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Tef [Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter] is the major cultivated cereal crop in Ethiopia and serves as staple food grain for over 65% of the population. The area under tef cultivation is over three million hectares of land each year. Depending on the type of seed color, tef grains are categorized into white and brown, while some admixtures and intermediate seed colors also exist. However, the productivity of tef is very low as compared to other cereals due, among others, to lack of high yielding varieties. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of released brown seeded tef variety called Felagot and to provide unique morphological and agronomic descriptions of this new variety. Twelve genotypes resulting from two independent crossesnd breed for at least seven generations plus local and standard check varieties were tested over two years (2014 and 2015 main season) at six tef growing locations namely: Debre Zeit light soil, Debre Zeit Black soil, Minjar, Adet, Bichena and Holetta using randomized complete block design with four replications. The study found that Felagot (DZ-Cr-442/ RIL-77C) which was obtained from a cross between Quncho (the popular variety) and Gea Lammie (local cultivar) exceled the other genotypes and it was approved for release by the Ethiopian National Variety Release Committee in March 2017. The main advantages of Felagot over the other tested lines were its higher grain yield together with high straw yield and brown seed color. In addition, it was released under the brown seed category after one and half decades. Furthermore, it is anticipated that because of the brown seed color Felagot will command high external market preferences and prices, and thereby contribute for future tef export market., ጤፍ በኢትዮጵያ ከሚመረቱ የብርዕና አገዳ ሰብሎች ዋነኛው ሲሆን ከ65 በመቶ ለማያንስ ህዝብ ዋና የምግብ ሰብል በመሆን ያገለግላል፡፡ የጤፍ የዘር ቀለም ተለያይነት ያለው ሲሆን በአብዛኛው ነጭና ቡናማ/ቀይ አንዳንዴም ድብልቅ እና መካከለኛ የዘር ቀለም በየዓመቱ ከሶሰት ሚሊዮን ማሳ በላይ በመሸፈን ይመረታል፡፡ ይሁን እንጂ ከሌሎች ሰብሎች ጋር ሲወዳደር ምርትና ምርታማነቱ ዝቅተኛ ነው፡፡ ለዚህም ዋና ዋና ምክንያት በመሆን የሚጠቀሰው የተሻሻሉ ዝርያዎች በበቂ ሁኔታ አለመኖር ነው፡፡ የዚህ ጥናት ዋና ዓላማ እየጨመረ የመጣውን የቡናማ/ቀይ ጤፍ ፍላጎት ለማሟላት በተለያየ የምርምር አሰራርና ሂደት የተገኘ የጤፍ ዝርያን በመፈተሽ የተሻለ ምርት የሚሰጥና በአርሶ አደሩና በተጠቃሚው ተመራጭ የሆነ ዝርያ ማፍለቅ ነበር፡፡ በጥናቱም አስራ ሁለት የተለያዩ የጤፍ ዓይነቶችን ጨምሮ አንድ በቅርቡ የተለቀቀ እና አንድ የአካባቢ ዝርያን በማካተት በስድስት ወካይ ጤፍ አብቃይ ቦታዎች ላይ ተፈትሸው ፍላጎት (ደዘ-ክሮስ-442) የተባለው ቡናማ/ቀይ ዘር ቀለም ያለው ዝርያ ከሌሎች ማወዳደሪያ ዝርያዎች የተሻለ ውጤት በማስመዝገቡ በብሄራዊ የዝርያ አፅዳቂ ኮሚቴ ተገምግሞ ለምርት እንዲውል ተወስኗል፡፡ በተጨማሪም ይህ ዝርያ ቡናማ/ቀይ ዘር ቀለም ያለው ዝርያ ከተለቀቀ ከአስራ አምስት አመታት በኃላ የተገኘና የወደፊት የውጭ ገበያ ፍላጎትን ለሟሟላት ከፍተኛ አስተዋፅኦ ሊያበረክት የሚችል ነው፡፡

Drought is among the major constraints in mung bean production. The main goal of the current study was to investigate the response of 60 mung bean genotypes to two constrasting moisture regimes using diverse indices. The experiment was made at Jinka Agricultural Research Center using a 6 x 10 alpha lattice design replicated twice. Correlation analysis revealed that seed yield under stressed condition was positively correlated with stress tolerance index (STI), yield index (YI), harmonic mean (HM), mean relative performance (MRP), and relative drought index (RDI). PCA of the first two components accounted for 93.4% of the total variations where PC1 contributed for 64.39% of the variations. Based on cluster analysis, 60 mung bean genotypes used in the current study were grouped into five distinct clusters. In conclusion, this study showed that selection based on indices with seed yield under moisture-stress (Ys) and seed yield under non moisture-stress (Yp) conditions are useful for mung bean breeders. Therefore; stress tolerance index (STI), yield index (YI), harmonic mean (HM), geometric mean productivity (GMP) and mean relative performance (MRP) were found to be more suitable indices since these indices had the highest correlation with seed yield under both moisture-stressed and non moisture-stress conditions., ድርቅ የማሾ ምርትና ምርታማነትን ከሚቀንሱ ማነቆዎች በዋናነት ይጠቀሳል፡፡ የዚህ ጥናት ዓላማ ድርቅን ሊቋቋሙ የሚችሉ ብዝሀ-ዘሮችን ለመምረጥ የሚያግዙ ዋና ዋና የድርቅ መቋቋሚያ ጠቋሚዎችን መለየትና ድርቅን የሚቋቋሙ የማሾ ብዝሀ-ዘሮችን መለየት ነው፡፡ በዚህ ጥናት ስልሳ (60) የማሾ ብዝሀ-ዘሮችን ሁለት የመስኖ አማራጮችን በመጠቀም በአልፋ ላቲስ ዲዛይን በሁለት ድግግሞሽ ማከናወን ተችሏል፡፡ የጥናት ዉጤቱ እንደሚያሳየዉ በብዝሀ-ዘሮች መካከል ከፍተኛ የሆነ የምርት ልዩነት በሁለቱም የመስኖ ዉኃ አጠቃቀም ዘዴዎች ተመዝግቧል፡፡ በተጨማሪም የጥናቱ ዉጤት የሚጠቁመዉ የስብሉ ምርታማነት፣ ጂኦሜትሪክ አማካይ ምርታማነት፣የምርት ኢንዴክስ እና የድርቅ መቆጣጠሪያ ኢንዴክስ ድርቅን የሚቋቋሙ ብዝሀ-ዘሮችን ለመምረጥ በዋናነት የሚያስፈልጉ ጠቋሚዎች እንደሆኑ ነዉ፡፡ እነዚህ ኢንዴክሶች ከምርት ጋር ከፍተኛ የሆነ ግንኝነት እንዳላቸዉ በሁለቱም የውሃ አማራጮች የተረጋገጠበመሆኑ የተሻሻሉ ብዝሀ ዘሮችን ለመምረጥ አስፈላጊ እንደሆኑ ለማወቅ ትችሏል፡፡ በተጨማሪም የክሊስተር ትንተና ውጤት እንደሚያሳየዉ በጥናቱ ውስጥ የተካተቱ 60 የማሾ ብዝሀ ዘሮች በአምስት ቦታዎች ሊከፈሉ ችለዋል፡፡

አህፅሮት ጤፍ በኢትዮጵያ የተገኘ እና በኢትዮጵያዊያን አርሶአደሮች ለብዙ አመታት ሲመረት የኖረ ዘርፈ ብዙ ጥቅሞች ያሉት የሰብል አይነት ነዉ፡፡ ጤፍ የሚመረተውና ጥቅም ላይ የሚውለው በአብዛኛው በኢትዮጵያ በመሆኑ በአለም አቀፍ ደረጃ ጤፍ ላይ የሚደረጉ ምርምሮች ውሱን ናቸው፡፡ በተለይ የጤፍን ምርምር ለማሳለጥ የተዘጋጁ የሞለኪውላር ሳይንስ ግብአቶች ውሱን በመሆናቸው በሌሎች ሰብሎች ላይ ጥቅም ላይ የዋሉ የዲ ኤን ኤ ሲኩዌንሲንግ ቴክኖሎጂን መሰረት ያደረጉ የምርምር አቅጣጫዎችን መከተል ወሳኝ ነው፡፡ እዚህ በቀረበው የምርምር ስራ የዲ ኤን ኤ ሲኩዌንሲንግ ቴክኖሎጂን መሰረት ያደረገን የምርምር ስልት በመከተል ከአገሪቱ የተለያዩ አካባቢዎች የተሰበሰቡ አርባ ሁለት የጤፍ ዝርያዎች፡ አንድ ሚውታንት ላይን እና ሁለት ለጤፍ ቅርብ የሆኑ ዋይልድ ሬላቲቭስ ላይ ጥናት ተደርጎ የጤፍን ምርምር በዘመናዊ መልኩ የሚያግዙ ግብአቶች ተገኝተዋል፡፡ Abstract Genome-wide knowledge about the nature and extent of genetic diversity present in tef (Eragrostis tef), the most consumed food grain in Ethiopia is limited. Adopting next generation sequencing (NGS) protocols to enhance its genomics and breeding is essential. Here, we applied the Restriction Site Associated DNA (RAD) sequencing protocol and surveyed the genomes of 43 tef landraces, one mutant line and two wild Eragrostis species. After mapping sequencing reads to the de novo assembled unitag and the tef reference genome, a total of 9,024 and 58,735 high quality single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified, respectively. We identified greater number of SNPs and greater nucleotide diversity in the two wild Eragrostis species than in the tef landraces. The tef landrace populations in this study were poorly differentiated with FST values of 0.015. In the phylogenetic analysis, grouping of the landraces was not consistent with the area of collection, but few localized grouping of the landraces was evident, probably showing the communality of tef seed use across geographical boundaries. The improved tef varieties show reduced genetic diversity compared to the landraces and were all grouped into one cluster reflecting the nature of tef breeding which largely targets common genomic regions. We suggest that future work needs to aim beyond common genomic regions. The work presented here is a valuable addition to the growing molecular resources developed for tef genetic improvement.

Drought is a serious tef production constraint as most of Ethiopia’s agriculture is rain dependent with limited and erratic distribution. The present study was conducted to evaluate tef genotypes for drought tolerance under in vitro condition, and to assess the performance of the in vitro developed regenerants under greenhouse condition. The in vitro experiment was arranged in a factorial experiment using completely randomized design with three replications. Three tef genotypes including Melko (drought tolerant), Gemechis (moderately tolerant) and Pop12S2 (susceptible) and five polyethylene glycol levels (0, 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2%) were used. Analysis of variance indicated significant differences (P≤0.05) among the genotypes as well as the different polyethylene glycol concentrations for all the measured parameters, but total shoot/culture and survival percentage was not genotype dependent. There was significant genotype by polyethylene glycol interactions on total shoot number/culture, total root number/culture, shoot length, root length and survival percentage, while no significant interaction effect was noted on callus induction efficiency, percent plant regeneration, rooting percentage and number of roots/shoot. The results showed that increasing polyethylene glycol concentration from 0% to 2% in the medium causes a gradual decrease in callus induction and plant regeneration efficiency. In most regenerants, fluctuation behavior was observed for the measured parameters. Hence, to determine the most desirable drought tolerant regenerants, ranking method was taken. Accordingly, regenerant Melko (0.5%), Melko (1.5%), and Melko (1%) gave the most desirable regenerants; thus, they could be used for crossing and further improvement of drought tolerance.

አህፅሮትጤፍ ኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ በሰፊው የሚመረት የምግብ ሰብሌ ሲሆን በየዓመቱ ከሦስት ሚሉዮን ሄክታር የሚበሌጥ መሬት ይሸፈናሌ፡፡ ይህ የመሬት ስፋት ሇብርዕ እና አገዳ ሰብልች በየዓመቱ ከሚውሇው የመሬት ስፋት ውስጥ 30 በመቶ ይሆናሌ፡፡ በቆል እና ስንዴ ከመሳሰለት የብርዕ እና አገዳ ሰብልች ጋር ሲወዳዯር ጤፍ ሕይወት ባሊቸውና ሕይወት በላሊቸው ነገሮች የሚመጡ ተፅዕኖዎችን የበሇጠ የመቋቋም አቅም አሇው፡፡ የጤፍ ማሻሻያ ፕሮግራም ኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ በ1940ቹ ከተጀመረበት ጊዜ ጀምሮ 42 የሚሆኑ የተሻሻለ የጤፍ ዝርያዎች በብሔራዊ የምርምር ሥርዓቱ ተሇቀዋሌ፡፡ ሆኖም ግን ጤፍን ሇማምረት የሚወጣው ወጪ እና የሚገኘው አጠቃሊይ የምጣኔ ሀብት ጠቀሜታ በውሌ ተጠንቶ አያውቅም፡፡ ስሇሆነም ጤፍን ሇማምረት የሚከናወኑ ተግባራትን ከምጣኔ ሀብት ጠቀሜታ አንፃር ሇመገምገም በመካከሇኛው ኢትዮጵያ ባለት አራት ዋና የጤፍ አምራች ወረዳዎች (አዯአ፤ጊምቢቹ፤ሞረትና ጅሩ እና ምንጃር- ሸንኮራ) ውስጥ በሚገኙ 46 ግምባር ቀዯም አርሶ አዯሮችን ያካተተ የመስክ ጥናት ተካሂዷሌ፡፡ በቅርብ ጊዜ የተሇቀቁ ኮራ እና ቦስት የሚባለ የጤፍ ዝርያዎች በጥናቱ ተካተው ተሞክረዋሌ፡፡ ኮራ እና ቦሰትን ሇማምረት የሚያስፈሌገው የሥራ ማስኬጃ ወጪ እንዯቅዯም ተከተሊቸው በአማካይ 19,308.70 እና 18,859.27 ብር በሄክታር ነበር፡፡ ኮራን በማምረት የተገኘው ምርት በሄክታር ከ1,200.00 እስከ 2,500.00 ኪ.ግ ሲሆን አማካይ ምርቱ ዯግሞ 1,963.00 ኪ.ግ. ነበር፡፡ በተመሳሳይ መሌኩ ቦሰትን ሇማምረት የተገኘው ምርት በሄክታር ከ2,000.00 እስከ 2,800.00 ኪ.ግ ሲሆን አማካይ ምርቱ በሄክታር 2,540.00 ኪ.ግ. ነበር፡፡ ኮራ የተዘራው በተስማሚ እና በቂ ዝናብ በሚገኝበት ስነምህዳር ቢሆንም በ2008 ዓ. ም በነበርው ያሇተስተካከሇ ዝናብ ምክንያት ከቦሰት ያነሰ ምርት ሉሰጥ ችሎሌ፡፡ ኮራን በማምረት የተገኘው ትርፍ በሄክታር 22,676.43 ብር ሲሆን ቦስትን በማምርት የተገኘው ትርፍ ዯግም በሄክትር 35,721.12 ብር ነበር፡፡ ጤፍ ሇማምራት ከሚወጣው ጠቅሊሊ ወጪ ውስጥ ከፍተኛው ወጪ የዋሇው ሇሰው ጉሌበት (58%) እና ሇማዳበሪያ (22%) ነበር፡፡ ሇሰው ጉሌበት ከወጣው ወጪ ውስጥ ትሌቁን ድርሻ የወሰዯው የአጨዳ ሥራ (43%) ሲሆን የአረም ሥራ (35%) በሁሇተኛነት ይከተሊሌ፡፡ ሇአጨዳ እና ሇአረም ሥራዎች ወጪ መጨመር በሄክታር የሚወጣው ወጪ እንዯጨምር ከፍተኛ አሰተዋፅኦ ከማድረጋቸውም በሊይ ትርፋማነትንም እንዯሚቀንሱ ጥናቱ አረጋግጧሌ፡፡ ስሇሆነም ሇአጨዳ እና ሇአረም ሥራዎች የሚወጣውን የሰው ጉሌበት ወጪ ሇመቀነስ የሚረደ ቴክኖልጂዎችን ማመንጨት ወይም መፈሇግ ያስፈሌጋሌ፡፡AbstractTef [Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter] is the most important food crop in Ethiopia. It is annually cultivated on over three million hectares of land, which is equivalent to 30% of the total area allocated to cereals in the country. Compared to other cereal crops, such as wheat and maize, tef has higher tolerance to unfavorable environmental conditions, which include both biotic and abiotic stresses. Since the inception of Tef Improvement Program in Ethiopia in the late 1950s, the National Research System has released 42 improved varieties. However, cost of production and economic benefit derived from tef farming was not clearly understood. Thus, a study was carried out in the field plots of 46 lead farmers in four districts (namely, Ada’a, Gimbichu, Moretna-Jirru, and Minjar-Shenkora) where tef is the major cereal crop in order to assess the economics aspects of the tef faming venture. Two recently released tef varieties Kora and Boset were used for the study. On average, the total variable cost of production was 19,308.70 birr ha-1 for Kora and 18,859.27 birr ha-1 for Boset. Although the average grain yield was 1,963.00 kg ha-1 for Kora and 2,540.00 kg ha-1 for Boset, it ranged from 1,200 to 2,500 kg ha-1 for Kora and from 2,000 to 2,800 kg ha-1 for Boset. Kora was sown at appropriate agro-ecologies that receive better rainfall but Boset gave higher yield as a result of climate change and erratic rainfall in 2016. The average profit was 22,676.43 birr ha-1 for Kora and 35,721.12 birr ha-1 for Boset. The two highest production costs were labor (58%) and fertilizer (22%). From the total labor costs used in tef production, the lion’s share went to harvesting (43%) and weeding (35%). The study revealed that harvesting and weeding are the most critical factors to escalate cost of production, and thereby to decrease its profitability. Thus, technologies should be sought to minimize cost of labor for harvesting and for weeding in tef production.

A total of 188 tef genotypes including 144 pure lines selected from germplasm collection, 35 released varieties, eight breeding lines and their parents were evaluated in three replications at two locations in Ethiopia. The objectives were to assess the magnitude and pattern of phenotypic diversity in tef genotypes obtained from various sources in Ethiopia. Combined analysis of variance revealed highly significant (P < 0.01) differences among genotypes, locations and genotype by environment interaction for all studied traits. Thus, wide ranges of variations were observed for days to heading (40.3 to 60.8 days) and maturity (101 to 122.5 days), plant height (60.7 to 107.1 cm), panicle length (19.5 to 39.5 cm), number of fertile tillers per plant (2.1 to 5.5) and spikelet per panicle (156.7 to 441.7), 1000 kernel weights (20.7 to 33.0 mg), grain yield (3.7 to 7.3 t/ha) and lodging index (44.7 to 79.3%). Cluster analysis revealed six distinct clusters of 188 individual tef genotypes while the 14 populations were grouped into four distinct clusters. In general, existence of sufficient level of genetic variation was revealed for future use in tef improvement., ጤፍ መገኛው በኢትዮጵያ የሆነ ፈርጀ-ብዙ የአመራረት፣ የአመጋገብና የጤና ጠቀሜታ ያለው ሰብል ቢሆንም ምርታማነቱ በተለያዩ ማነቆዎች የተነሳ በሰፊው ከሚመረቱት የብርዕና አገዳ ሰብሎች አንፃር እጅግ ዝቅ ያለ ነው፡፡ ያለንን የጤፍ ዝርያ ብዝሃነት ማጥናት ግን እነኚህን የምርት ማነቆዎች ተቋቁመው የተሻለ ምርት ሊሰጡ የሚችሉ ዝርያዎችን ለመለየት ዕድል ይፈጠራል፡፡ የዚህ ጥናት ዓላማ ከተለያዩ ምንጮች የተገኙ 188 የጤፍ ብዝሃ-ዘሮችን በሆለታና በደብረ ዘይት ምርምር ማዕከል ውስጥ በኮምፕሊቲሊ ረንዶማይዝድ ብሎክ ዲዛይን ዘርቶ በመገምገም ያላቸውን የዝርያ ተለያይነት፣ ብዝሃነትና ስብጥር ምን እንደሚመስል ለማወቅ ነበር፡፡ በዚህ ጥናት መረጃዎችን ለመተንተን የቫሪያንስ፣ የክላስተር እና የፕሪንሲፓል ኮምፖንነት ትንተና ዘዴዎች ሥራ ላይ ውለዋል፡፡ የዚህ ትንተና ውጤት በስብስቦቹ መካከል ከፍተኛ የሆነ የመድረሻ ጊዜ (ፌኖሎጂ)፣ የምርታማነትና የምርት ኮምፖነንት፣ የግሽበት እና የሞርፎሎጂ ባህሪያት ተለያይነት እንዳለ ይጠቁማሉ፡፡ በተጨማሪ የክላስተር ትንተና በጥናቱ ውስጥ የተካተቱ 188 ብዝሃ-ዘሮችን ወደ ስድስት ቦታ ሲመድባቸው፤ 14 ፖፑለሽኖች ደግሞ ወደ አራት ምድብ ከፍሏቿዋል፡፡ እነዚህ ቡድኖች ግን በማህበረሰብ ከቦታ ቦታ ዝውውር የተነሳ የግድ የዘረ-መል ዝምድናንና የአካባቢ ቅርበትን መሰረት ያደረጉ ብቻ ሆነው አልተገኙም፡፡ የዚህ ጥናት ውጤት በአጠቃላይ ወደፊት በጤፍ ምርምር ማሻሻያ ውስጥ ልንጠቀምባቸው የምንችላቸው የብዝሃ-ዘር ተለያይነት እንዳለ ይጠቁማል፡፡

አህፅሮት ጤፍ በኢትዮጵያ ከሚመረቱ የብርዕና አገዳ ሰብሎች ዋናው ሲሆን በየዓመቱ ቁጥር ከ6.5 ሚሊዮን የማያንስ አርሶ አደር ያመርተዋል፡፡ ይህም አጠቃላይ በብርዕና አገዳ ሰብሎች ከሚሸፈነው ማሳ 30% ድርሻ አለው፡፡ ይሁን እንጂ ከሌሎች ሰብሎች ጋር ሲነፃፀር ምርታማነቱ አነስተኛ ነው፡፡ ለዚህም ምክንያቱ በከፊል አርሶ አደሩ ያልተሻሻሉ የአካባቢ ዝርያዎችን በመጠቀሙና፣ የሰብሉ ተፈጥሯዊ የመጋሸብ ባህሪ ናቸው፡፡ የዚህ ጥናት ዓላማ በተለየ ምርምር አሰራር የተገኘን የጤፍ ዝርያን በመፈተሸ የተሻለ ምርት፤ የአገዳ ጥንካሬን አንዲሁም የዘር ቀለም ያለውና በአርሶ አደሩ ተመራጭ ዝርያ ማፍለቅ ነበር፡፡ በጥናቱ በቅርቡ የተለቀቀ አንድ ዝርያና አንድ የአካባቢ ዝርያን ጨምሮ 10 የተለያዩ የጤፍ አይነቴዎችን በማካተት በስድስት ወካይ ጤፍ አብቃይ ቦታዎች ላይ ተፈትሸው ተስፋ (ደዘ-ክሮስ-457) ተብሎ የተሰየመውና የተለያዩ የጤፍ አይነቴዎች ተዳቅለው የተገኘው ዝርያ ከሌሎች ማወዳደሪያ ተፈታሽ ዝርያዎች የተሻለ ውጤት በማስመዝገቡ በብሄራዊ የዝርያ አፅዳቂ ኮሚቴ ተገምግሞ ለምርት እንዲለቀቅ ተወስኗል፡፡ ይህ ዝርያ ከሌሎች ዝርያዎች በንፅፅር መጋሸብን በመቋቋሙ፤ የተሻለ ምርት በመስጠቱ በአርሶአደሩ ተፈላጊ ከመሆኑም በሻገር ከዝርያው ባህሪ የተነሳ ለመስኖ እርሻና በሰብል መድረሻ ጊዜ የማጨጃ የእርሻ መሳሪያ መጠቀም ያስችላል፡፡ Abstract Tef [Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter] is extensively cultivated cereal crop in Ethiopia where it is annually grown by about 6.5 million smallholder farmers on about 30% of the total area allocated to cereal crops.However, the productivity of tef is very low compared to other cereals mainly due to lack of high yielding and lodging tolerant cultivars. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of the recently released tef variety called Tesfaand to provide unique morphological and agronomic descriptions of this new variety. Ten genotypes which were derived from three independent crosses and bred for at least eight generations plus a local and standard check varieties were tested at six tef growing sites in Ethiopia (namely, Adet, Chafe Donsa,DebreZeit black soil, DebreZeit light soil,Ginchiand Holetta) using RandomizedCompleteBlock Design with three replications. The study found that Tesfa(DZ-Cr-457 RIL-181) which was obtained from a cross between kinde (a semi-dwarf mutant line developed at the University of Bern, Switzerland) and Kay Murri(a landrace) outperformed other genotypes and approved for release by the Ethiopian National Variety Release Committee in March 2017.The main advantages of Tesfa over other tested lines were its higher grain yield and higher lodging tolerance. In addition, Tesfa possesses unique properties for which high acceptance by growers is expected. These are its compact panicle, lack of shattering, and thick and strong culm which makes it potentially cultivated under irrigation and also mechanically harvested.

The emergence of more frequent and intense stresses and shocks challenge the functioning of stakeholders in food value chains. Shocks related to climate change (e.g. drought) and market changes are of growing concern to stakeholders in the tef value chain in Ethiopia. While tef farmers are directly suffering from a drought shock in form of yield losses, other activities before and after the production suffer from cascading impacts. A reduced yield means for them less trading and processing opportunities. Accordingly, it requires them to be flexible to respond to such a sudden change. To display how stakeholders in food value chains deal with shocks, we adopt the concept of resilience and combine it with a transdisciplinary research approach. This means that the research team and the stakeholders jointly identified areas of concerns and actions to be taken to assess and enhance their resilience against drought risk. This report summarises the key steps, results and lessons learned from this research project. In a first step after establishing a transdisciplinary process with a selected number of key stakeholders of the tef value chain, we conducted a survey-based resilience assessment among all stakeholders to understand their ability to deal with drought shocks. In a second step, through a design-thinking approach, stakeholders identified relevant action measures which would enhance their resilience against drought shocks. We identified the following key issues and findings: • Stakeholders across the tef value chain are highly challenged by an occurrence of a drought. Their resilience to avoid, absorb, recover and learn from a drought event is low to moderate. The cascading effects of a drought cause tef prices to increase which means that droughts indirectly influence the functioning of all other stakeholders across the tef value chain. • All stakeholders have hardly incorporated the possibility of a drought shock into their business activities. Although, stakeholders do have a certain robustness to avoid a drought, they rely almost exclusively on financial resources to absorb, recover and adapt to it. In particular, tef processors rely most on a continuous stable and safe (high quality) supply of tef grains. In contrast, the income of tef farmers, traders and millers relies not only on producing or processing tef, but also on other crops (grains). • Stakeholders proposed various action measures that directly address deficits identified in the resilience assessments. However, most of these action measures require external help, such as the government, NGOs, research institutes and international development agencies. • The way forward is to transform the tef value chain in Ethiopia and to establish a roundtable together with all stakeholders. A roundtable would allow to identify ways how to build resilience in a system which is currently protected by an export ban to keep stable domestic prices of tef. • From a resilience perspective, it is crucial to equip stakeholders with greater flexibility and independence. Making the system more resilient will have positive implications on the well-being of all stakeholders and will reduce the impacts of future droughts and other types of shocks., በተደጋጋሚ የሚከሰቱ ከፍተኛ ውጥረቶች እና ጫናዎች በምግብ እሴት ሰንሰለቶች ውስጥ ያሉ የባለድርሻ አካላትን ተግባሮች ይፈታተናሉ፡፡ ከአየር ንብረት ለውጥ (ለምሳሌ ድርቅ) ጋር የተያያዙ ችግሮች እና የገበያ ለውጦች በኢትዮጵያ የጤፍ እሴት ሰንሰለት ውስጥ ለሚገኙ ባለድርሻ አካላት አሳሳቢ ጉዳይ ናቸው፡ ፡ በድርቅ ምክንያት የጤፍ አምራች ገበሬዎች ለምርት መቀነስ በቀጥታ ሲጋለጡ በተዘዋዋሪ ደግሞ ከምርት በፊት እና ከምርት በኋላ ያሉ ስራዎች ላይ ጫና ያሳድርባቸዋል፡፡ ለእነሱ ምርቱ ቀነሰ ማለት ለገበያ ብሎም ለቤት የሚጠቀሙት መጠን ይቀንሳል ማለት ነው፡፡ ይህም የሚያሳየው ለድንገተኛ ለውጦች ምላሽ ለመስጠት ሌሎች አማራጮችን መፈለግ እንደሚጠበቅባቸው ነው፡፡ በጤፍ የእሴት ሰንሰለት ውስጥ ያሉ ባለድርሻ አካላት ድንገተኛ አደጋዎችን እንዴት እንደሚፈቱ ለማሳየት የመቋቋም ችሎታ ፅንሰ ሃሳብን ከሁሉም ሞያ አቀፍ ምርምር አካሄድ ጋር በማጣመር ተግብረነዋል፡፡ በዚህ መሰረት የትኩረት አቅጣጫዎችን እንዲሁም የድርቅን ጉዳት የመቋቋም ችሎታን ለመገምገም እና ለመጨመር የሚረዱ ተግባሮችን የመለየት ስራ በምርምር ቡድኑ እና በባለድርሻ አካላት በጋራ ተሰርቷል፡፡ ይህ ሪፖርት የፕሮጀክቱን ዋና ደረጃዎችን፣ ውጤቶችን እና ከፕሮጀክቱ የምንማረውን ፍሬ ሃሳብ በአጭሩ ያጠቃልላል፡፡ በመጀመሪያ ደረጃ፡- ሁሉን ሞያ አቀፍ የስራ ሂደት ከተመረጡ ባለድርሻ አካላት ጋር ከመሰረትን በኋላ በሁሉም የባለድርሻ አካላትን ድርቅ የመቋቋም ብቃታቸውን/ ችሎታቸውን ለማወቅ የዳሰሳ ጥናትን መሰረት ያደረገ ግምገማ አካሄድን፡፡ በሁለተኛ ደረጃ፡- የንድፈ-ሃሳብ ዘዴን በመጠቀም የባለድርሻ አካላት የድርቅ አደጋ የመቋቋም ችሎታን ሊጨምሩ የሚችሉ አስፈላጊ የተግባር እርምጃዎችን ለይተዋል፡፡ ከዚህ በመነሳት የሚከተሉት ዋና ግኝቶች ለማወቅ ተችለዋል፡፡ በጤፍ የእሴት ሰንሰለት ውስጥ ያሉ ባለድርሻ አካላት በድርቅ መከሰት ምክንያት በከባድ ሁኔታ ተፈትነዋል፡፡ እኚህ ባለድርሻ አካላት ድርቅን ለመካለከል፣ ለመቋቋም ብሎም ከድርቁ ክስተት ለመማር ያላቸው አቅም ከአነስተኛ እስከ መካከለኛ ባለው ገደብ ውስጥ ነው፡፡ የድርቁ ተፅዕኖ የጤፍ ዋጋ መጨመርን አስከትሏል፡፡ ይህም በተዘዋዋሪ በሌሎች እሴት ሰንሰለት ውስጥ ያሉ ባለድርሻ አካላት ተግባሮች ላይ ተፅዕኖ አሳድሯል ማለት ነው፡፡ ሁሉም ባለድርሻ አካላት በቢዝነሳቸው ውስጥ በድርቅ ምክንያት ሊመጣ የሚችለውን ችግር አያካትቱትም፡፡ ምንም እንኳን ባለድርሻ አካላቱ በተወሰነ መልኩ ድርቅን የመከላከል አቅም ቢኖራቸውም፤ ድርቅን ለመቋቋም ፣ ለማገገም እና ከእርሱ ጋር ለመላመድ ሙሉ በሙሉ የገንዘብ ነክ ሀብቶች ላይ ብቻ ተመርኩዘው ነው፡፡ በተለይ ጤፍ አቀነባባሪዎች ቀጣይነት እና ጥራት ያለው የጤፍ አቅርቦት ላይ ሲመረኮዙ በአንፃሩ ደግሞ ጤፍ አምራቾች፣ ነጋዴዎች እና የወፍጮ ባለቤቶች የሚተማመኑት በጤፍ ምርት እና ማቀነባበር ብቻ ሳይሆን በሌሎች እህሎችም ጭምር ነው፡፡ በመቋቋም ችሎታ ግምገማ ወቅት የተለዩ እጥረቶችን/ችግሮችን በቀጥታ ለመፍታት የሚያስችሉ የተለያዩ የተግባር እርምጃዎች በባለድርሻ አካላት ቀርበዋል፡፡ ነገር ግን ብዙዎቹ የተግባር እርምጃዎች የመንግስትን፣ መንግስታዊ ያልሆኑ ድርጅቶችን፣ የምርምር ተቋማትን እና የአለምአቀፍ ድርጅቶችን ድጋፍ ይፈልጋሉ ፡፡ የወደፊት የትኩረት አቅጣጫ በኢትዮጵያ የጤፍ የእሴት ሰንሰለትን ማሻሻል እና የባለድርሻ አካላት የጋራ የውይይት መድረክ መፍጠር ነው፡፡ የውይይት መድረክ መፈጠሩ በአሁን ሰዓት በመተግበር ላይ ካለው የጤፍ የውጭ ገበያን በማገድ ያገር ውስጥ ገበያን ማረጋጊያ ስርአት ባሻገር እንዴት ችግር የመቋቋሚያ ስርአት መገንባት እንደምንችል የሚጠቁሙ መንገዶችን ለመለየት ይረዳል፡፡ ከችግር የመቋቋም ችሎታ እይታ አንፃር፤ ባለድርሻዎች በበለጠ ተለዋዋጭነት እና በራስ የመመራት ብቃት እንዲኖራቸው ማድረግ ወሳኝ ነው:: የስርአቱን ችግር የመቋቋም አቅምን መጨመር ለሁሉም ባለድርሻ አካላት አዎንታዊ አንድምታ ይኖረዋል፡፡ እንዲሁም ከድርቅ እና ከሌሎች ድንገተኛ አደጋዎች ጋር ተያይዞ የሚመጡ ተፅዕኖችን ሊቀንስ ይችላል፡፡

A changing climate, a growing world population, and a reduction in arable land devoted to food production are all problems facing the world food security. The development of crops that can yield under uncertain and extreme climatic and soil growing conditions can play a key role in mitigating these problems. Major crops such as maize, rice, and wheat are responsible for a large proportion of global food production but many understudied crops (commonly known as “orphan crops”) including millets, cassava, and cowpea feed millions of people in Asia, Africa, and South America and are already adapted to the local environments in which they are grown. The application of modern genetic and genomic tools to the breeding of these crops can provide enormous opportunities for ensuring world food security but is only in its infancy. In this review, the diversity and types of understudied crops will be introduced, and the beneficial traits of these crops as well as their role in the socioeconomics of Africa will be discussed. In addition, the response of orphan crops to diverse types of abiotic stresses is investigated. A review of the current tools and their application to the breeding of enhanced orphan crops will also be described. Finally, few examples of global efforts on tackling major abiotic constraints in Africa are presented.

The study was designed to assess the performance of an improved and recently released tef variety called Kora. Districts selected for the study were Ada, Minjar-Shenkora and Moretna-Jirru. Primary data were collected using a set of validated interview schedule and testing the tef variety on field plots of ten lead farmers who were randomly selected from forty-five lead farmers. Data analysis was carried out using frequency counts, minimum, maximum, mean, standard deviation and analysis of variance. The results of the analysis showed that eight of the lead farmers were very satisfied with the new variety. High grain yield was obtained at the 10 on-farm sites due to the introduction of new variety. While the grain yields ranged from 0.7 and 2.9 tons/ha, the mean yield was 2.2 tons/ha. On average, the total variable costs and total revenues of farms per/ha were Birr 18135.90 and Birr 43414.00, respectively. The cost structure analysis revealed that the two highest production costs were labor (56%) and fertilizer (23%). Hence, labor appears to be the most important limiting factor of production in small-scale tef farming.

9.1 Introduction 226 9.2 Origin and Taxonomy 227 9.3 Genetic Resources and Utilisation 232 9.4 Genetics and Cytogenetics 236 9.5 Reproductive Biology 240 9.6 Constraints in Tef Production 242 9.7 Genetic Improvement of Tef 245 9.8 Crop and Pest Management 256 9.9 Future Prospects 259 References 260

Millets are major food and feed sources in the developing world especially in the semi-arid tropical regions of Africa and Asia. The most widely cultivated millets are pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.], finger millet [Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn], foxtail millet [Setaria italica (L.) P. Beauvois], Japanese barnyard millet [Echinochloa esculneta (A. Braun) H. Scholz], Indian Barnyard millet [Echinochloa frumetacea Link], kodo millet [Paspalum scrobiculatum L.], little millet [Panicum sumatrense Roth.ex.Roem. & Schult.], proso millet [Panicum miliaceum L.], tef [Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter] and fonio or acha [Digitaria exilis (Kippist) Stapf and D. iburua Stapf]. Millets are resilient to extreme environmental conditions especially to inadequate moisture and are rich in nutrients. Millets are also considered to be a healthy food, mainly due to the lack of gluten (a substance that causes coeliac disease) in their grain. Despite these agronomic, nutritional and health-related benefits, millets produce very low yield compared to major cereals such as wheat and rice. This extremely low productivity is related to the challenging environment in which they are extensively cultivated and to the little research investment in these crops. Recently, several national and international initiatives have begun to support the improvement of diverse millet types.

Food security is the main concern in Africa as the production and productivity of crops are under continuous threat. Indigenous crops also known as orphan- or as underutilized- crops provide key contributions to food security under the present scenario of increasing world population and changing climate. Hence, these crops which belong to the major categories of cereals, legumes, fruits and root crops play a key role in the livelihood of the resource-poor farmers and consumers since they perform better than the major world crops under extreme soil and climate conditions prevalent in the continent. These indigenous crops have the major advantage that they fit well into the general socio-economic and ecological context of the region. However, despite their huge importance, African crops have generally received little attention by the global scientific community. With the current production systems, only a fraction of yield potential was achieved for most of these crops. In order to devise strategies towards boosting crop productivity in Africa, the current production constraints should be investigated and properly addressed. Key traits known to increase productivity and/or improve nutrition and diverse conventional and modern crop improvement techniques need to be implemented. Commitments in the value-chain from the research, production, marketing to distribution of improved seeds are required by relevant national and international institutions as well as African governments to promote food security in a sustainable manner. The review also presents major achievements and suggestions for stakeholders interested in African agriculture.

Tef [Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter] is an important staple food crop, especially in Ethiopia where it is annually grown on 2.8 million hectares of land. It is important for food security in the region, in spite of having a low yield, mainly due to lodging. In this study, 15 representative landraces as well as three improved varieties have been selected for in-depth characterization of many parameters, especially those implicated in yield. The genotypes were clustered into six groups, mainly based on agronomic traits and about 80% of the diversity in the genotypes could be explained on the basis of four principal components. In general, all traits investigated showed substantial diversity among genotypes, offering high chances for improving tef through direct selection or intra-specific hybridization. Moreover, in view of climatic changes, breeding with early maturing landraces such as Red dabi or Karadebi would be advantageous to cope with moisture scarcity during the later stage of crop maturity.

Orphan- or understudied-crops are mostly staple food crops in developing world. They are broadly classified under cereals, legumes, root crops, fruits and vegetables. These under-researched crops contribute to the diet of a large portion of resource-poor consumers and at the same time generate income for small-holder farmers in developing countries, particularly in Africa. In addition, they perform better than major crops of the world under extreme soil and climatic conditions. However, orphan crops are not without problems. Due to lack of scientific investigation, most of them produce low yields while others have a variety of toxins that affect the health of consumers. Here, we present some highlights on the status and future perspectives of the Tef Biotechnology Project that employs modern improvement technique in order to genetically improve tef (Eragrostis tef), one of the most important orphan crop in Africa. A reverse genetics approach known as TILLING (Targeting Induced Local Lesions IN Genome) is implemented in order to tackle lodging, the major yield limiting factor in tef.Key words: Orphan crops, underresearched crops, Eragrostis tef, TILLING, semi-dwarf.