Effect od Soybean/Cassava Flour Blend in the Proximate Composition of Ethiopian Traditional Bread Prepared from Quality Protein Maize

The effect of soybean and cassava flour blend on the proximate composition of Ethiopian traditional bread prepared from quality protein maize (QPM) was tested. Normal maize and quality protein maize grains were dried, cleaned and milled using a laboratory-scale mill. Similarly, soybean seeds were roasted, boiled, decorticated, and milled into the required particle size flour sample. Cassava tubers were also peeled, chopped, dried and milled in a similar fashion. Eventually, the soybean and cassava flour samples were blended individually with the quality protein maize flour in three different proportions: 5:95, 10:90 and 15:85, respectively. Normal maize flour was used as a control for the quality protein maize flour. Then bread samples were prepared from the respective composite flours using the sponge and dough method of bread making commonly used in the country. Both the composite flours and the respective bread samples were then analyzed for their proximate compositions: moisture, ash, crude protein, crude fat, crude fibre and carbohydrate. The proximate analyses indicated that there is a significant difference (p ≤ 0.05) in proximate composition of the plain quality protein maize bread (QPMB) and the soybean- or cassava-supplemented quality protein maize bread samples (SSBs and CSBs). The ash, crude protein, crude fat and crude fibre contents of the soybean-supplemented breads increased with progressive increase in the proportion of soybean flour addition. In the case of the cassava-supplemented bread samples, the highest proximate composition values were recorded for the 10% substitution. Moreover, highest values of carbohydrate, 39.83% and 44.08%, were obtained for the 10% soybean-supplemented breads and 10% cassava-supplemented breads, respectively. The use of these locally available and easily produced grains through blending technology of flours can contribute to combat the widespread protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) in Ethiopia. This approach can also serve as an alternative means for having balanced diet especially for the low-income groups of the most food-insecure people in the country.Key words: Maize, soybean/cassava, bread, proximate compositio

Assessment of Threat Status in the Northern Woodlands of the Bale Mountains, Ethiopia: Indicator for Management Effectiveness

The present study was carried out to identify the types and quantify the magnitude of human disturbances in six forest patches in the northern Bale Mountains, southeast Ethiopia. The principal objective was to compare three protected forest patches within the Bale Mountains National Park with three unprotected patches outside the park in terms of the severity of human-induced disturbances. Data was collected along five 1-km long transects in each patch. Eight major disturbance types were identified and quantified in the six forest patches: settlement, agriculture, selective logging, livestock herbivory, fuel wood collection, charcoal production, path/track formation and forest-fire. Results showed some degree of human disturbances in all patches, with logging, fuel wood collection, path/track formation and livestock grazing being the most widespread. Crop production, settlement and charcoal making, however, were only recorded in unprotected patches. Sixty percent and 47% of transects in these patches showed crop cultivation and houses respectively, covering 40% ha-1.  The unprotected patches were characterized by significantly higher level of incidences of logged trees, fuel wood collection and livestock herbivory compared to the protected patches. For tree logging, this difference was however only observed for trees logged in recent years (estimated to be logged < 20 years) with  logging of larger trees (DBH > 10 cm) than smaller trees. Generally the protected areas had reduced human disturbance as indicated by low logging activity. This is a positive indicator of effective management practices in the protected area. Key Words: Bale Mountains, Disturbance, Logging, Management effectiveness, Threa

Schistosomiasis mansoni and soil-transmitted helminthiasis in Bushulo village, southern Ethiopia

Background: Schistosomiasis mansoni and soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STHs) are considerable medical and public health problems in Ethiopia. However, information is limited on the epidemiology of these infections in different localities even though it is needed to plan effective prevention and control measures. Objective: This study was designed to determine the prevalence of Schistosoma mansoni and soil-transmitted helminth infections in school children and residents in Bushulo village near Lake Awassa (Hawassa), southern Ethiopia. Methods: Cross-sectional epidemiological and parasitological studies were conducted on schistosomiasis mansoni and STHs in Bushulo village in May and June 2007. A total of 419 participants (353 school children and 66 other residents) were included in the study. The principal investigator interviewed the study subjects about demographic status using structured questionnaires. Moreover, experienced nurse took history and conducted physical examination to assess symptoms and signs related to chronic S. mansoni infection. A single stool sample was collected from each participant and processed using the Kato-Katz technique. Experienced laboratory technician read all slides at Bushulo Health Center. Results: The overall infection rates of schistosomiasis mansoni, trichuriasis, ascariasis and hookworm infection were 73.7%, 41.5%, 37.2% and 28.4%, respectively. Other parasitic infections observed were caused by Hymenolepis nana (1.7%), Taenia species (1.4%), and Enterobius vermicularis (1.4%). Children in the age range 10-14 years and those attending at St. Paul’s School had higher rates of T. trichiura and S. mansoni, respectively. Intensity of infection was higher for A. lumbricoides in the age range 5-9 years. The overall prevalence of any STHs was 67.3%. The rates of single, dual, triple and quadruple infections were 29.6%, 32%, 20.3% and 7.4%, respectively. Conclusion: The high prevalence and intensity of schistosomiasis mansoni and soil-transmitted helminthiasis makes periodic deworming programme urgent to reduce morbidity and transmission of helminthiasis in the area. Provisions of sanitary facilities and clean water supply as well as health education are also critically needed to sustain the impact of chemotherapy

ANALYSIS AND MAPPING OF CLIMATE CHANGE RISK AND VULNERABILITY IN CENTRAL RIFT VALLEY OF ETHIOPIA

There is growing demand for spatially explicit information among stakeholders across public and private institutions regarding vulnerability to climate change at the local scale. This study was conducted over 16 districts in Central Rift Valley (CRV) of Ethiopia, to determine the degree of climate risk and the relative vulnerability of the districts, to climate change and, thereby identify vulnerable hotspots. A biophysical and socio-economic indicator based integrated vulnerability assessment technique was used to map climate change vulnerability. Indicators were generated and analysed under three components of vulnerability, namely exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity; and finally aggregated into a single vulnerability index. The values of all indicators were normalised by considering their functional relationship with vulnerability, and expert judgment was then used to assign weights to all indicators. Aggregate vulnerability index (VI) was finally determined from the weighted sum of all indicators and mapped over the 16 districts. Selti, Dodotana-Sire and Tiyo districts had relatively high vulnerability to climate change; while Arsinegele, Adamitulu-Jido-Kombolcha and Dugda-Bora were the least vulnerable. The rest of the districts had medium vulnerability to changing climate. This study shows that vulnerability mapping is crucial in determining the varying degrees of vulnerability of different localities, and generating information that can help researchers, policy makers, private and public institutions in formulating site-specific adaptation strategies and prioritising adaptation investments to the most vulnerable hotspots.Il ya une demande sans cesse croissante parmi les partenaires \ue0 travers les institutions publiques et priv\ue9es, de l\u2019information spatiale explicite concernant la vuln\ue9rabilit\ue9 au changement climatique \ue0 l\u2019\ue9chelle locale. Cette \ue9tude \ue9tait conduite sur 16 districts de la Vall\ue9e du Rift Central (VRC) en Ethiopie, pour d\ue9terminer le degr\ue9 de risque climatique et la vuln\ue9rabilit\ue9 relative de ces districts au changement climatique et del\ue0, identifier les sites les plus vuln\ue9rables. Une technique d\u2019\ue9valuation du degr\ue9 de vulnerabilit\ue9 bas\ue9 sur un indicateur int\ue9grant les aspects biophysiques et socio-\ue9conomiques \ue9tait utilis\ue9e pour \ue9tablir la carte de vuln\ue9rabilit\ue9 au changements climatique. Les indicateurs \ue9taient g\ue9n\ue9r\ue9s et analys\ue9s sous trois composantes de vuln\ue9rabilit\ue9\ua0: exposition, sensitivit\ue9 et capacit\ue9 adaptive; et finalement agr\ue9g\ue9s en un seul indice de vuln\ue9rabilit\ue9. Les valeurs de tous les indicateurs \ue9taient normalis\ue9es en consid\ue9rant leur relation fonctionnelle avec la vuln\ue9rabilit\ue9, et ensuite, un jugement expert \ue9tait utilis\ue9 pour leur assigner un poids. L\u2019indice de vuln\ue9rabilit\ue9 cumulative (VI) \ue9tait finalement d\ue9termin\ue9 de la somme du poids de tous les indicateurs et cartographi\ue9 sur l\u2019\ue9tendue de seize districts. Les districts de Selti, Dodotana-Sire et Tiyo avaient relativement une vuln\ue9rabilit\ue9 \ue9lev\ue9e au changements climatique, pendant que Arsinegele, Adamitulu-Jido-Kombolcha et Dugda-Bora \ue9taient les districts les moins vuln\ue9rables. Le reste des districts pr\ue9sentaient une vuln\ue9rabilit\ue9 moyenne au changement climatique. Cette \ue9tude montre que la cartographie de la vuln\ue9rabilit\ue9 est cruciale dans la d\ue9termination des divers niveaux de vuln\ue9rabilit\ue9 des diff\ue9rentes localit\ue9s et la g\ue9n\ue9ration de l\u2019information pouvant aider les chercheurs, les d\ue9cideurs politiques, les institutions priv\ue9es et publiques dans la formulation des strat\ue9gies sp\ue9cifiques d\u2019adaptation et \ue0 la formulation des priorit\ue9s d\u2019investissement pour renforcer l\u2019adaptation des sites les plus vuln\ue9rables

Combining ability of highland tropic adapted potato for tuber yield and yield components under drought

Open Access Journal; Published online: July 25, 2017Recurrent drought and late blight disease are the major factors limiting potato productivity in the northwest Ethiopian highlands. Incorporating drought tolerance and late blight resistance in the same genotypes will enable the development of cultivars with high and stable yield potential under erratic rainfall conditions. The objectives of this study were to assess combining ability effects and gene action for tuber yield and traits related to drought tolerance in the International Potato Centre’s (CIP’s) advanced clones from the late blight resistant breeding population B group ‘B3C2’ and to identify promising parents and families for cultivar development. Sixteen advanced clones from the late blight resistant breeding population were crossed in two sets using the North Carolina Design II. The resulting 32 families were evaluated together with five checks and 12 parental clones in a 7 x 7 lattice design with two water regimes and two replications. The experiment was carried out at Adet, in northwest Ethiopia under well-watered and water stressed conditions with terminal drought imposed from the tuber bulking stage. The results showed highly significant differences between families, checks, and parents for growth, physiological, and tuber yield related traits. Traits including marketable tuber yield, marketable tuber number, average tuber weight and groundcover were positively correlated with total tuber yield under both drought stressed and well-watered conditions. Plant height was correlated with yield only under drought stressed condition. GCA was more important than SCA for total tuber yield, marketable tuber yield, average tuber weight, plant height, groundcover, and chlorophyll content under stress. This study identified the parents with best GCA and the combinations with best SCA effects, for both tuber yield and drought tolerance related traits. The new population is shown to be a valuable genetic resource for variety selection and improvement of potato’s adaptation to the drought prone areas in northwest Ethiopia and similar environments

Analysis of growth curves of indigenous male Venda and Naked Neck chickens

The objective of this work was to estimate and compare the growth curve parameters for live weight of indigenous Venda and Naked Neck chickens and carry out some analyses to test the existence of differences in the growth pattern between these breeds. The data were collected from the two breeds of chickens that were reared from day-old to 21 weeks of age. Two hundred chickens (100 of each breed) were used. Three different non-linear models, namely Gompertz, Logistic and Richards, were used to define the growth curves of the chickens. Models were compared using Coefficients of determination (R2 values), A parameter values, the Durbin-Watson Statistic (DW) test for autocorrelation, computing difficulty based on the number of iterations needed for convergence and size of residual variances. The R2 were high for all models: 0.996, 0.990 and 0.997 for Gompertz, Logistic and Richards, respectively. Residual variances were 2240, 5924 and 1154 for Gompertz, Logistic and Richards, respectively. The Gompertz model was observed to be suitable for explaining the growth of the chickens. Breed differences were observed in the growth parameters of chickens. The Venda breed was observed to be late maturing and heavier at maturity while the Naked Neck was shown to have a higher growth rate, reaching maturity earlier but attaining a lighter mature weight. Keywords: Growth parameters, growth models, breed differences South African Journal of Animal Science Vol. 37 (1) 2007: pp. 21-2

Screening of ethyl methane sulphonate mutagenized tef [ Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter] population identifies Al-tolerant lines

About 15,000 M2 seeds of ethyl-methane-sulphonate (EMS)-mutagenized population were screened along with Al-tolerant and sensitive checks and the M0 variety. Strongly acidic soil with an external application of a toxic Al-solution and exposure to moisture stress was used to maximize selection pressure. Twenty-one M2 plants with root lengths of greater than the mean of the tolerant check were selected and planted for seed production. Candidate M3 plants were investigated for Al-tolerance and for morpho-agronomic traits under greenhouse and field conditions, respectively. Highly significant differences were observed for Al-tolerance between the candidate mutant lines and the M0 (P < .001), and between mutant lines and the sensitive check (P < .001). Similarly, significant differences were observed between the mutant lines for 16 of the 20 quantitative traits measured. This study is the first to report successful induction of enhanced Al-tolerance in tef by using EMS mutagenized population

Hepatitis B virus infection among medical aste handlers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Healthcare wastes contain a wide range of microorganisms among which hepatitis B virus (HBV) are the most significant pathogens. No data about the prevalence of HBV among medical waste handlers is available in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Therefore; this study was conducted to describe the prevalence of HBV infection among medical waste handlers in Government hospitals of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>A cross sectional study was conducted among 252 medical and non-medical waste handlers working in three Government hospitals of Addis Ababa between May to July, 2010. Predesigned and tested questionnaire was used to collect soiociodemographic information. Blood sample was taken from 252 waste handlers and serum was tested for Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and anti-Hepatitis core antigen (anti-HBcAg) using Enzyme Linked Immuno Sorbent Assay.</p> <p>Of the 126 Medical Waste Handlers and 126 Non Medical Waste Handler, HBsAg was detected in 8 (6.3%) and 1 (0.8%), and anti-HBcAg in 60 (47.6%) and 40 (31.7%), respectively. Significant differences were observed in the detection rates of HBsAg (OR: 8, 95% CI: 1.02, 63.02; <it>p </it>= 0.01), Anti-HB c Ag (OR: 1.5, 95% CI: 1.1, 2.1; <it>p </it>= 0.01) and either markers (OR: 1.7, 95% CI: 1.2, 2.2; <it>p </it>= 0.001) in medical waste handlers compared to non medical waste handlers. 19.8% were trained to handle medical waste and none was immunized against HBV.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study shows a high prevalence of HBV infection in medical waste handlers compared to non medical waste handlers. Lack of training on how to handle medical waste among medical waste handlers was high.</p