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Background Over 500 million people worldwide rely on sorghum as a main food crop. About 10% of the daily caloric intake of households in Ethiopia’s northwest and eastern regions, including Benishangul Gumuz, comes from sorghum. A hemi-biotrophic fungal pathogen called Colletotrichum sublineolum caused anthracnose disease is among the biotic constraints of sorghum production. Methods Ten selected sorghum genotypes were assessed for sorghum anthracnose severity and its temporal and spatial dynamics on field plots in the districts of Assosa and Bambasi. The performance of the chosen sorghum genotypes was assessed using the following metrics: AUDPC, disease progress rate, yield-related trait, sorghum grain yield, and mean severity index. Anthracnose severity was evaluated using a 1–5 disease rating scale and assessments conducted at seven consecutive time points. Results Ten genotypes of sorghum were examined in the districts of Assosa and Bambasi, with mean anthracnose severity index ranging from 60-77 PSI and 53-82 PSI, respectively. AUDPC varied from 351 to 470 % days and 316 to 499 % days at Assosa and Bambasi districts, respectively. Bambasi district achieved a larger grain yield than the Assosa district. Assosa-1 demonstrated a significant level of disease pressure, yet the current investigation found that this genotype is the highest performing genotype in both locations. Conclusions There is a considerable positive link between the severity of anthracnose and the weekly total rainfall and relative humidity. At both trial sites, Mersa-1 continuously produced higher grain yields and reduced disease levels. Breeders might utilize the Baco Striga sorghum genotype as a check line in a breeding effort to resist anthracnose disease because it shown a high vulnerability to the disease at both locations.

Malaria is a widespread vector-borne disease in the tropics and subtropics causing nearly half a million deaths every year. Malaria vector control intervention mainly rely on the control of adults using Indoor residual sprayings (IRS) and long lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs). The purpose of this study was to assess the species composition of Anopheles mosquitoes and determine the environmental and physicochemical parameters of their breeding habitats in Bambasi district, Benshangul Gumuz regional state, northwestern Ethiopia. Three major Anopheles breeding habitats were identified in three Kebeles namely; drainage ditch (Keshmando), swamp (Amba 46), and stagnant water (Amba 47). Anopheles mosquito larvae were sampled twice a month from September 2020 to November 2020. A total of 2185 Anopheles mosquito larvae were collected. Of those collected larvae three Anopheles species (Anopheles gambiae s.l. An. funestus and An. coustani complex) were identified. Anopheles gambiae s.l was the most abundant whereas An. funestus and An. coustani were the least in all the study kebeles. Of the three kebeles, Amba 47 was found the most productive for Anopheles followed by Amba 46 and Keshmando. The highest mean density of larvae per dip was sampled in September in all the study sites. The three sampling sites varied in physicochemical characteristics. The findings of this study showed that dissolved oxygen (DO) was highest (7.07 ± 0.55 mg/L) in the swamps and lowest (0.32 ± 0.04 mg/L) in the drainage ditches. Conductivity across different habitats showed wide variations. There were slight variations in temperature between different habitats. Higher total dissolved solids (TDS) 12.19 ± 0.26 mg/L was recorded from the drainage ditches; whereas TDS 9.49 ± 1.62 mg/L was recorded from the swamp. Salinity in the drainage ditches and stagnant water was 5.54 ± 1.00PSU and 3.30 ± 0.97 PSU respectively. There were negative strong correlation between the larval density with temperature and EC but positive correlation between larval density with salinity. However, there was no significant correlation between Anopheles larval density with TDS and DO. In conclusion this study suggested that environmental and physicochemical factors could play an important role in the development of mosquito larvae. Therefore, characterizing mosquito larval habitats is important for targeted control of malaria vectors in Ethiopia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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