Tef is the only cereal cultivated for human consumption in the genus Eragrostis. Compared to other cereal crops tef is resilient and able to withstand adverse weather conditions. The major problems for adaptation of tef are lack of diversified alternative improved varieties adapted to the study area and limited availability of varieties. This study was carried out to recommend best adapted and high yielder tef varieties in the study area. A total of twelve released tef varieties were used in the experiment. Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications was used to execute this research activity. The analysis of variance showed that the genotypes differed significantly (p< 0.05) for harvest index, and lodging, and were highly significant (p<0.001) for days to heading, plant height and panicle length. Heritability estimate was moderately high for panicle length followed by plant height and days to 50% heading. Panicle length and plant height showed moderately high heritability with a high genetic advance as a percent of the mean. Grain yield showed a positive and highly significant (P < 0.001) correlation with biomass yield (0.97), lodging index (0.84) and plant height (0.82). To alleviate the limited access of improved tef varieties to study area these selected varieties need to be demonstration and popularized to farmers with their full production package to enhance the productivity of tef crop.
The study assessed the effects of age and egg size on egg shape, egg weight loss, hatchability and growth of Japanese quail. A total of 198 eggs from a breeder flock at 40, 43 and 46 weeks of age were categorised as light, medium and large. Egg shape index was analysed using Histogram with Fit and Groups. Data were subjected to two-way Analysis of Variance using General Linear Model procedure of Minitab (version 18) at 5% Least Significant Difference. Egg weight loss was not different in the younger birds but changed significantly at 46th week on the 6th and 12th days of incubation. Egg weight loss significantly changed between the light and medium-sized eggs. Fertility was significantly affected by egg size. Age and egg size did not change hatchability but significantly affected hatching weight. Chick growth varied significantly at day 14 in eggs collected at week 40. Chick growth significantly increased across the days as egg size increased. The least shape index (77.3%) was recorded in the heavy and medium eggs at 40 and 46 weeks of age. Fertility, hatchability, chick growth and mortality can be affected by age of quails and size of quail eggs.
The aim of this study was to estimate the genotype by environment interaction of artificially identified cold tolerant rice genotypes in the highland cooler parts of Uganda. The best twenty three cold tolerant genotypes and two susceptible genotypes were evaluated in seven environments, which were characterized by cold weather. Five by five alpha lattice design with three replications was used in each environment. Analysis of variance revealed significant GEI effect in most of the cold tolerance indicator traits. Leaf wilting score was one of the major measures of cold stress observed on evaluated genotypes and it was chosen for demonstration of AMMI ANOVA and GGE-biplot. AMMI analysis showed there were highly significant environments, genotypes and GEI effects on leaf wilting score. The partitioning of total sum of squares (TSS) revealed that the environment effect was a predominant source of variation followed by GEI and genotype. The first two PCA on GGE-biplot explain 72.72% of the total variation of GEI. In general, rice genotypes SCRID091-20-2-2-4-4, MET P9, MET P40, NERICA 1 and GIZA 177 took short duration to mature, had better yield and were cold tolerant in most of test environments.
Allium cepa (Onions) is one of the major vegetables that is consumed all over the world after tomatoes due to is active compounds but weeds infestation during growth phase are the major challenge faced by the farmers which result in a very poor growth and yield of this spice. In this study, the conventional hand weeding practices were compared with weedicide pendimethalin to control different weeds and the morphological characters such as; number, size, height, neck area and fresh weight of the onions bulbs planted at Department of Plant Science and Biotechnology, Botanical Garden, KSUSTA. Twelve (12) weeds of different family were found and identified from the experimental field namely; Urena lobata, Eragrostis tremula, Amaranthus viridis, Senna occidentalis, Cenchruse chintus, Mitracarpus scaber, Commelina lanata, Zornia latifolia, Cassia tora, Sida cordifolia, Cleome viscosa and Euphorbia thyamifolia. In all, the treatments used cultural, chemical and integrated methods had shown a positive significant effect on weed control and yield of onion. This study revealed that cultural control (hand weeding) is the best method of weed, control as it provides maximum weed control in the tested vegetable as well as higher yield.
Production and marketing of Eucalyptus wood products play a significant poverty alleviation role; as a source of regular income and construction materials in turn improving the livelihoods of the rural community in Ethiopia. The study was conducted in Sidama region (Gorche district), South Central Ethiopia. The aim of study was to see the effect of spacing regimes (selected from the most common spacing practices in community) on yield of Eucalyptus globulus woodlots. Twenty five sample household’s woodlot from each spacing regime with a total of 100 woodlot plantations were sampled from two kebeles. Measurements of all DBH and height of standing E. globulus woodlot tree were made. Yield was significantly affected by the initial spacing regimes. With decreasing spacing, mean volume per tree was decreasing while volume per hectare was increasing. Within 1m x 0.75m, 0.75m x 0.5m, 0.5 x 0.5m and 0.5m x 0.25m spacing regimes, 0.031, 0.024, 0.0185 and 0.0116 m3/tree and 407.75, 637.82, 737.35 and 930.07m3/ ha mean volume of woodlot respectively were recorded. A one-way ANOVA revealed that there were a significant difference within; Volume, DBH and height of all spacing regimes. Local construction material /Seregela, Kuami, Weraji, Korkoro mager were the most common assortment poles depending on diameter and height. The study further revealed that highest number of biggest sized diameter construction pole were found from lower density planting, (1m x 0.75m) and the highest number of construction pole assortment were found from closer spacing (0.5m x 0.25m). In conclusion, spacing regimes had seriously affected yield of E. globulus woodlots. Finally, woodlot growers’ preference for different spacing regimes primarily depends on obtaining better final yield. And 1m x 0.7m and 0.75m x 0.5m spacing was found better in terms of providing proportional pole sizes of each assortment types.
The available technology demonstration approaches like farmers' training centers in the region are very narrow with lots of technology deficiency, less capacity, placed in inconvenience niches, and poor setup. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the possibilities to establish a model technology village in the Agricultural Growth Program implementing districts of the South Omo zone. The multi-stage sampling procedure was employed to select six sample kebeles. Data for the study were collected from 279 randomly selected households. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics and a narrative approach. The major crop technologies identified were improved variety, inorganic fertilizer, seed rate, and spacing. Major livestock technologies identified were improved cattle, shoat, poultry, and forage types. Major natural resource management technologies identified were soil and water conservation, soil fertility management, and agroforestry practices. About 54%, 84.2%, and 57.7% of sample respondents from Semen Ari, Debub Ari, and Bena-Tsemay districts know the existing technology demonstration approaches such as farmers' training center, model farmer-based, and pre-extension demonstration approaches respectively. However, all types of agricultural technologies demonstration approaches and farmers' demands were not being taught, introduced, and demonstrated. Therefore, it can be concluded that establishing a model agricultural technology village on selected kebele based on farmers/agro pastoralists' demand for the crop, livestock, and natural resource management technologies could improve the productivity of smallholder farmers/agro-pastoralists.
The seaweed is one of the important growth promoting hormonal effects on crop plants which has been proven for many decades. Some of the plant hormones have been recorded in seaweeds such as IAA, IBA and cytokinins along with minerals and vitamins. Seaweed liquid fertilizer has been shown to have a wide range of beneficial impacts. In the present study, the effect of different concentrations of (SLF 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0%) and (SLF + CF 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0%) Seed germination, photosynthetic pigments, fresh and dry weight, and shoot and root length were all measured on a treated groundnut plant. The results found a gradual increase of seedling growth and photosynthetic pigments at increasing concentrations, however, higher concentrations 1.0 and 1.2 per cent were decreasing trends in groundnut plants.
Niger crop is one of the under-utilized oil crops, but very crucial in Ethiopian diets and export system. Despite its importance, many problems have to be addressed through research. Starting from the beginning when a multidisciplinary approach of niger breeding started during the late 1960s century, some efforts have been made to overcome the major limitations of niger production and productivity in Ethiopia. However, there is a minimum application of modern breeding, and many challenges persist. The major challenges that face the niger breeding and production in Ethiopia are the nature of the crop (self-incompatibility), lodging and shattering, low yielding potential, susceptibility to pests, poor agronomic practices, less attention, and low inputs and modern farm technology. These challenges are retarding the breeding and also the production system of the niger. To make niger research more impactful on these challenges, exploiting and the use of novel research techniques which may include gene identification and transformation are very important. Moreover, genomic assisted breeding holds tremendous potential for improving productivity and provides better information for the breeding of niger. This review was provided with a brief explanation of the status of niger breeding and biotechnology aspects and the major challenges facing niger research and production in Ethiopia. Besides, the gap of research was forwarded in this document.
Macro and micronutrients plays a vital role in many metabolic and physiological activities of human body including synthesis of enzymes, monitored growths, and boosts immune and reproductive systems. The Annona senegalensis flowers were obtained from Zuru and Aliero L.G.As farms and subjected to phytochemical and proximate screening using Association of official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) methods. From the results obtained, phytochemical screening shows the presences of flavonoid, saponin, glycosides, alkaloids, cardiac glycoside, steroids and volatile oil while tannins, balsams and anthraquinnes were not detected. The proximate composition revealed the presences of carbohydrate (76.96 ± 0.34), crude protein (8.37 ± 013), moisture contents (7.67 ± 0.76), ash (7.33 ± 0.29), lipid (4.17 ± 0.29) and fiber (3.17) with different values contents. While the results of minerals analyzed showed that, potassium 38.00 ± 1.00 and sodium 36.33 ± 1.53 had the highest values followed by magnesium 3.77 ± 0.15, nitrogen 1.34 ± 0.02, calcium 1.23 ± 0.12 and phosphorus with less value of 1.34 ± 0.02. All these values obtained showed significant increase in micro and macronutrients contents of Annona senegalensis flowers at P>0.05. It was concluded that, Annona senegalensis flowers contains some important elements that have the ability to improve human body, boost food security, foster rural development and support sustainable land care and improve on socioeconomic development in the research areas and Kebbi state when properly utilized.
Field experiment was conducted at the Kogi State University Research and Demonstration Farm Anyigba, (Lat 7° 291 and Long 70 111E). Anyigba lies in the Guinea Savanna Agro-ecological Zone. This experiment was conducted during the raining season of 2021 to evaluate the effect of Farm Yard Manure and Nitrogen levels on the growth, yield characters and seed yield of sesame (Sesamum indicum L.). Treatments consisted of three levels of Farm Yard Manure (0 t ha-1, 5 t ha-1, 10 tonsha-1and 15 t ha-1) respectively and Nitrogen fertilizer rates (0 tons Nha-1, 0.02 t N ha-1, 0.04 t N ha-1and 0.06 t N ha-1) respectively. Factorial combination of treatments gave a total number of 16 treatments which was laid in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replicates. 48 plots were obtained in total. Results showed that application of Farm Yard Manure did not influence (p≥0.05) all parameters studied in the experiment except dry weight/plant, plant height and seed yield/ha. Nitrogen application significantly influenced (p≤0.05) plant height and seed yield only. There was no significant interaction observed between Farm Yard Manure and Nitrogen levels in all parameters studied
Northeast India is rich in genetic diversity of horticultural crops and colocasia is one of the important crops. This region is rich in colocasia diversity for both cultivated and wild species particularly in jhum fields, homestead gardens, near water bodies, river banks, forests and road sides. Wide range of variability is observed in vegetative characters, corm and cormel characters, yield and quality characters. It is cultivated in jhum field as a mixed crop along with paddy and other crops like ginger, chilli, maize, turmeric etc. and in homestead garden, it is cultivated along with maize, cucurbits, chilli, King chilli, etc. The nutrient rich and gluten free tuber crop is an integral part of traditional cuisines of ethnic people of this region. All the plant parts of this ariod member are edible. Several traditional dishes have been prepared from leaves, petioles and tubers. The leaves, petioles and damaged tubers are also fed to pig and poultry. Recent past, the genetic diversity of colocasia is under threat due to urbanization, climate change, introduction of new crops, and pest and diseases and resulted in genetic erosion. The conservation of these vast gene pool is necessary.
