Parthenium Weed (Parthenium hysterophorus L.) Research in Ethiopia: Impacts on Food Production, Plant Biodiversity and Human Health

The highly competitive, adaptable and allergenic weed Parthenium hysterophorus (Compositae) is an invasive annual weed believed to be introduced to Ethiopia in 1970s. Field surveys, plant biodiversity impacts, and analysis of secondary plant compounds in P. hysterophorus and its possible impact on human health have been studied in Ethiopia since 1998. The weed has invaded a variety of habitats ranging from roadsides to grasslands and crop fields. Infestations were found to be greater than 20 plants per m2 and yield losses in sorghum reached 46-97% depending on the location and year. In grasslands dominated by parthenium, native plant species composition and abundance was found to be low. Manual control of parthenium by farmers resulted in the development of skin allergies, itching, fever, and asthma. These reactions could be attributed to the presence of secondary plant compounds (parthenin, chlorogenic acid, isocholorogenic acid, vanilic acid and caffeic acid) which were found in parthenium with significant variation in their concentrations among the different plant parts, dependent on plant locality, moisture content and plant size. The social cost of parthenium in Ethiopia was measured by Disability Adjusted Life Years and its equivalence in terms of monetary value was estimated at US$ 2,535,887 - 4,365,057. More resources have to be invested to tackle the parthenium problem as the estimated loss is disproportionate to the cost of investment in parthenium research and development activities

A Decade of Research Progress in Chickpea and Lentil Breeding and Genetics

This paper summarizes achievements of chickpea and lentil breeding during the last decade /2005-2015/ in Ethiopia. Gentic yield gains from decadal breeding efforts were 80 kg/ha/year for chickpea and 52 kg/ha/yr for lentil. The germplasm enhancment and subsequent variety evaluation verification programs during the decade resulted in releases of 17 chickpea and 2 lentil varieties. These advanced varieties, when applied in production system with proper crop managment and protection practices, almost doubled productivity per unit area at farm level

Genetic variation for drought resistance in small red seeded common bean genotypes

Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) productivity is low in major growing regions of Ethiopia mainly due to drought, caused by low and erratic rainfall. A field experiment was carried out at Gofa in Southern Ethiopia, to assess genetic variability for drought resistance in forty-nine small red seeded common bean genotypes of both local and foreign origin. The genotypes were evaluated under two soil moisture regimes, non-stress (NS) and drought stress (DS). Drought stress was initiated at flowering by withholding application of irrigation water. The average linkage method of clustering grouped the forty-nine genotypes grown under drought stress condition in five clusters. The maximum distance was found between Cluster I and Cluster III. Pattern of variation examined through principal component analysis (PCA) involving morpho-physiological traits showed that the first four PCs accounted for more than 74% of the total variation, of which 59.9% was contributed by the first two PCs. The first principal component alone explained 49.9% and was highly correlated with seed yield, harvest index and geometric mean. The second PC explained 9.7% of the total variation and was highly correlated with days to maturity and drought susceptibility index. Both PCs had higher relative contributions to the total diversity and were the ones that most differentiated the genotypes