Inter Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) analysis of wild and cultivated rice species from Ethiopia

The genetic diversity of three wild rice populations of Ethiopia along with three cultivated rice populations were studied using Inter simple sequence repeats (ISSRs) as a molecular marker. A total of 93 clear and reproducible bands were generated using four dinucleotides and two tetra nucleotides primers. Both UPGMA and neighbor joining trees were constructed for each individual and population using Jaccard’s similarity coefficient. The trees and PCO clearly indicated six distinct groups which are based on populations of origin. Oryza glaberrima, Oryza sativa and NERICA-3 clustered as a major group while Oryza barthii and Oryza longistaminata were clustered as the second major group. Such clustering of O. glaberrima with O. sativa and NERICA-3 is considered to be due to genetic admixture of O. glaberrima with O. sativa. The over all gene diversity and percent polymorphisms were found to be higher in wild rice (0.14; 38.3 respectively) than in cultivars (0.11; 28.3 respectively). The Shannon’s diversity index also confirmed the existence of higher diversity in wild rice populations than cultivated species. Furthermore, partitioning of the Shannon’s diversity showed that the majority of the variations were observed among population (63%). Similarly, AMOVA demonstrate highly significant (P = 0.00) genetic differences among populations (72.9) than within populations (27.1).Key words: Genetic diversity, wild rice populations, cultivated rice, Oryza sativa, Oryza glaberrima, NERICA, ISSR

A cross-sectional study on bovine trypanosomosis in Jawi district of Amhara Region, Northwest Ethiopia

A cross-sectional study was carried out from December 2008 to March 2009 in Jawi district of Amhara Regional State northwest Ethiopia to assess the prevalence of bovine trypanosomosis. Blood sample was collected randomly from a total of 300 cattle through piercing of the marginal ear vein to determine the prevalence and measure PCV values for the assessment of anemia. During sampling age, sex and body condition of the animals were recorded to infer risk factors for the occurrence of the disease. The buffy coat technique was em ployed for the detection of trypanosome and to measure PCV values. Thin blood smear was made from positive samples for species identification of the parasite. The prevalence of trypanosomosis was found to be 11.33% (95% CI: 0.08 - 0.15%) in Jawi district of which higher prevalence with species of trypanosome was detected to be for T. congolense (65%) than T. vivax (35%). The prevalence showed no significant difference in susceptibility between sex categories and in age groups. The infection rate between body condition score in parasitaemic and aparasitaemic animals was significantly different (P< 0.05) that poor body conditioned animals were more affected by trypanosomes than good conditioned animals. The mean PCV values in parasitaemic animals was 24.29% +5.58SD while in aparasitaemic animals 27.46% +5.67SD with a statistical significant difference (

Effect of Grain Tef (Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter) Flour Substitutions with Flaxseed on Mineral Content, Antioxidant Activity, Phytic Acid Content and Microbial Quality of Injera

There is an increased global interest in the food industry to develop and market functional foods in which scientific investigations are limited in Ethiopia. Tef injera functional character can be further enhanced by substitution with flaxseed which is known to bear functional ingredients (α-linolenic acid an ω-3 fatty acid, secoisolariciresinol diglycoside lignans, dietary fibre and proteins). Two flaxseed forms (whole and flour) and three flaxseed substitution levels (3%, 6% and 9% flaxseed) arranged in a factorial experimental design in three replications were cofermented to find out whole or flour and at what substitution level injera with better nutrient and functional potential can be processed. Tef injera (100%) was used as a control. Tef injera substituted with flaxseed (whole and flour) at 3%, 6% and 9% showed a significant (P&lt;0.05) effect on minerals (except P), ferric ion reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), phytic acid and microbial quality of injera. With 9% flaxseed substitution FRAP, Zn and Ca contents  percentage increase were: 102, 110 and 16; whereas phytic acid and Fe decreased by 76 and 19, respectively from the control. Between 2 to 6 injera storage days, yeast-mould (2.27 to 3.93 log cfug-1) and total aerobic plate counts (ND to 3.77 log cfug-1) were lowest for 9% flaxseedsubstitution and highest for the control injera (2.85 to 4.08 log cfug-1 and 3.70 to 4.30 log cfug-1, respectively). Coliforms were not detected. Whole flaxseed substituted injera had high minerals, antioxidant and microbial stability than flour flaxseed substituted injera. Injera with high minerals (except iron) and antioxidant of improved microbial stability, low phytic acid contents can be processed by 9% flaxseed substitution

Economic importance and environmental challenges of the Awash River Basin to Ethiopia

Presented during the USCID water management conference held on October 13-16, 2004 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The theme of the conference was "Water rights and related water supply issues."Includes bibliographical references.Ethiopia's agriculture currently depends on rainfall with limited use of water resources. Highly variable rainfall, frequent floods and droughts, and limited storage capacity continue to constrain the ability of the country to produce reliable food supplies in a country that is relatively rich in water and land resources. The Awash Valley has been the major focus of medium and large scale irrigated agriculture developments since the 1950s, and presently has over 70 percent of Ethiopia's non-traditional irrigation. In addition, there are traditional and non-traditional small-scale irrigation systems within the valley, and major dams to improve the management of water for agriculture and produce hydropower have been constructed. Furthermore, this economic activity has produced major secondary benefits to the valley area. With the continuing decline of the productivity of the rain-fed agricultural lands and the anticipated doubling of food demands over the next two decades, improved water management in agriculture, including irrigation is of paramount importance. Numerous authors, policy makers and other observers have stressed the very high-unrealized potential for intensification of agriculture through irrigation in Ethiopia. Yet, apart from the Awash Valley, limited development has occurred in irrigation development. Like much of the highlands of Ethiopia, mixed livestock cropping system predominate in the upper basin, whereas pastoralism was traditionally and currently practiced in the middle and lower reaches. The major irrigated agriculture and water resources have occurred in the middle valley and, more recently, towards the lower reaches. Other issues associated with the water management in the middle and lower basin is soil salinization, water contamination and increased waterborne diseases, and poor design leading to water loss through leakage and evaporation. Expanding irrigation threatens wetlands, and conflicts over access to water constrain smallholder farmers and pastoralists, which depend on livestock herds for their existence. Because communities lack skills and institutions to manage common property resources, water resources, basin/watershed and irrigation management infrastructure quickly fall into a state of disrepair. In the lower valley, desertification is a serious threat.Proceedings sponsored by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Central Utah Project Completion Act Office and the U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage

Bacteraemia among Severely Malnourished Children in Jimma University Hospital, Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Sever acute malnutrition severely suppresses every component of the immune system leading to increased susceptibility and severity to infection. However, symptoms and signs of infections are often unapparent making prompt clinical diagnosis and early treatment very difficult. The aim of the study was to determine the magnitude of bacteraemia and antimicrobial sensitivity among severely malnourished children. METHODS: Severely malnourished children admitted in Jimma University Specialized Hospital were enrolled between October, 2009 to May, 2010. Blood samples were collected, processed and bacterial isolates were identified using standard bacteriological procedures. Then, antibiotic susceptibility pattern of the isolates was determined by using Kirby-Bauer technique. RESULTS: Bacteraemia was seen in 35 (20.6%) of the 170 study subjects. There were a total of 35 bacterial isolates, Gram positive bacteria constitute 24(68.6%) of the isolates, where Staphylococcus aureus was the leading Gram positive isolate while Klebsiella species were the dominant Gram negative isolates. Twelve (7.1%) children died and 4 (33.3%) of them had bacteraemia. While susceptibility was more than 80% to Gentamicin, Ciprofloxacin and Ceftriaxone, increased level of resistance was documented to commonly used antibiotics, such as Amoxycillin, Co-trimoxazole and Chloramphenicol. CONCLUSION: High prevalence of bacteraemia with predominating Gram positive isolates and increased level of resistance to commonly used antibiotics was shown among severely malnourished children in Jimma. Further studies are required to revise the current guideline for antibiotic choice. KEYWORDS: Bacteraemia, severe acute malnutrition, Antimicrobial susceptibility, JimmaEthiop J Health Sci. Vol. 21, No. 3 November 201

Yam breeding at IITA: achievements, challenges, and prospects

African food system Yam (Dioscorea spp.) is a multispecies, clonally propagated crop cultivated for its starchy tubers. About 10 species are widely cultivated around the world, but only D. rotundata, D. alata, and D. cayenensis are the most widely cultivated species in West Africa, accounting for 93% of the global yam production. Since inception, IITA R4D efforts have focused on developing new varieties of yam with desired agronomic and quality traits and to improve yam-based cropping systems

Assessment of awareness on food borne zoonosis and its relation with Veterinary Public Health Services in and around Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

A survey qualitative survey was conducted to assess the awareness on food borne zoonosis and its relation with Veterinary Public Health Services in Addis Ababa and its surrounding districts from November 2008 to May 2009. Structured questionnaire was used in the study. Questionnaires were distributed to 384 individuals, of which 196 were elementary and high school students, and 196 were Graduates. Factors like education level, information source and profession were considered for possible explanation of the results. The use of inspected animal products is found statistically different (P&lt;0.05) among health and non health professionals while no difference is seen between students and graduates. The majority (85.42%) of the students get their information from other information sources like their families in the form of advice and 67.71% of health professionals get their information from their medical schools. The most frequently mentioned zoonotic diseases were Rabies 384(100 %), followed by Anthrax 362(94.27%), Teniasis 342 (89.06%), Tuberculosis 340 (88.54%) and Brucellosis 190(49.48%) and 120(31.25%) mentioned other infectious diseases of zoonotic importance. The importance of veterinary public health in the overall public health institutions was assessed by looking at the responses to questions and shown that yet the public health institutions don&#8217;t see the need of having veterinarians in the public health. In conclusion this study demonstrated that the awareness and use of inspected and packed animal products is relatively low that expose the people to risk of food borne pathogens and the awareness of health institutes on the importance of veterinary public health service is relatively low. The authors would like to recommend to the government and concerned bodies to raise the awareness of the public using the appropriate communication media, and to strengthen the contribution of public health veterinarians in the public health services for better community health

Improvement of accession distinctiveness as an added value to the global worth of the yam (Dioscorea spp) genebank

Open Access JournalMisidentification of accessions is a common problem in genebanks. Along the years, mistakes accumulate and this is particularly true when dealing with a large number of accessions requiring annual regeneration. Human errors such as mislabeling or misreading and material mix up during planting or storage are the main causes for misidentification of accessions. The international collection of yam, maintained at IITA, has accumulated ‘non true to type’ accessions along the years. In the present study, 53 morphological descriptors were used to detect uniformity of individuals within accessions of the yam gene bank collection i.e. agro morphological mismatch between individual plants of the same accession. Based on a similarity matrix, individual pairs with less than 0.90 similarity coefficients, which varies in six descriptors and more, were considered as distinct and mismatched, whereas those that had similarity coefficients greater than or equal to 0.90 were considered as clones from the same parent. Overall, 20.60% of the total 3156 accessions were found not true to type i.e., misidentified individuals. The descriptive analysis shows that morphological traits like distance between lobes, upward folding of leaf along main vein, young stem color, old stem color, leaf shape, leaf density and plant vigor are the most discriminative descriptors for individual identification within accession. Some other traits were also found species specific and they may aid in distinguishing misidentifications between species

Fe–Al binary oxide nanosorbent: Synthesis, characterization and phosphate sorption property

Phosphorous removal using efficient treatment approach such as adsorption is vital for the control of eutrophication. In this study, nanosized Fe-Al binary oxide sorbent was synthesized through a modified gel evaporation method and employed for adsorption of phosphate from aqueous system. The nanosorbent was characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope coupled with energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDX), tunneling electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and flame atomic absorption spectroscopy (FAAS). Langmuir model showed the best fit to the experimental data with a maximum adsorption efficiency of 16.4 mg/g. Having all parameters optimized, it has been found that the nanosorbent exhibited 99.86% phosphate adsorption efficiency. The effect of co-existing anions on the adsorption of phosphate was also studied and no significant effect on the efficiency of the nanosorbent was observed due to competing ions such as fluoride. Desorbabilty of phosphate was investigated and found to be increased with increasing pH. The results of thermodynamic studies indicated that the process is spontaneous and endothermic. Both macroscopic and microscopic approaches were employed to predict the mechanism of phosphate adsorption on the Fe-Al binary oxide nanosorbent. Accordingly, the phosphate adsorption is presumed to occur via the replacement of surface hydroxyl groups by the phosphate species and formation of inner-sphere surface complexes at the water/oxide interfac

Enhancing first year chemistry student’s participation in practical chemistry course

In this study, enhancing student’s participation in practical analytical chemistry course at Haramaya University with various reasons was conducted. The data were collected from I year chemistry undergraduate students of class size 56 of which 23 were females and 33 were males. The class was arranged in to two groups for laboratory class and the experiment was conducted once per week in analytical laboratory. The research used mainly three kinds of data collection techniques namely questionnaire and laboratory report and demonstration result to gather the required qualitative and quantitative data for improving the participation of first year chemistry students. From the result, it was found that students were interested towards the practical analytical courses on the basis of condition such as, necessity of the chemistry with life, their participation in the laboratory, getting experience from the laboratory and performing the experiment in group. The results of the study support the notion that, students were more interested to a group work rather than individual work since they share idea, read their manual before coming to laboratory which contributed to their own participation in learning practical chemistry courses. The research has also shown that student’s activity through experimental demonstration in group increases student’s participations in the laboratory effectively by achieving better results than using laboratory report writing methods. The findings also revealed that some of the causes of students’ negative attitudes towards learning practical Chemistry were mainly due to problems in preparing a flow chart for the experiments by themselves and lack of exposure to well-equipped laboratory for conducting demonstrations. In view of the findings and conclusions drawn in the study, Chemistry laboratories should be adequately equipped to ensure a smooth running of the practical classes and students should be encouraged to participate on practical chemistry courses and appropriate motivation should be given so that they will develop positive attitude towards the practical sessions