College of Agriculture

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The College of Agriculture is committed to advancing agricultural education, research, and community service. It serves as a center for knowledge creation and dissemination in crop science, animal production, natural resource management, and sustainable agriculture.

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    ADOPTION OF SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION PRACTICE AROUND LAKE HAWASSA, SIDAMA REGION, ETHIOPIA
    (Hawassa University College of Agriculture, 2022) ENDALE ESRAEL
    Ethiopia is promoting SWC technologies for improving agricultural productivity, climate change adaptation, household food security and rural livelihoods. The effectiveness of these SWC practices that are alleged to enhance productivity is very important in order to evaluate their performance in reducing land degradation and rehabilitating the land. The major concern of this study is to analyze the adoption of soil and water conservation practice around Lake Hawassa. The data were collected from 150 farmers residing in 3 Kebeles that are randomly selected from 25 rural Kebeles where soil and water conservation have been introduced and widely implemented. Both qualitative and quantitative data were used to have reliable information. The basic data used for this study were collected from Sample households, focus group participants and key informants through structured questionnaire and semi-structured checklists. The collected data was analyzed using descriptive statistical tools such as mean, frequency, percentages, tables, Chi-square and t-test and inferential statistical tools such as binary logistic regression model and multiple linear regression models. The survey data identified that out of the total (150) households, 100 (66.7%) were being adopted SWC activities in their lands while the rest 50 (33.3) households didn’t adopted SWC. The Chi-square result showed that sex, marital status, level of education, credit access and extension services were affects SWC positively and statistically at 5% significant level and the t-test result showed that age and land size affects SWC positively and statistically at 5% significant level. The logistic regression model showed that advisory services, training on SWC, number of family size and education level significantly influences adoption of SWC measure in the study area. The comparative analysis of maize production showed 17.5508 quintals average yield increment in case of SWC adopting households as compared to non-adopter during 2020/2021 production season. The results revealed positive relationships between total yield of maize and labor, seed, land, and oxen (draft access). Based on this result, labor and land are the most significant factors of maize production among SWC adopters. As more of these factors of production (land and labor) are used increasingly, there will exist more maize yield among the adopter households. This increased crop yield as a result introduction of SWC to farmer’s farm also enhanced their income, achieving food security and livelihood in the study area. The researcher recommends, the stakeholders need to work jointly to improve the farmer’s access to SWC training service, and provide different advisory services while promoting SWC technologies among small holders in the study area.
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    AGRO-MORPHOLOGICAL VARIABILITY, GENOTYPE BY ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION, NUTRIENT AND LAND-USE EFFICIENCY, AND NUTRITIONAL PROFILE OF OAT (Avena sativa L.) GENOTYPES IN ETHIOPIA
    (Hawassa University College of Agriculture, 2024) GEZAHAGN KEBEDE BUNARE
    Agro-morphological variability, genotype by environment interaction, nutrient and land-use efficiency, and nutritional profile of oat (Avena sativa L.) genotypes in Ethiopia Oat (Avena sativa L.) is one of the useful annual cereal crops grown at higher altitudes in the tropics and temperate regions. It is a dual-purpose crop cultivated for fodder and grain production in the central highlands of Ethiopia. This crop is mainly cultivated for fodder production and the grain is also used for human food and animal feed in Ethiopia. Oat generally produces high amounts of fodder which has better nutritional quality and it can be used as a green feed and the excess production can be conserved as hay and silage to utilize during the feed scarcity period. Despite its significance, oat production, and productivity are highly influenced by genetics, environments, agronomic management, and their interactions. Therefore, developing high-yielding oat varieties with stable performance under diverse environmental conditions and improving the productivity of oat through various agronomic management are the major research areas for oat improvement in Ethiopia. However, studies on agromorphological based genetic diversity and yield stability of oat genotypes under diverse environmental conditions and the optimum nutrient requirements of oat for higher yield and nutritional quality under sole and mixed cultures with vetch have not been well studied and properly documented in the country. Thus, the overall aim of this study was to enhance the productivity of oat genotypes through proper exploitation of genetic variability and agronomic management under different environments and management conditions. The first experiment was conducted using 120 oat genotypes using a randomized complete block design with three replications at Holetta and Ada-Berga research stations in the 2020/2021 cropping season. The objectives of this study were to estimate the extent of agro-morphological based genetic variability, heritability, and genetic advance in oat genotypes, to investigate the phenotypic and genotypic relationships between the studied quantitative traits, to determine the direct and indirect effects of measured quantitative traits on fodder and grain yields, and to evaluate the genetic variations using cluster, genetic divergence, and principal component analyses for oat yield improvement. The results revealed that moderately high to very high heritability (62.9– 86.4%) coupled with high to moderate genetic advance as percent of mean (16.0–26.1%) were recorded for forage dry matter yield (FDMY), number of leaves at forage harvest (NLFH), stem dry matter yield (SDMY), forage yield production rate (FYPR), grain yield (GY), panicle length at grain harvest (PLGH), number of spikes per panicle (NSPP), and harvest index (HI). This result demonstrated that the selection of oat genotypes based on these traits could be effective for yield improvement. The genotypic and phenotypic correlation and path coefficient analyses indicated that the FYPR had a significant positive association and high direct effect on FDMY and also the biological yield production rate (BYPR) and HI had a significant positive association and high direct effect on GY. This indicated that selection based on FYPR and BYPR/HI would simultaneously improve the FDMY and GY in oat genotypes, respectively. The multivariate analysis revealed that the studied genotypes grouped into four clusters with the intra and inter-cluster genetic distances ranging from 2.3 to 4.3 and 11.7 to 63.2, respectively. The principal component analysis showed that traits such as FYPR, BYPR, PLGH, FDMY, and xxxi number of spikelets per panicle (NSLPP) contributed more for the first component whereas HI, GY, NLFH, and plant height at grain harvest (PHGH) had a high contribution for the second component. The presence of genotype by environment interaction (GEI) complicates the selection of genotypes with high yielding coupled with stable performance across environments. Twenty-four oat genotypes were selected and sown during the 2020/2021 cropping season at Holetta (E1), Ada-Berga (E2), Ginchi (E3), Jeldu (E4), D/Zeit (E5), Kulumsa (E6), Bekoji (E7), Kuyu (E8), and D/Markos (E9) agricultural research stations using a randomized complete block design with three replications. Thus, the second experiment aimed to assess the magnitude of GEI and to evaluate the fodder and grain yield stability performance of oat genotypes using univariate and multivariate statistical models. The additive main effects and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) analysis of variance for fodder yield showed that the total variation was highly contributed by the environment (E) main effect followed by GEI and genotype(G). Moreover, the GGE biplot analysis for fodder yield showed that G6 was the ideal genotype while G2, G3, G10, and G23 were desirable genotypes. Among environments, E7 was an ideal environment whereas E1 and E8 were favorable environments. The results of univariate stability analysis indicated that selection of oat genotypes using genotypic superiority index (Pi), yield stability index (YSI), coefficient of determination (R2 ), and coefficient of variation (CVi) stability parameters would be effective for fodder yield improvement. Similarly, the AMMI analysis of variance for grain yield showed that the E main effect was the highest contributor to the total variation followed by G and GEI. Based on the GGE biplot analysis for grain yield, G19 was an ideal genotype while G8, G11, G12, G14, G17, and G22 were desirable genotypes. Moreover, the ideal environment was E2 whereas E1, E4, and E5 were favorable environments. The univariate stability analysis for grain yield indicated that high grain yield-producing oat genotypes had stable performance using the stability parameters of Pi , the Perkins and Jinks adjusted linear regression coefficient (Bi), and YSI. The yield and nutritional quality of oat can be improved through the application of optimum fertilizer at the right time. Oat can be cultivated using the blanket recommended fertilizer rate in Ethiopia. Thus, the optimum fertilizer rate for fodder and grain production of oat has not been well studied and documented in the country. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the effect of fertilizer rates on agro-morphological traits, nutrient uptake and use efficiency, nutritive value, and economic feasibility of oat varieties at Holetta. The study was carried out during the 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 cropping seasons using a factorial arrangement of eight levels of the blanket recommended fertilizer (0, 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, and 175%) and three oat varieties (CI-8251, SRCPX80Ab2291, and Sorataf) in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The results showed that variety, fertilizer, and year had significant effects on FDMY. The FDMY of oat varieties increased with increasing fertilizer rates and the highest (15.9 t/ha) yield was obtained from the application of 175% (71.8 kg N + 35 kg P/ha) fertilizer. Among oat varieties, the highest FDMY was obtained from CI-8251 (forage type oat) followed by SRCPX80Ab2291 (dual type oat) and Sorataf (grain type). The number of tillers per plant (NTPP), yields of morphological fractions (leaf, stem, and grain), FYPR, nutrient concentration, and uptake had significant positive associations with fertilizer levels and FDMY. However, all the nutrient use efficiencies except agro-physiological efficiency (APE) had inverse associations with fertilizer levels and FDMY. Similar to FDMY, the GY of oat varied significantly for variety, fertilizer, and year effects. Application of 150% (61.5 kg N + 30 kg P/ha) fertilizer rate produced the highest GY (6.5 t/ha) and grain nutrient uptakeGNU (141.7 kg/ha) while the lowest GY and GNU were recorded from oat sown without fertilizer application. Sorataf (grain type) variety gave the highest GY, GNU, partial factor xxxii productivity (PFP), and agronomic efficiency (AE) compared to forage and dual-type oat varieties. Oat varieties sown with 25% (10.3 kg N + 5 kg P/ha) fertilizer rate produced the highest PFP (346.6 kg/ha) and AE (164.8 kg/ha) while PFP and AE decreased with increasing fertilizer rates. The nutrient concentration and uptake had positive associations with fertilizer level and GY while nutrient harvest index (NHI) and nutrient use efficiency had inverse associations with fertilizer level and GY. The nutritional quality analysis indicated that digestible yield (DY) and total digestible nutrient yield (TDNY) varied significantly with variety, fertilizer, and year effects. Among oat varieties, CI-8251 gave the highest TDNY while SRCPX80Ab2291 gave the highest DY but the Sorataf variety gave the lowest TDNY and DY. Most of the measured nutritional quality parameters varied for the interaction effect of variety by fertilizer by year effect. Sorataf variety sown with 175% fertilizer rate in 2020 gave the highest crude protein-CP (113.9 g/kg DM), crude protein yield-CPY (1.66 t/ha), and digestible crude protein-DCP (68.2 g/kg DM). Application of fertilizer and FDMY had significant positive associations with CP, CPY, DY, DCP, and TDNY. The combined partial budget analysis for the three oat varieties showed that application of 125% (51.3 kg N + 25 kg P/ha ) fertilizer rate produced higher net benefit (83,440 ETB) and marginal rate of return (12,635.6%) from fodder production. On the other hand, the application of 150% fertilizer rate produced the highest net benefit from grain production. Oat can be also cultivated with vetch (annul forage legume) to improve the quantity and quality of feed in the central highlands of Ethiopia. The oat/vetch mixtures are sown with the same blanket recommended fertilizer rate that is used for the production of sole oat in the country. This indicated that the application of fertilizer on oat/vetch mixtures does not depend on the nutrient requirements of oat and vetch for better growth and development under a mixed cropping system. Accordingly, the optimum fertilizer rate for the oat/vetch mixed cropping system has not been well studied and documented in the country. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of fertilizer rates on agro-morphological traits, nutrient uptake and use efficiency, competitive ability, and economic feasibility of oat under oat/vetch mixed cropping and nutritive value of mixtures at Holetta Agricultural Research Center during the 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 cropping seasons. In this study, the oat/vetch mixture was sown with eight fertilizer rates (0, 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, and 175%) and also sole oat and sole vetch were sown with their recommended fertilizer rate (100%) using a randomized complete block design with three replications. The results showed that fertilizer and year had significant effects on all measured agro-morphological traits, nutrient concentration, and nutrient uptake and use efficiency of oat. Accordingly, all the measured agro-morphological traits increased with increasing fertilizer rates, and the highest values were recorded in the second year. Application of 150% fertilizer rate increased the FDMY of oat/vetch mixtures by 107.4% compared to oat/vetch mixtures sown without fertilizer application. However, the highest nutrient use efficiency was recorded with the application of fertilizer at the rate of 25% while the nutrient use efficiency was the lowest with the highest fertilizer (175%) application rate. The FDMY of oat under oat/vetch mixtures was associated significantly and positively with all measured agro-morphological traits, nutrient concentration, and uptake while it had significant inverse associations with nutrient use efficiencies. The highest net benefit and marginal rate of return were recorded from the application of 150% fertilizer rate. The productivity of oat under oat/vetch mixed cropping was also assessed using different indices. The results showed that over-yielding oat (OYO), land equivalent coefficient (LEC), area-time equivalent ratio (ATER), and land equivalent ratio (LER) were higher in the first year while oat equivalent yield (OEY) and system productivity index (SPI) were higher in the second year. All xxxiii the aforementioned biological efficiency indices increased with increasing fertilizer rates and the highest values were recorded from the application of 150% fertilizer rate. Similarly, all the measured competitive indices such as crowding coefficient of oat (KO), actual yield loss of oat (AYLO), intercropping advantages of oat (IAO), and the competitive ratio of oat (CRO) were higher in the first year. All the values of competitive indices except aggressivity of oat (AO) increased with increasing fertilizer rates and the highest values were recorded from the application of 150% fertilizer. The economic efficiency indices of oat/vetch mixtures showed that the higher values of monetary advantages index (MAI), relative value total (RVT), replacement value of intercropping (RVI), and relative net return index (RNRI) were recorded in the first year. All the values of economic efficiency indices increased with increasing fertilizer rates and the highest values were recorded from 150% fertilizer rate. The nutritive values of oat/vetch mixtures also varied with fertilizer application and year of production. All the measured nutritive values except fiber contents (NDF-neutral detergent fiber, ADF-acid detergent fiber, ADL-acid detergent lignin, HC-hemicellulose, and C-cellulose) were higher in the second year. Application of fertilizer at the rate of 150% gave the highest ash, CPY, digestible dry matter (DDM), dry matter intake (DMI), in-vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD), DY, total digestible nutrients (TDN), TDNY, relative feed value (RFV), and relative feed quality (RFQ). On the other hand, oat/vetch mixtures sown without fertilizer gave the highest fiber contents. The person correlation analysis indicated that fertilizer application had significant inverse associations with fiber contents while it had significant positive associations with the remaining measured nutritional quality parameters. In conclusion, oat genotypes such as CI-715, CI-1463, SRCPX80Ab2806, A-505, CI-1480, S-122, Bona-bas, and CI-1674 were selected for fodder yield and grain yield improvement. Based on the AMMI, GGE, and univariate stability parameters, G6 (CI-1512), G9 (CI-1629), G10 (C-12), and G23 (CI-8235) were selected for fodder yield improvement while G8 (SRCPX80Ab2267), G17 (SRCPX80Ab2310), and G22 (SRCPX80Ab2691) were selected for grain yield improvement of oat. Application of 125% (51.3 kg N + 25 kg P/ha) fertilizer rate for fodder production and 150% (61.5 kg N + 30 kg P/ha) fertilizer rate for grain production could increase the respective yield and farm profitability in the study area. Similarly, application of 150% fertilizer rate would increase the fodder yield, competitive ability, and economic profitability of oat under oat/vetch mixtures and nutritive value of mixtures. However, the selected genotypes and fertilizer rates should be verified under diverse environments of oat-growing areas in Ethiopia.
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    ANALYSIS OF CLIMATE VARIABILITY AND CHANGE AND ITS IMPACTS ON WATER PRODUCTIVITY AND NUTRIENT USE EFFICIENCY OF MAIZE (Zea mays) IN THE GREAT ETHIOPIAN RIFT VALLEY BASINS
    (Hawassa University College of Agriculture, 2021) FITIH ADEME MAMO
    Climate variability and change are a global phenomenon affecting many nations. Smallholder farmers in Ethiopia have been facing severe climate related hazards, in particular highly variable rainfall and severe droughts that negatively affect their livelihoods. Anticipated climate change is expected to aggravate some of the existing challenges and impose new risks beyond the range of current experiences. This study aimed at understanding current climate variability and future climate change, and its associated impacts in particular for maize production. The climate analysis was conducted in the Great Rift Valley Basins (GRVB), which represents diverse agroecology and farming systems. The climate variability and change impact study were conducted in the Central part of the Rift Valley (CRV), which represent a major cereal-based farming system of the semi-arid environments of Ethiopia. Empirical statistical analyses using field experimental data in combination with crop-climate simulation modelling were used to achieve the objectives of the study. A high spatial resolution regional climate models and a well-known crop growth simulation model were used for the modelling analysis, which is an innovative feature of the methodology used in this thesis. The analysis revealed that rainfall exhibited high interseasonal variability (coefficient of variation 13-37%) during the period 1981-2010 in the GRVB. The mean annual temperature significantly increased by +0.43 ºC [0.27 ºC to 0.58 ºC] per decade in the same period. Projections for future climate suggested that annual rainfall will change by -25 to +6% and the annual temperature is expected to increase in the range of 2.5-5.1oC by the end of this century. A corresponding change in length of growing period (LGP) from -5.66 to -25.5% for central semiarid and +3.9 to -16.4% for central sub-humid highlands was simulated in the near century. Maize grain yield was strongly (P<0.01) and positively correlated with seasonal rainfall (r=0.67-0.69) in the CRV while day temperature affected grain yield negatively (r= -0.44) at Ziway (P<0.05) during the simulation period. Simulated water-limited yields showed high inter-annual variability (coefficient of variation, ~24%) and about 47% of this variability was explained by the xvii variation in growing season rainfall. The observed farmers’ yield was 28, 48 and 57% lower than the researcher-managed, water--limited and potential yield of the crop, respectively, indicating wide maize yield gap in the region. Analysis of climate change scenarios showed that maize yield will decrease on average by 16.5 and 23% by mid and end of this century, respectively due to climate change. Similarly, water productivity is expected to decline on average by 2.2 and 12% in the CRV by mid and end centuries with respect to the baseline. Nutrient uptake and corresponding nutrient use efficiency (NUE) might also be negatively affected by climate change. Phosphorus uptake probably will decrease in the CRV on average by 14.5 to 18% by mid-century. Nitrogen and P use efficiency indicators showed decreases in the range between 8.5 to 10.5% and between 9.3 to 10.5%, respectively by midcentury relative to the baseline average. The simulation under no water and nutrient limitation condition ensured improvements of both water and nutrient use efficiency in the changed climate which could ensure modest production in the future. The high estimated impact of climate variability and changes on crop yield and associated resources use in the CRV imply greater risks on rainfed crop production in the region. Hence, the study recommends further assessment of potential adaptation options and economic impact of climate related risks in the region to provide full-fledged evidence for better policy decisions.
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    ASSEMET OF CLIMATE VARIABILITY IMPACTSE ON WHEAT PRODACTION, FARMERS’ PERCEPTION AND ADAPTAION STRATEGIES: THE CASE OF DOYOGENA WOREDA FARMING COMMUNITIES OF KAMBATA-TAMBARO ZONE, SNNPR, ETHIOPIA
    (Hawassa University College of Agriculture, 2022) MULUGETA GEBRE
    Climate variability has adversely affected the livelihoods of people in developing countries where a large proportion of the population is heavily dependent on agriculture. Severe and repeated rise in temperature and rainfall failures caused loss of crops and livestock which resulted in food insecurity in Ethiopia. This study aims to assess farmers’ perception on climate variability, its impacts and adaptation strategies in Doyogena District.The study used multi stage sampling procedure. Purposive sampling procedure was used to select study area. Primary data were collected using key informant interviews, focus group discussions and household surveys with 181 households. Similarly, secondary data were collected from NMA and DWARDO. Descriptive statistics, MNL and SPI were used to analyze the collected data. According to the survey results, about 83% of the respondents perceive that, the rainfall amount in the study area is decreasing. However, long-term recorded 1996-2019 rainfall data showed that the annual rainfall is decreasing by the rate of –6.56 annually over the past 24 years. The mean annual rainfall was 1164.19mm with 11.5% of coefficient of variation which is less variable based on degree of variability. Similarly, 84.70% of interviewed farmers said that temperature is in increasing trend, which confirms the results from the analysis from 1996-2019 recorded data by NMA that indicated the mean minimum and maximum temperatures are increasing by 0.074ºC and 0.021ºC per annum respectively. The study had also shown that farmer’s adaptation strategies include; using improved crop variety, mixed crop livestock system, use of irrigation, soil and water conservation, adjusting planting date and income diversification activities. The marginal effects of MNL model results also indicated that, the adaptation strategies used by farmers were significantly (p< 0.05) influenced by age, family size, farm land size, monthly income and livestock ownership, whereas; sex, access to extension service, access to credit service and farming experience. Therefore, improving farmers’ perception of climate information, and promoting farm-level adaptation strategies such as the use of new agricultural technologies and adjusting planting date must be strengthened in the study area.
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    ASSESMENT OF FACTORS INFLUENCING ADOPTION OF AGROFORESTRY TECHNOLOGIES IN HALABA SPECIAL WOREDA, SOUTHEREN ETHIOPIA
    (Hawassa University College of Agriculture, 2016) MIHRETU ERJABO
    Halaba special district is characterized by drought, soil erosion, high population pressure, poor livestock production, lack of feed for livestock, very deep water table, very low productivity of crops and food insufficiency. In order to address these problems, the woreda Agricultural Development office along with other management practices such as soil physical conservation measures agroforestry was introduced decades ago as a means to alleviate the problem. However, the level of agroforestry adoption remains low. The main objective of this study was to identify the factors that influence adoption of agroforestry technologies by farmers in the district. Random sampling procedure was employed to select two kebele administrations and respondents. Data collection was conducted by employing five different types of techniques such as rural household questionnaire survey, participatory rural appraisal, questionnaires for local and woreda extension staff, scanning government records & secondary data resources and field observation. A total of 12 key informants, 6 extension staffs and 182 households, samples were used in the data collection process. Chi-square test and t-test were used to determine whether there were statistically significant relationships between adoption of agroforestry and 15 selected variables. Out of which eleven were found to be significant to affect farmers’ adoptiveness. These were frequency of visits of farmers(13.39%), participation in training(11.49 %), farmers’ attitude towards agroforestry practices(10.61%), frequency of visits of extensionists(10.38%), participation in extension meeting(10.34%), participation in field day(10.28%), land holding size(9.29%), level of literacy(8.78%), awareness about the importance of agroforestry technology packages(7.06%), time taken from their residence to nearest extension(5.04%) and gender of respondents(3.34%). This study also identified various factors that may result in low adoption rates of agroforestry including fear of competition between trees & crops for water and nutrients uptake, seedling shortage, rainfall shortage, free grazing after crop harvest, financial problem, labor shortage, expecting trees as soil degrader & long span of trees and lack of need ranking of farmers by extension staff. To improve farmers’ adoption, the factors identified should be well addressed by launching a series and recurrent outreach extension program appropriate and suitable to farmers need.
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    ASSESSING LIVELIHOOD DIVERSIFICATION STRATEGIES IN RESPONSE TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN WEST BADEWACHO DISTRICT OF HADIYA ZONE, SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA
    (Hawassa University College of Agriculture, 2020) KEBEDE BEKELE WOILEBO
    It is evident that climate change is real and rural farm households are focusing on several livelihood diversification options in response to climate change. In the study area, West Badewacho, the change in climate shifted households to carry out different livelihood strategies. The main aim of this study is to investigate livelihood diversification of farm households in response to climate change in the study area. Both primary and secondary data were collected to address the research objectives. Both Simple random sampling and systematic random sampling techniques were employed to collect the primary data from 147 household heads through interview; key informants interview, and focus group discussions. The secondary data were collected from Ethiopian National metrological agency. The collected data were analyzed through descriptive statistics like mean, maximum, minimum, percentage and multinomial logit model by using SPSS version 20 and STATA 13 software. Four livelihood diversification strategies were identified in the study area. Those are on-farm only, on-farm and non-farm, on-farm and off-farm, and the combination of on-farm, non-farm and off-farm livelihood diversification strategies. Generally, from the total households about 34% of them are participated in on-farm and non-farm livelihood diversification strategies response to climate change and to pursue livelihood income. The result shows that a livelihood diversification strategy is significantly influenced by sex, education level, family size, farm land size, extension contact, credit access and saving habit. The most important practice to adapt climate change and variability is livelihood diversification in the study area.
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    ASSESSMENT OF WEED SPECIES COMPOSITION AND THEIR MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN ONIONAND EFFECT OFDIFFERENT WEED CONTROL METHODS IN ONION (Allium cepaL.)IN THE CENTRAL RIFT VALLEY OF ETHIOPIA
    (Hawassa University College of Agriculture, 2019) FEYISA BEKELE JIMA
    Farmers have lack of awareness on weed problem on the crop and under take only manual weeding option to control those weeds in their fields. The study identified weed species composition and their management practices in onion (Allium cepa L.) fields of Adami Tulu, Dugda, Lume, and Around Adama woradas, Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia. In addition the effect of different weed control methods in onion were evaluated in Meki woreda during 2017/2018 under irrigation. Primary data were collected from 200 individual farmers using structured questionnaires, face to face interview. Secondary data were collected from different literatures and reports, and analyzed using descriptive statistics, using SPSS version 20. Weed species compositions were determined in a quadrat count of 0.5m2 using systematic sampling techniques to obtain representative sample in the fields. The identified individual weed specieswere analyzed using quantitative means. Identified most problematic weed families wereAsteraceae (16 spp.), Poaceae (10 spp.), Solonaceae (2 spp.),Cyperaceae (2spp.)in descending order of 1st, 2nd, 3rdand4rd abundant weed families, respectively.The experiment was contained 13 different weed control treatments and laid down in randomized complete block design with four replicates. Collected data were analyzed using SAS version 9.0. The weed density varied significantly with the treatments (P<0.05). At 60 DAT the lowest weed density (41.875/m2) was recorded under HW3WAT followed by Oxyflourfen at 0.5L/ha + HW6WAT. At harvest the lowest weed density (30.875g/m2) was obtained under Oxyflourfen at 0.5L/ha+HW6WAT. The lowest weed dry weight was recorded from Pendimethalin at 1.5L/ha+HW9WAT (293.27g/m2). The highest weed controlefficiency(82.15%) was recorded under Pendimethalinat 1.5L/ha+HW9WAT followed by Oxyflourfen at 0.5L/ha+HW9WAT (80.48%) after weed free plot.The maximum plant height (43.47cm) was recorded in weed free plot followed by Oxyflourfen at 0.5L/ha+HW3WAT (40.68cm). But the number of leaves per plant has shown no significant difference with respect to different treatments (P>0.05). Maximum bulb diameter, bulb weight, bulb size (3.51cm, 122.58g, 73.25ml, 29.62ton/ha) were recorded respectively from weed free plot, which were statistically non-significant from Oxyflourfen at 0.5L/ha+HW9WAT). The lowest loss in yield (0.03%) was recorded in weed free check followed by plot treated with oxyflourfen at rate of the 0.5 L/ha + HW6WAT (6.8%) as compared to the highest yield obtained in plot treated with oxyflourfen at rate of the 0.5 L/ha + HW9WAT. Weed free check plot resulted in higher cost of protection and gross return but lower in net return and benefit: Cost ratio, whereas Oxyflourfen at 0.5L/ha and pendimethalin at 1.5L/ha showed highest Benefit: Cost ratio (20.34 and 14.65) respectively. The study showed that using herbicides alone or in combination with hand weeding is highly profitable than using hand weeding alone. Future studies on the use of herbicides with different rates and combinations with other methods, critical period of weed-control and more survey works in different onion production agro-ecologies are recommended.
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    BIOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION, MOLECULAR CONFIRMATION AND ANTIMICROBIAL SUSCEPTIBILITY TEST OF Listeria monocytogenes FROM RAW BOVINE MILK COLLECTED FROM HAWASSA CITY, DALE AND ARSI NEGELE DISTRICTS OF SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA
    (Hawassa University College of Agriculture, 2021) HABTAMU HAWAZ TAFFESE
    Listeria monocytogenes is one of the most important foodborne pathogens and causes zoonotic disease due to its abundance in the environment. It is responsible for Listeriosis in humans and animals with low incidence but high fatality rate. Hence, this study was conducted to assess the prevalence, antibiotic susceptibility patterns, and molecular characterization of Listeria monocytogenes from raw cow milk. A cross-sectional study design was employed from December 2019 to September 2020. A total of 240 raw bovine milk samples were collected from dairy farms and smallholder dairy producers using a simple random sampling technique. Milk samples were collected in two season. Listeria monocytogenes isolation was performed using standard cultural procedures including Twin pack Listeria selective broth and agar medium as well as confirmatory broths like rhamnose, xylose and mannitol. Heamolysis and CAMP tests were also conducted. Molecular detection was performed by multiplex PCR by targeting five virulence-associated genes (prfA, plcA, actA, hlyA, and iapA) and by 16S rRNA genes sequence. The antimicrobial susceptibility profile of L. monocytogenes was also assessed by using the standard disk diffusion method. Out of 240 raw bovine milk samples tested, 69 (28.75%) were found positive for Listeria spp. of which 17 (7.08%) isolates were identified as Listeria monocytogenes after morphological and biochemical confirmation. The prevalence of Listeria monocytogenes in the wet season was 9.32%, but 4.92% in the dry season. Antimicrobial resistance profiling showed that all the Listeria monocytogenes isolates were completely resistant to Nalidixic acid followed by erythromycin (88.24%), ampicillin (23.53%), chloramphenicol (17.65%), streptomycin (11.76%) and 5.88% isolate showed resistance to cefotaxime. However, all the L. monocytogenes isolates were sensitive to vancomycin, gentamicin, and sulfamethoxazole. Gene of 16S rRNA was found in all the 17 tested isolates, but hlyA and iapA were found only in the 11 tested isolates and no isolate was found to contain prfA, actA, and plcA genes. The study indicates that raw bovine milk is a significant source of L. monocytogenes and shows a potential health risk for listeriosis.
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    CHARACTERIZATION AND EVALUATION OF BANANA PSEUDO-STEMS FOR BIOETHANOL PRODUCTION
    (Hawassa University College of Agriculture, 2022) TEMESGEN AYELE ADE
    Bio-fuels like bioethanol originated from lignocellulosic biomasses are being investigated as potential substitutes for current high pollutant fuels obtained from conventional sources. Banana pseudo-stem is one of lignocellulosic biomass, which is generated from banana cultivation. This study was carried out to Characterize and Evaluate Banana Pseudo-stems for Bioethanol Production. For this study, Giant Cavendishii (M. acuminata), Dwarf Cavendishii (M. acuminata), and William-1 (M. ‘Williams hybrid’) banana pseudo-stems were used for investigation. In this study, chemical compositions of pseudo-stems (extractives, cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, and ash) were determined through National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) protocol. Bioethanol was also produced from each pseudo-stem through biochemical conversion method. The production method had four major processes; pseudo-stem pretreatment, hydrolysis, fermentation, and distillation. Some of the physicochemical properties of produced bioethanol (Viscosity, Density, Flash point, Alcohol concentration, and Calorific value) were tested. The functional group of the produced bioethanol was analyzed using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. And finally, bioethanol yield of each variety was determined depending on the concentration of produced bioethanol. Each laboratory experiments were conducted for triplicate. The data analysis of experimental result was done by using statistical analysis of variance (one way ANOVA), through statistical analysis software (SAS). The laboratory result of extractives, cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, and ash content of the pseudo-stems were 27.25% - 31.15%, 30.11% - 36.14%, 19.32% - 23.83%, 8.81% - 9.30%, and 7.99% - 9.30%, respectively. And bioethanol yield of Giant Cavendishii, Dwarf Cavendishii, and William-1 pseudo-stem were 6.31%, 5.20%, and 4.00%, respectively. The statistical analysis software (SAS) output implied that the pseudo-stems of the three varieties have significantly different cellulose composition and bioethanol yield. As the result implied, pseudo-stem of giant cavendishii (M. acuminate) has the largest cellulose content and bioethanol yield followed by dwarf cavendishii (M. acuminata). Thus, giant cavendishii (M. acuminate) has relatively higher bioethanol potential. Therefore, giant cavendishii banana pseudo-stem is recommended to use as feedstock for bioethanol production.
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    CHARACTERIZATION, MAPPING, AND EVALUATION OF RECLAMATION RESOURCES FOR SOILS AROUND ABAYA AND CHAMO LAKES, SOUTHERN ETHIOPIAN RIFT VALLEY
    (Hawassa University College of Agriculture, 2024) AZMERA WALCHE MENGESHA
    Characterizing and understanding the nature of the soil and its management are crucial for successful crop production. With this in mind, experiments were conducted to (1) characterize of soils surrounding Lakes Abaya and Chamo, (2) analyze nutrient contents and map the fertility status of agricultural soils, (3) determine the intensity and types of soils and map their spatial distribution patterns, and (4) investigate the efficacy of gypsum and farmyard manure and their combined application in reclaiming sodic soil's chemical and physical properties. The first study revealed that the soil properties in the study site were highly heterogeneous in terms of morphological, physical, and chemical characteristics. Most of the studied soils were highly alkaline (>8.5), had very high sodium content (>20 cmolc kg-1 ), very high CEC value (> 40 cmolc kg-1 ), very low TN (<0.1%), and low levels of organic carbon (0.5-1.5%) and exchangeable calcium (2-5 cmolc kg-1 ). The study recommended removing sodium and salts from the soil depth to improve the productivity of agricultural soils in the area. Applying organic amendments such as manures and crop residues was also suggested to increase fertility and organic matter content. The second study showed the soil texture in the area was mainly clay, heavy clay (Ganta Kanchama site), and sandy clay loam. The surface soil had a higher available water holding capacity than the subsurface depth, indicating more plant water storing space. The soils in the studied area had an alkaline pH, moderately (2-4 dSm-1 ) to highly saline (4-8 dSm-1 ) EC values, high exchangeable sodium percentage (50-70%), high soil CEC, low OC, very low total nitrogen content, high potassium availability (>300 mg kg-1 ), and xxiii lower calcium carbonate content. The study showed the soils of the area were fertile, however, incorporating organic matter into the soil enhances its structure, water retention, and nutrient availability, reducing salinity and sodicity. The results of the third experiment revealed that the study area has moderately (7.9-8.4) to strongly alkaline soil pH (8.5-9.0), slightly (0.75-2 dS m-1 ) to moderately saline (2-4 dS m-1 ) EC values, and a high variability in soil ESP values, indicating a strong variability in soil sodicity across different parts of the study area. Out of 2274.65 ha of the studied area, 62.28%, 26.09%, 10.99%, and 0.63% were categorized as nonsaline non-sodic, saline-sodic, sodic, and saline, respectively. The results showed that almost all salt-affected sites were situated in relatively low-lying slope (0-2 %) areas, flat to almost flat slopes. The findings suggest that the place needs specific soil management strategies to address the salinity and sodicity problems. The last study investigated the impact of amendment resources on sodic soils. A pot experiment consisting of a factorial combination of four levels of GYP (0, 50, 100, and 150%) and four levels of FYM (0, 10, 20, and 30 tons ha−1 ), with Complete Randomized Design (CRD and three replications was used. The results showed that applying gypsum (GYP) and farmyard manure (FYM) reduced exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) in sodic soils. Specifically, using 10 ton FYM ha-1 and GYP at 100% GYP required (GR) rate resulted in a 99.8% decrease in ESP compared to untreated composite sodic soil. The study also indicated optimal amendment levels (combined application of 100% GYP and 10 ton FYM ha-1 ) for displacing exchangeable sodium from the exchange site using prediction models. Agglomerative hierarchical and K-means cluster analysis suggest that treatment levels and reclaimed soils with similar properties require application of comparable treatment levels and similar management. The study found that combined applications of GYP (at 100% gypsum requirement rate) and FYM (10 ton FYM ha-1 ) reduced ESP to less than 10% in agricultural soil. However, further research is needed to determine their effectiveness at the field level.
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    CLIMATE CHANGE, ADAPTATION STRATEGIES AND THEIR DETERMINANTS IN RURAL LOKA ABAYA WOREDA, SIDAMA REGION, ETHIOPIA
    (Hawassa University college of Agriculture, 2020) ADISU PETROS DESALEGN
    Many studies have shown that climate change has adverse impacts on human welfare, agriculture, natural resources and development activities in Ethiopia in general and sidama Region in particular (Deressa et al., 2011; Kassie et al.,2013; Hamesso, 2013; Seyum, 2014). The objectives of study were: 1) to explore effects of climate change and variability on agricultural based livelihood systems, 2) to analyse trends of climate variability in terms of temperature and annual rainfall in the study área, 3) to assess the existing responses and adaptation measures being practiced to climate change and variability, and 4) to identify determinants of climate change adaptation strategies. Three stage sampling technique was employed to select 188 study sample respondents. Both primary and secondary data was collected. Primary data were collected from the household survey; Key informant intervew and Focus group discation. Secondary data were reviewed from offices and published sources. Both descriptive and econometric model were used to analyze data collected SPSS version 20 and STATA 14.2 version software were used for data entry and analysis. Based on the study result 95.2% agreed the state of climate is changing, 90.4% reported decreasing rainfall, 93.9% indicate the increasing temperature. On the other hand, the households replied that extreme heat, drought, and increasing change in wind intensity, respectively. Moreover, time series data revealed that both mean rainfall and temperature were decreasing and increasing, respectively. The climate change impacts experienced by respondents in resulted reduced productivity/yield, increases pests/insects/diseases, use of traditional crop varieties decreased (, cropping pattern has changed , traditional irrigation sources like pond has reduced, and reduced cultivated land . Sample households agreed that climate change increased scarcity of forages, grass species composition, decreased productivity (mainly milk and its products), decreased livestock number, and shortage of drinking water availability. Moreover, results revealed, out of the total studied households(74.58%) agreed that climate change reduced income, while 69.17% believed it affected business items (increased price of food), and 26.34% reported climate change increased dependency on relief programs. The identified main adaptation strategies in response used by sample respondents were, crop diversification, improved crop varieties, reducing livestock number, tree plantation, crop rotation and intercropping, soil and conservations practices and non-farm incomes. According to marginal effects of MNL result the significantly determining factors for a choice of adaptation strategies were age, family size, education status of household, farm size, livestock ownership, extension service, access to credit service, climate change information and non-farm income of household. The study recommends that farmers, local government, and research institutitutions ought to work on collectivelly about the socio economic and institutional factors challenging farmers in the study area to encourage use of available opportunities to adapt and enhance their long term resilience to climate change.
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    CLIMATE CHANGE, ADAPTATION STRATEGIES AND THEIR DETERMINANATS: THE CASE OF WONDO GENET WOREDA, SIDAMA NATIONAL REGIONAL STATE, ETHIOPIA
    (Hawassa University College of Agriculture, 2025) ADUGNA FICHE
    Agriculture is a sector that dominates Ethiopia's economy which suffers from increasing frequency and intensity of climate-related disasters. In the past few years, reducing vulnerability and adapting to climate change through implementing sound adaptation strategies has become an urgent issue for the world's developing countries like Ethiopia. This study also assessed climate change, adaptation strategies and their determinants in wondo genet woreda. A total of 123 households were randomly and purposive selected from two rural kebeles of wondo genet woredas, Sidama national regional state, Ethiopia. Data were collected through households’ survey, focus group discussions, field observations and key informant interview, and thereby analyzed through a descriptive statistics and multi nominal logit model. The results also showed that 84.55% of the respondents perceive a decrease in rainfall amount, while 87.8% perceived an increase in temperature over the past 30 years which was supported by rainfall and temperature trend analysis of Hawassa metrological Agency data (1992- 2022). The result also showed that the most widely preferred adaptation methods by farmers were planting drought resistance crop (88.99%), building water harvesting scheme (85.5%), crop diversification (56.9%), changing planting date (43.9%), soil and water conservation (56.9%), use of irrigation (86.2%), and farming to non-farming activity (66.6%). The logistic regression model result showed that gender and age of the household, accesses to extension service, accesses to credit, and accesses to climate information, farm size, family size, farm income, and nonfarm income are the most significant factors that influence farmers’ adaptation to climate change. The regional government and non-governmental organizations must therefore help to improve farmers' adaptation capacity by providing credit accesses, enhancing farmers with awareness of climate change adaptation strategies and technologies, providing extension services as well as formal and informal education, and investing on the long run climate mitigation projects.
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    COMPARATIVE PRODUCTION AND REPRODUCTION PERFORMANCE OF DAIRY CATTLE IN LARGE, MEDIUM AND SMALL SCALE FARMS: THE CASE OF ADDIS ABABA MILK SHED IN NORTH SHEWA ZONE, OROMIA REGIONAL STATE, ETHIOPIA
    (Hawassa University College of Agriculture, 2021) ZEWDE TOLCHA DADI
    The purpose of the study was to assess productive and reproductive performance of dairy cattle in large, medium and small scale farms in Debra Libanos, Wuchale and Degem districts in North Shoa Zone Oromia regional state, Ethiopia. A total of 180 dairy farms dairy holding households were randomly selected from each of large, medium and small scale farms of the study areas. From each districts three sample sites or kebeles were purposively taken based on dairy potential and availability of different dairy farm scale. The survey study was conducted on randomly selected of 42 dairy farmers that have large farms (> 30 cows), 63 dairy farmers who have medium scale dairy farms (> 5 ≤ 30 cows) and 75 dairy farmers who have small scale farms (≤ 5 cows). The survey results showed that, the average daily milk yield for local and their crossbreed of different exotic blood level of 50% ,75% and >75% was 3.05±0.55, 15.56±1.17, 20.56±2.23 and 25.64±1.78 liters per days respectively. The average lactation length (months) for local and cross breeds cows with 50%, 75% and >75% blood levels were 6.57±1.80, 8.17±0.63, 8.98±0.78 and 9.49±0.83 months. The Age at first services (AFS) for local and cross breed with 50%, 75% and >75% blood level was 46.53±0.95, 20.18±0.93, 19.10±0.30 and 18.12±0.32 months. The Age at first calving (AFC) for local and exotic crossbred cows with 50%, 75% and >75% blood levels were 54.55±0.62, 28.61±0.53, 27.79±0.36 and 27.26±0.29 months respectively. The Days Open (Days) for local and crossbred cows with 50%, 75% and >75 % blood levels were 122.86±8.01, 83.13±5.63, 67.43±2.95 and 60.63±2.99 days respectively. The Calving interval (months) for local and crossbred cows with 50%, 75% and >75% blood levels were 36.31±0.63, 17.04±1.06, 12.20±0.59 and 11.35±0.51 months respectively. The Number of service preconceptions (NSC) for local and crossbreds cows with 50%, 75% and >75% blood levels were 1.46±0.49, 2.52±0.29, 2.06±0.18, 1.67±1.78 respectively. Generally, the productive and reproductive performance of all types of crossbred and local dairy cows indicated good at farm level, districts and blood levels. Therefore, the dairy sector of the study area should plan technical and institutional improvement strategies to improve management practice of dairy farms (feeding practices, health care and housing), and regularly supplying dairy inputs to improve dairy productivity and sustain the dairy industry.
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    CONTRIBUTION OF LIVELIHOOD DIVERSIFICATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION IN BORICHA WOREDA, SIDAMA ZONE, SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA
    (Hawassa University college of Agriculture, 2020) ASRAT ADISO LIMASA
    Climate change remains the major threat for livelihood of smallholder farmers in Ethiopia. This study addresses the contribution of livelihood diversification to climate change adaptation in Boricha woreda, Sidama zone, Ethiopia. Multi-stage sampling techniques were used to select 185households. Primary data were collected using household surveys, key informant interview and focus group discussion. Secondary data were obtained from National Meteorological Agency (climatic data: rainfall and temperature for the period of 1981-2017), published and unpublished sources. Both descriptive statistics and multi-nominal logit model (MNL) were used to analyze the collected data. The results of the study revealed that 96.3% of sample household farmers in Boricha woreda are aware of the occurrence of climate change which manifests itself as changes in temperatures and precipitation patterns. About 89.5% of the farmers indicated temperature was increasing and 88.2% replied that the amount of rainfall was decreasing. Moreover, the finding of the meteorological data reveals that, the average temperature of the woreda shows an annual increment by 0.077oC in the past 36 years. Similarly, there is declining trend of annual rainfall (12.84mm) in the same period with higher inter seasonal variability. The study also revealed that, climate change has affected livelihood components of the community: resulted from low crop productivity (62.2%), crop disease incidence (58.4%), less pasture/grass for livestock (55.1%), loss of income (54.05%), livestock disease incidence (52.2%) and drying river (48.1%) causing increase in rural-urban migration. Consequently, households are forced to diversify their livelihood such as; crop livestock integration and other best practices (84%), agro forestry practices (55%), non-farm activities (31%), off-farm activities (22%), Change from farming to non-farming (9.7%), and migration (8%), while 6% of them still remain with their business as usual. Regarding the advantages gained from livelihood diversification under climate change; 76.7% of the households claimed that, the diversification has increased their income source, 57.8% ensured food security, 55.6% reduced environmental problem, 53.5%increased household asset and 47.5% reduced risk vulnerability. Results concerning factors affecting livelihood diversification: age, family size, education, farm size, livestock ownership, information about climate change and distance from market were found significantly at (p<0.05) affecting the probability of diversifying livelihood activities. Whereas sex, credit service, extension service and saving of households didn’t significantly affected the livelihood diversification in study area. Therefore, development practitioners should pay more attention to those factors which are significantly affecting livelihood diversification before any socioeconomic intervention measures endeavor.
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    DETECTION OF VIRULENCES AND EVALUATION OF WHEAT LINES (Triticum spp.) FOR RESISTANT TO STRIPE , LEAF AND STEM RUST (Puccinia spp.) IN CENTRAL AND SOUTH-EAST ETHIOPIA
    (Hawassa University College of Agriculture, 2017) TAMIRAT NEGASH GURE
    Wheat rusts caused by Puccinia spp. are among the major biotic constraints of wheat production all over the world, including in Ethiopia. Nowadays different virulent races of stem, yellow and also leaf rust have evolved and threaten wheat production worldwide across all the wheat belt, among which Ethiopia is the most vulnerable. In view of the above facts, the present investigation was carried out to detect the prevailing virulent races, to identify resistance wheat lines and resistance genes to triple rusts in central and south eastern parts of the country. An inventory of 93 wheat lines and checks was made for triple rusts resistance under field conditions of Sinana and Debrezeit. Besides, 409 wheat lines including checks were tested for triple rust resistance at field conditions of Kulumsa Agricultural Research Center in 2015. The experiments were laid out in augmented design. Each plot consisted of two rows of 2-m long with 0.2 m between rows. Leaf, stem and yellow rust severity varied among wheat lines. Wheat lines also varied in their seedling infection types against races and isolates of triple rust in green house. The terminal severity and infection types varied across locations and wheat lines both at field and greenhouse conditions. The terminal severity for yellow rust ranged from 0 to 90S at Sinana and 0 to 40S at Kulumsa field conditions. The terminal severity for stem rust varied from 0 to 90S at Kulumsa and it was as high as 60S on the susceptible cultivar Kekeba at Debrezeit. The terminal severity of leaf rusts varied from 0 to 80S at Debrezeit. Of the 409 wheat lines tested 99.3%, 80.2% and 99. % were resistant to moderately resistant at field conditions of Kulumsa to yellow rust, stem rust and leaf rust, respectively. At Sinana 70.8% and 92.5% of wheat lines tested exhibited resistance to yellow rust and stem rust, respectively, with coefficient of infection ranging from 0 to 30. At Debrezeit 43% and 51% of wheat lines were resistant and moderately resistant to stem and leaf rust, respectively. Wheat lines Sr 50+Sr 45 # 35, Sr 45/Cs #20, Sr 45/Cs #21, Sr 45/Cs #25, Sr 45+Sr 2/Cs #28, Sr 45+Sr 2/Cs #29, Sr 45+Sr 2/Cs# 20, Sr 45+Sr 2/Cs# 33, Sr 45+Sr 2/Cs# 32, Thatcher+Lr 34, Westonia Sr 50+ Sr 26, Westonia Sr 24+ Sr 50 and Pavon Sr 24+ SR 26+Sr 31, were consistently resistant to triple rusts under field conditions across locations. However, the only wheat line resistant to triple rust both at field and seedling tests in green house was Pavon Sr 24+ SR 26+Sr 31, and hence it could be exploited in wheat improvement programs.
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    DIVERSITY OF CULTIVATED AND WILD YAMS (Dioscorea spp) IN SOUTHWEST ETHIOPIA BASED ON FARMERS MANAGEMENT PRACTICES, AGRO-MORPHOLOGICAL TRAITS AND NUTRITIONAL COMPOSITION
    (Hawassa University College of Agriculture, 2021) TSEGAYE BABEGE WOROJIE
    DIVERSITY OF CULTIVATED AND WILD YAMS (Dioscorea spp) IN SOUTHWEST ETHIOPIA BASED ON FARMERS MANAGEMENT PRACTICES, AGRO-MORPHOLOGICAL TRAITS AND NUTRITIONAL COMPOSITION Yam (Dioscorea spp) is a traditional crop that has long been cultivated in Ethiopia as a co-staple crop. Several yam species might have their origin in Ethiopia and are among those crops with wild relatives in the country. Though the genus Dioscorea is reported to show a wide range of variation, it has not been studied across its range of distribution. This study was investigated the diversity of wild and cultivated yams in Bench-Sheko and Sheka Zones, Southwest Ethiopia. Toward this effort, 5 studies were carried out. The first 2 studies were designed to investigate folk biosystematics, diversity and distribution and the local management practices of yams in Southwest Ethiopia. In the third study, accessions from South and Southwest Ethiopia were considered to investigate the diversity of yams based on agro-morphological traits. In the fifth study, we link two data sets to assess the knowledge of wild yam and the process of domestication. Lastly, we analyze the nutritional compositions based on selected yam landraces. We also have another study which is underway and was part of our initial project initiated with the objective of studying the true genetic diversity of yams using SSR marker. An ethnobotanical survey was conducted on 15 Kebeles in 5 districts of Bench-Sheko and Sheka Zones from Dec., 2016 to Nov., 2017. Data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire from 272 households. Seventy-five yam accessions corresponding to 30 differently named landraces were used for morphological study. Sixty of the 75 accessions were collected in Kaffa, Bench-Sheko and Sheka Zones of Southwest Ethiopia. The rest represented previously collected accessions from Basketo, Gamo-Gofa and Wolaita areas of Southern Ethiopia. They were grown in RCBD with 2 replicates in 2018 at Hawassa University research field. The process of wild yam manipulation in Southwest Ethiopia was studied by linking two data sets derived from (1) ethnobotanical survey using 231 interviews and (2) morphological study using 47 selected accessions. Twelve landraces composed of different species and contexts were analyzed for nutritional composition in Addis Ababa at the Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute. Results obtained from ethnobotanical study suggest that there exists a systematic and welldeveloped folk naming and taxonomic system in Sheko and its environs. Sheko and Bench botany of yam recognizes 58 named individuals. These individuals are grouped into 3 well recognized ranks, namely sub-variety, variety and supra variety. Taxa assigned to each ranks have distinct features that mark them as members of a separate group. Farmers manage a wide range of morphological characters and some other attributes other than morphological ones for grouping of the taxa assigned to distinct groups. An account of each of these aspects and its link with the taxa recognized in the domain of formal science are presented. A folk biological classification of yam consisting of 4 taxonomic ranks is proposed. Our result showed much information of biological and functional aspects which can aid the taxonomic and genetic study of yams in Ethiopia. Our assessment also showed that there exists a wide range of yam diversity in Southwest Ethiopia. Altogether, 40 actually grown yam landraces, including those found in farms of unsampled households were recorded; making Bench-Sheko and Sheka Zones an area of notably high landrace diversity. The greatest number of these individuals had a narrow xviii distribution and low abundances, with a few being cosmopolitan. This was evident in a positive and significant correlation between distribution and local abundance, such that a few cosmopolitan landraces were locally more abundant. Maintenance and distribution range of landraces is related with the local management practices. A description of farmers’ decisions to the on-farm landrace maintenance is presented and implication for the collection and conservation of yam germplasm are suggested. Morphological diversity study based on 37 qualitative and 13 quantitative traits has shown a considerable variability among accessions of yam species studied. Our multivariate analysis showed that all the traits used were useful for capturing the variability among accessions, but 21 traits (17 of which are qualitative traits) were useful for capturing the variability among accessions of distinct species. The remaining traits were useful for capturing the variability among accessions within and between species, which could be exploited, if improvement need arises. The overall structure of morphological diversity is consistent with the locally perceived biota. Yet, no clear morphological variations were obtained among some differently/similarly named landraces, suggesting the need for DNAbased studies to show the full extent of the existing diversity. The observed manipulations of wild growing yams in Southwest Ethiopia suggest that yam domestication is still an active process. Knowledge of domestication was shared by 44% of the farmers, even by those that had never practice it. Farmers who have recent transplants in their garden varied from 4% in Bench to 10% in Sheko. The duration of domestication can take up to 6 years, but with most of the individuals it only takes 3 to 5 years. By linking two types of evidences, two divergent adaptation processes are distinguished: (1) parents of recent domesticate expressing a domestication syndrome belongs to wild D. abyssinica or D. praehensilis, and (2) populations of incipient domesticate that might be derived from feral or diverse types of hybrids. A description and analysis of each of these processes and their role on the adaptation process of yams is presented. Based on this account, the term adoptive transplantation is proposed to replace domestication. Although only a few landraces were used, a considerable variability existed in nutritional compositions among the studied samples. The results of nutritional study showed that landraces from D. alata contained high amounts of crude fat and ash contents that make them a good source of energy and minerals. Landraces from the D. cayenensis complex contained low moisture content that makes them suitable for prolonged storage and processing. The variability observed both among different species and among landraces in a single species highlights their potential in future breeding. More generally, this PhD study documented a great wealth of knowledge on distribution, the level of diversity within the yam, the taxonomic status, folk biosystematics and the local management practices. This constitutes an essential step towards setting development priorities and for enhancing the traditional yam farming in the studied areas. This study thus form an important part of an ongoing study aimed at designing an effective collection and conservation strategies for efficient utilization in future yam improvement.
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    ECOLOGY AND INSECTICIDE RESISTANCE MANAGEMENT OF THRIPS (THYSANOPTERA: THRIPIDAE) ON ONION (Allium cepa L.) IN THE RIFT VALLEY OF ETHIOPIA
    (Hawassa University College of Agriculture, 2020) BELETE NEGASH
    Ecology and Insecticide Resistance Management of Thrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) on Onion (Allium cepa L.) in the Rift Valley of Ethiopia Belete Negash1 , Ferdu Azerefegne1 and Gashawbeza Ayalew2 1Hawassa University, College of Agriculture, Hawassa, Ethiopia 2 Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, Melkassa Research Center, Adama, Ethiopia ABSTRACT Decline in efficacy of registered insecticides to control thrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) on onion in Ethiopia stimulated studies on insecticide resistance, ecology and management of thrips on onion in the major onion production belt of the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia (CRV). Several studies including farmers‟ insecticide use practices against thrips on onion, species composition and abundance, seasonal abundance of thrips and their effect on yield, insecticides resistance detection and management were conducted from 2015 to 2017. Diazinon, dimethoate, profenofos, lambda-cyhalothrin and spinetoram were widely used for thrips control on onion in the surveyed areas. Type and frequency application of insecticides use were different among the locations. Insecticide application frequencies were higher at Meki and Melkassa than in Werer areas. All the onion fields visited during the survey were infested by two thrips species namely, the western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande) and the onion thrips, Thrips tabaci (Lindeman). Thrips species compositions vary with locations. While, T. tabaci was dominant in Werer and Melkassa areas. The F. occidentalis thrips species was dominant at Meki location. Thrips population was higher during mid-growth stage of onion, 50 to 64 days after transplanting, than early and late growth stages in cool dry (October–January), hot dry (February – may) and rainy (June – September) growing seasons. Significantly lower thrips population recorded in the rainy season than the cool dry and hot dry seasons. Onion growth stage, growing seasons and sunshine hours were important factors for predicting thrips numbers. Cool and rainfall seasons significantly negative correlated with thrips numbers, while it was positively correlated with the onion growth stage, maximum temperature and sunshine hours. Thrips number was significantly greater on untreated plots than insecticide treated plots except in the rainy season. Higher percent yield losses were recorded on planting made in cool dry and hot dry 2 seasons in both years than rainy season with 8.24 to 40.17% yield losses. Commonly used insecticides on thrips were evaluated for their efficacy both in field and laboratory condition. Plots treated with spinosad, spinetoram, and imidacloprid resulted in better control, which was comparable higher marketable yield of onion both in cool and hot dry seasons. While, alphacypermethrin, diazinon, neem and λ-cyhalothrin insecticides treated plots poorly performed in both seasons and had lower marketable yield. Performances of dimethoate and profenofos were intermediate with the intermediate yield gains over the control under field condition. Laboratory bioassay confirmed that the poor efficacy of λ –cyhalothrin and diazinon under field conditions was due to thrips resistance to these insecticides. Higher level of resistance was recorded to λ – cyhalothrin and diazinon in Meki and Melkassa collected thrips populations, whereas no resistances to profenofos, dimethoate and spinetoram insecticides in all tested thrips populations were found. From insecticides resistance management studies, the sequential application of the more effective insecticides, imidacloprid and spinetoram, followed by less effective insecticide λ-cyhalothrin resulted in better control with higher economic return. Adding a penetrating surfactant improved the efficacy of insecticides compared to those without a penetrating surfactant in both seasons. Onion growers will continue to rely on insecticides as part of thrips management. Hence screening of new molecules periodically to identify effective insecticides and deploying a resistance management strategy through, among others, rotational application should form integral component in the integrated management of thrips (IPM) on onion. Studies on non-chemical control methods including cultural such as intercropping with other vegetables, host plant resistance should be conducted with the aim of strengthen thrips IPM
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    ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT OF BITING ANT, Tetramorium aculeatum MAYR (HYMENOPTERA: FORMICIDAE) IN COFFEE, Coffea arabica L. IN SOUTHWESTERN ETHIOPIA
    (Hawassa University College of Agriculture, 2019) SISAY KIDANU DEMMIREW
    Biting ant, Tetramorium aculeatum Mayr (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) is an important pest in coffee that affects farming activities in Southwestern Ethiopia. The objectives of this study were to assess farmers’ knowledge and pest management practices of biting ant understand the ecology of biting ant in Southwestern Ethiopia, and evaluate the efficacy and potential of some insecticides. Survey was conducted on 180 coffee farmers in 12 districts. Spatial distribution of biting ant was studied in eight coffee farms and analyzed by semivariance using geostatistics (GS+10). Nine insecticides treatments were evaluated both under ex-situ and in-situ conditions in CRD and RCBD designs, analyzed by analysis of variance. Most of the farmers interviewed (58.9%) recognize the problems of biting ant in coffee and some (23.3%) of them are knew this ant for about ten years. Significant variations were observed in the levels of infestation and abundance of the biting ant in different ecology of coffee producing districts and production systems. Lower altitudes and private coffee plantations had higher number of nests. The biting ants within coffee plant are aggregate on the tree. The semivariogram of the biting ant characterized with localized discontinuity and long range correlation in some coffee farms and vice versa in the others indicating spatial dependence of biting ant nests between samples pairs. The spatial distribution trends of the nest in the field showed aggregated along the center and in some farms near corners and declined from there across to the inner field. Under the ex situ evaluation, all the insecticide treatments caused significantly (p≤0.01) higher mortality (100%) of biting ants and caused complete mortality within 24 hours. Under field condition the insecticides showed significant variations on percent of evacuated nests. However, the two botanical insecticides, oxymatrine and nimbicidine, performed significantly (p≤0.01) as par with the other tested insecticides up to 18th day after application. On the other hand, deltamethrin 2.5% at the rate of 0.75ml/l of water caused significantly highest percent of evacuated nests and less number of newly constructed nests of biting ant (0.2) after thirty days of application. Generally deltametrin 2.5% at 0.75ml/l can be used for heavily infested farms where pruning and manually destructing the nest difficult and the future it is important to conduct insecticide evaluation with additional botanical based insecticides, and also undertake residual effect analysis of deltamethrin insecticide in coffee environment.
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    ECOLOGY OF THE AFRICAN MAIZE STALK BORER, Busseola fusca(Fuller) (LEPIDOPTERA: NOCTUIDAE) ON MAIZE (Zea maysL.) IN SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA
    (Hawassa University College of Agriculture, 2020) ABRHAM TADDELE TEREFE
    Maize (Zea mays L.) is an important crop in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and the developing world. In Ethiopia, smallholderfarmers almost in allregions of the country dominantly produce maize. In sub- Saharan Africa, maize suffers from various biotic and abiotic constraints resulting in considerable yield loss. Among the biotic factors, insect pests particularly fall armyworm and stem borers are currently the most important pests of maize. Stem borers attack maize from seeding up to maturity. The sampling number and unit are important features of any empirical study in which the goal is to make inferences about a population. The number of sampling number and unit could vary with insects being sampled, their distribution patterns purpose of sampling, infestation pattern and economic considerations. Diapausing B. fusca larvae live in maize stem during unfavorable conditions. Environmental factors such as temperature influence the duration of B. fuscalarvae development, intensity and time of pest out break varied between localities. Information on pest incidence, injury and yield loss in the different agro-ecologies will facilitate strategic decisions with regard to selection of management practices. This study provides information on B. fusca, spatial distribution pattern, sampling size, phenology, population density and termination of diapauses larvae, crop injury, and yields losses in maize in southern Ethiopia. xxii During the study periods, B. fusca was present and injurious to maize in all study areas. The spatial distribution pattern of B. fuscawas determined by using four distribution indices namely, Taylor’s power law, Iwao’s mean crowding regression, Lloyd's mean crowding, and index of dispersion. At the mid-whorl stage of maize, the distribution of B. fusca infestation was aggregated and uniform at both silking and maturity stages. At silking as well as mid-whorl stage of maize, B. fuscalarvae exhibited an aggregated distribution pattern but, larvae at maturity stage and pupae in both silking and maturity stages of maize found randomly distributed. To set control options for B. fusca at its economic threshold level in maize farm, required sampling units was determined using four precision levels and Iwao’s patchiness regression. The required sample units to estimate 5 to 30% mean infestation of maize by B. fuscaranged from, 101 - 73, 45 - 32, 25-18 and 16 to 12 in 2015 and 104-76, 42-30, 26-19 and 17 to 12 in 2016, for 10%, 15% , 20% and 25% precision, respectively. For 10% infestation, which is considered as action threshold level for stem borers management on maize, 22 sampling units (660 plants) per hectare at the precision of 20% are required. The phenology of B. fusca was studied at Hawassa and Wolaita Sodo using sowing date and pheromone traps.Three generations of B. fusca per year were observed in southern Ethiopia between May and September. In Hawassa, the first moth flight which emerged from diapause larvae was started at mid-April in 2015 and mid of March, 2016. In Wolaita moth flight started at early May and April in 2015 and 2016, respectively. The potential of crop residues as sources of carry-over populations of the insect was also assessed. Flight period and population density of adult B. fuscafrom diapause state were significantly varied between seasons. Access to water did not enhance pupation during the diapause. Planting of maize at the beginning of April and May xxiii in Hawassa and Wolaita Sodo, respectively could be no longer suitable for oviposition and consumption by second-generation B. larvae. Population density of B. fuscalarvae and pupae were significantly different among years, locations and crop stages. Early and highest infestation of B. fuscaon maize was observed in Gurage followed by Wolaita as compared in Sidama Zone. Higher population density, injury variables and grain yield losses due to B. fuscaon maize were recorded from chemical treated plots as compared with untreated. Tunnel length, hole number, bored internode, larvae and pupae population had a negative effect on grain yield of maize. Increase in altitude positively affected the population density of B. fuscaand the resultant infestation and yield loss. Cultural practice such as crop diversification; disposal of crop residues after maturity can reduce initial establishment of stem borer infestation. Chemical control is one of the components of integrated pest management and should be used only when necessary combined with other management practices. This study provides information on the distribution, biology, pest status and yields losses due to B.fuscaon maize in southern Ethiopia.
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    EFFECT OF ALTERNATE FURROW IRRIGATION UNDER DIFFERENT MOISTURE REGIMES ON WATER USE EFFICIENCY, GROWTH, YIELD AND YIELD COMPONENTS OF COMMON BEAN (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) AT ALAGE, CENTRAL RIFT VALLEY OF ETHIOPIA
    (Hawassa University College of Agriculture, 2020) HUNDE HAYILE TOLOSA
    The farmers use common traditional irrigation methods which at times lead them to over irrigate, resulting in high water losses and low irrigation efficiency. Under such conditions understanding and application use of deficit and alternate furrow irrigation systems on crop production would enhance food security through improved water use. Thus, this study evaluated that the effect of alternate furrow irrigation under different moisture regimes on water use efficiency, growth, yield and yield components of common bean, during 2019 at Alage ATVET College. The experiment was laid out in factorial combination of two factors, following randomized complete block design in split plot arrangement with three blocks consisting twelve treatments; four irrigation levels (100% ETc (I 0 ), 80% ETc (I 1 ) 60% ETc (I 2 ) and 40% ETc (I 3) as the main plot and three irrigation methods (fixed alternate furrow irrigation (FAFI), variable alternate furrow irrigation (VAFI) and conventional furrow irrigation (CFI)) as the sub plot. This experiment showed that deficit irrigation (DI) and AFI significantly (P<0.01) affected days to physiological maturity, No of nodules plant -1 , grain yield, CWUE and IWUE. DI also significantly (P<0.05) influenced days to 50% flowering, stand count, plant height, No of branch, shoot dry weight, nodule dry weight, No of pods plant -1 , No of seeds pod -1 , pod length, 100-seed weight and HI. The interaction effect of DI and AFI also significantly (P<0.05) influenced the biological yield. Maximum (5.16 t ha -1 ) and minimum (3.38 t ha -1 ) biological yield was recorded at I0 and I 3 respectively with combination of FAFI and CFI, in that order. The highest grain yield was obtained under I 0 (2.45 t ha -1 ) and the lowest (1.34 t ha -1 ) was at I 3 . On the AFI, the maximum grain yield (2.11 t ha -1 ) was obtained under FAFI and the minimum (1.78 t ha -1 ) was under CFI. The uppermost CWUE (1.03 kg m -3 ) was recorded at I 3 followed by I 2 (0.92 kg m -3 ) and the smallest was at I0 (0.70 kg m -3 ) followed by I1 (0.77 kg m -3 ). The maximum CWUE (0.92 kg m -3 ) was recorded under FAFI followed by VAFI (0.86 kg m -3 ) and CFI (0.79 kg m -3 ). The partial budget analysis showed that I 0 , I 1 and I 2 gave marginal rate of return above the acceptable threshold value with additional investment advantages for the later. However, there was significant yield difference between I 0 and I 1 ; farmers can save 20% of the irrigation water in the expenditure of the reduced yield (0.33 ton ha -1 ). The highest net benefit was obtained from FAFI, thus the farmers option allows for FAFI at which high yield was recorded. Generally this analysis indicates that farmers at study area and related agro-ecology can use I 0 (100% ETc) in order to maximize their income from increased investment, but if there is lack of adequate irrigation water they can use I 1 (80% ETc) in order to save and use irrigation water more economically.