of phosphorus. The  Mahalanobis’s D2 statistics mostly showed significant genetic distances between clusters constituted local landraces on the one hand and introduced  genotypes on the other. This indicated that there were distinct multivariate differences between landraces and introduced genotypes. No clear  interrelationship was observed between the origins of the landraces within Ethiopia and the pattern of genetic diversity. Different characters had  different contribution to the total differentiation of the populations in all the cases. The result of this study suggests existence of adequate genetic  diversity for attributes of phosphorus uptake and use efficiency in these chickpea genotypes, which should be exploited in future breeding.&nbsp

Phenotypic diversity for symbio-agronomic characters in Ethiopian chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) germplasm accessions

Breeding chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) cultivars combining desirable symbiotic and agronomic characters has both economic and ecological significance. An experiment was conducted at Ambo and Ginchi, Ethiopia, in 2009/10 to characterize and evaluate 155 genotypes of chickpea for symbiotic and agronomic performance. A randomized complete block design with four replications and the difference technique, with a genetically non-nodulating chickpea genotype as a reference crop were employed to estimate the amount of symbiotic nitrogen fixation. Data analysis of 32 agronomic and symbiotic characters showed significant differences among the genotypes for all traits under study. Trait-based cluster analysis grouped the genotypes into six different classes. Standardized Mahalanobis D2 statistics showed significant genetic distances between all clusters constituted local landraces and introduced genotypes. This indicated that there were distinct multivariate differences between landraces and introduced genotypes. No clear interrelationship was observed between the geographic origins of the landraces and the pattern of genetic diversity, as there were accessions from the same source of origin that fell into different clusters and vice versa. Different symbiotic and agronomic characters had different contribution to the total differences among the populations. Those characters that contributed more to the total differentiation of the populations and genotypes into the different clusters should be exploited in future breeding.Keywords: Chickpea (Cicer arietinum), cluster analysis, genetic diversity, germplasm, symbiotic nitrogen fixatio

Analyses of genetic diversity and population structure of anchote (Coccinia abyssinica (Lam.) Cogn.) using newly developed EST-SSR markers

Anchote (Coccinia abyssinica (Lam.) Cogn.) is a perennial root crop belonging to Cucurbitaceae family. It is endemic to Ethiopia and distributed over wide range of agro-ecologies. For further improvement and efficient conservation of this crop, characterization of its genetic diversity and its pattern of distribution is a vitally important step. Expressed sequence tags-simple sequence repeats (EST-SSRs) markers were developed from publicly available watermelon [Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai] ESTs in the GenBank database. Among those novel markers, eight were polymorphic and subsequently used for genetic diversity and population structure analyses of 30 anchote accessions collected from western Ethiopia. A total of 24 alleles were obtained across the eight polymorphic loci and 30 accessions that revealed moderate level of genetic diversity in this minor crop. Among the eight loci, locus CA_06 was the most informative with six alleles and polymorphic information content (PIC) of 0.76. The accessions showed about threefold variation in terms of genetic diversity, with expected heterozygosity (He) ranging from 0.15 (accession An) to 0.44 (accession Dg). Other accessions with higher genetic diversity include Ar and Gu (He = 0.43 and 0.41, respectively). Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed that the variation within accessions and among accessions accounted for 84.7% and 15.3% of the total variation, respectively. The study revealed low but significant population differentiation in this crop with no clear pattern of population structure. The EST-SSR markers developed in this study are the first of their kind for anchote and can be used for characterization of its wider genetic resources for conservation and breeding purposes

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