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An experiment was conducted during two consecutive cropping seasons to optimize rates of blended fertilizer for high yield and N use efficiency of tef varieties at Chefe Donsa and Alem Tena. The treatments consisted of a factorial combination of two tef varieties (recently released for the areas) and five fertilizer rates (0, 100 kg ha-1 Diammonium Phosphate (DAP), 50 kg ha-1, 100 and 150 kg ha-1 NPSB. Varieties, such as Dagim and Tesfa were used for Chefe Donsa, whereas Boset and Tsedey were used for Alem Tena. The treatments were arranged following randomized complete block design in triplicate. The result showed that phenology, growth and yield parameters were highly significantly (P

The low productivity of tef is associated with problems inherent to tef botany and lodging. The small seed size of tef poses a major inheritance problem during sowing operations. Techniques such as pelleting seed with organic matter are effective to make them uniform in size and shape. A field study was conducted to determine optimum sowing depth and seed rate of pelleted tef for reducing lodging, and improving productivity of tef under Vertisol conditions during two consecutive cropping seasons (2019 and 2020). A factorial combination of four sowing depths (0, 1, 2 and 3 cm) and three pelleted tef seed rates (60, 90 and 120 kg/ha~5, 7.5 and 10 kg/ha of un-pelleted tef) were used as a treatment. The experiments were laid out in RCBD with three replications. Sowing depth had a significant effect on biomass and grain yield of tef. Tef sowing at the shallowest depth (0 cm) and 1 cm gave the highest biomass yield (11889 kg/ha and 9639 kg/ha, respectively) and grain yield (2786 kg/ha and 2536 kg/ha, respectively). In contrast, the deepest sowing (3 cm) reduced biomass and grain yield of tef. Seed rate played an important role in the biomass yield of tef, the highest biomass yield (10399 kg/ha) was recorded from the 120 kg/ha seed rate of pelleted tef. Regarding lodging, the deepest sowing and lowest seed rate reduced lodging index and a number of root lodged plant. The average lodging index for the deepest sowing (3 cm) was 30.8%, while the shallowest (0 cm) was 69.3%. The result revealed that pelleted tef seed can successfully emerge from a depth of 1 cm without any apparent penalty of yield. Tef even emerged from 2 to 3 cm depth, while showing reduced lodging, but these had a yield penalty. Therefore, it can be concluded that a 1 cm sowing depth and 90 kg/ha pelleted tef are optimal for sowing pelleted tef seed for reducing lodging and improving yield.&nbsp

አህፅሮት ኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ ጤፍ (Eragrostis tef) ከ6.5 ሚሊዮን በሚበልጡ አነስተኛ አርሶ አደሮች ይመረታል፡፡ ሆኖም ግን የተሻሻሉ ቴክኖሎጂዎችና የምርጥ ዘር ተጠቃሚነት ውስን በመሆኑ የሰብሉ ምርታማነት ዝቅተኛ እንደሆነ ቀጥሏል፡፡ ስለሆነም አነስተኛ አርሶ አደሮች ጥራቱን ለጠበቀ የጤፍ አራቢ ዘር ያላቸውን ተደራሽነት ለመጨመር ዓላማ ያደረገ ጥናት በ254 መሪ አርሶ አደሮች ማሳ ላይ ተካሂዷል፡፡ በጥናቱም በቅርብ ጊዜ የተለቀቁ ሦስት አዳዲስ ዝርያዎች እና አንድ ቀደም ብሎ የተለቀቀ ዝርያ (ቦሰት) ተካተው ተገምግመዋል፡፡ ለእያንዳንዱ መሪ-አርሶ አደር የአራቱም ዝርያዎች ማለትም የኮራ፣ የተስፋ፣ የዳግም እና የቦሰት አራቢ ዘር ተሰጥቷል፡፡ የአራቱ ዝርያዎች የዘር ምርት ተቀራራቢ (ኮራ = 1.94፣ ተስፋ = 2.31፣ ዳግም = 2.24 እና ቦሰት = 2.36 ቶን በሄክታር) ነበር፡፡ ጥናቱ በተካሄደባቸው ወረዳዎች ያለውን የግብዓት ዋጋ እና የምርት ዋጋ እሳቤ ውስጥ ሲገባ የተገኘው አማካይ ያልተጣራ ገቢ 65,355.90 ብር በሄክታር ሲሆን አማካይ የማምረቻ ወጪው ደግሞ 26,355.52 ብር በሄክታር ነበር፡፡ ከማምረቻ ወጪዎች መካከል ለጉልበት የወጣው ወጪ ትልቁን ድርሻ ሲይዝ ከጠቅላላው ወጪ 58 በመቶ ድርሻ ነበረው፡፡ በአጠቃላይ የገቢ-ወጪ ምጣኔ 1.5 በመሆኑ የተሻሻለ የጤፍ ዝርያ ቴክኖሎጂ መጠቀም በጣም ትርፋማ እንደሆነ ጥናቱ ያመልክታል፡፡ ይህም በመሆኑ አዳዲስ የሚወጡ የጤፍ ዝርያዎችን ዘር አባዝቶ ለገብያ ማቅረብን ትኩረት ያደረገ የሰርቶ ማሳያ ስራ ቢሰራ ለአርሶ አደሮች ሳቢና አዋጭ ሆኖ ተገኝትዋል፡፡ ጠቋሚ ቃላት፡ መሪ አርሶ አደሮች፤ የጤፍ ዝርያዎች፤ የምርጥ ዘር ምርት፤ የጤፍ ጭድ፤ የምርት ዋጋ Abstract Tef (Eragrostis tef) is extensively cultivated by over 6.5 million smallholder farmers in Ethiopia. However, the productivity of the crop remains low mainly due to the limited use of improved technologies including seeds. In this study, three recently released and one old (as a check) tef varieties were evaluated on 254 lead farmers’ fields with the main aim of increasing farmers’ access to quality breed seeds.Each lead farmer was provided with breeder seeds of four improved tef varieties, namely Kora, Tesfa, Dagim, and Boset.The seed yield from the four tef varieties were comparable (Kora = 1.94, Tesfa = 2.31, Dagim =2.24 and Boset = 2.36 t ha-1). Given the input and output prices that prevail in the selected districts, the mean revenue was 65,355.90 Birr ha-1 while the mean production cost was 26,355.52 Birr ha-1. Among production costs, labor took for the lion’s share as it contributed to 58% of the total cost. In general, with a benefit-cost ratio of 1.5, our technology is highly profitable and attractive to farmers if newly released tef varieties are disseminated in the seed-business-oriented method. &nbsp

Tef production has expanded from time to time. However, the national average yield is still low due to several constraints including the use of poor crop management practices by farmers. Tef is cultivated with intensive seedbed preparations involving 3 to 5 passes in semi-arid and 5 to 8 passes in humid areas of the country. Planting of tef requires a firm and moist seedbed. The optimum sowing time for tef ranges from early-July to mid-August based on the soil type and the onset the rainfall as well as the length of growing period. Early sowing is the common practice on light soils, while late sowing is practiced on heavy black soils. However, calendar-based sowing date has not been working very well particularly in recent years due to climate change. Hence, it is important to adjust the sowing date based on the onset and cessation of the rainfall and moisture content of the soil.

Plants use a plethora of sophisticated detection systems to recognize a variety of attackers and to subsequently initiate defense responses. A well-known paradigm in this context is the perception of microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs) by pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), a process referred to as pattern triggered immunity (PTI). Additionally, plants also recognize endogenous molecules to induce similar defense responses. These molecules are believed to be released upon enemy attack and are therefore referred to as danger-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs). The best-investigated DAMP so far is systemin, a short peptide capable of inducing defense responses in tomato and required for full-strength defense against insect herbivores. More recently, a family of eight peptides has been discovered in Arabidopsis, named Arabidopsis thaliana danger peptides (AtPeps) 1-8. These AtPeps have been shown to be capable of inducing PTI-like responses and to be expressed upon the detection of various biotic stresses, therefore being considered as DAMPs. Moreover, two PRRs, named Pep-Receptor 1 (PEPR1) and Pep-Receptor 2 (PEPR2) have been identified to perceive AtPeps and to induce defense responses upon receptor-ligand interaction. Despite of eliciting PTI responses and being expressed upon the detection of biotic stress, no direct beneficial involvement of the AtPep-PEPR system to plant defense against attackers has been described so far. Taking advantage of a mutant deficient in both PEPRs and thus fully impaired in AtPep-PEPR signaling, we investigated the potential contribution of a functional AtPep-PEPR system to plant defense responses. In a first approach, we investigated the potential interplay between MAMP and DAMP signaling, especially in the context of DAMPs being believed to act as endogenous amplifiers of MAMP-induced PTI. Doing so, we identified that the AtPep-triggered production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is strongly enhanced upon previous MAMP detection, indeed indicating a role of the AtPep-PEPR signaling system as an enhancer of MAMP-triggered defense signaling. In a second approach, we compared the AtPep-PEPR system to systemins – well described DAMPs in tomato with generally similar molecular features to AtPeps. Following up the lead that systemins are important mediators of defense responses against herbivorous insects, we checked whether a similar role would apply to the AtPep-PEPR system. Here, we could show that the AtPep-PEPR system is indeed induced by herbivore feeding and strongly interacts with the plant hormone jasmonic acid (JA) to orchestrate defense responses. Accordingly, mutants deficient in AtPep-PEPR signaling are strongly impaired in defense responses against the generalist herbivore Spodoptera littoralis, underlining the importance of AtPep signaling in plant defense against herbivores. Thirdly, we followed up a lead that the expression of some AtPeps as well as both PEPRs is induced upon virus infection. Assessing the potential contribution of the AtPep-PEPR system to plant defense against viruses, we could not observe an increased susceptibility of plants deficient in both PEPRs. However, mutants in BAK1 (BRI1 Associated Kinase 1), a co-receptor required for full-strength AtPep-triggered signaling and many other PRRs, showed a clearly increased susceptibility to all viruses tested. Therefore, we established a first potential line of evidence for a role of PTI in plant defense against viruses. All in all, we provide several lines of evidence that show the contribution of a functional AtPep-PEPR signaling system to plant defense. Therefore, we underline the pivotal importance of DAMP signaling to plant immunity against a plethora of biotic invaders.

Indigenous crops also known as orphan crops are key contributors to food security, which is becoming increasingly vulnerable with the current trend of population growth and climate change. They have the major advantage that they fit well into the general socio-economic and ecological context of developing world agriculture. However, most indigenous crops did not benefit from the Green Revolution, which dramatically increased the yield of major crops such as wheat and rice. Here, we describe the Tef Improvement Project, which employs both conventional- and molecular-breeding techniques to improve tef—an orphan crop important to the food security in the Horn of Africa, a region of the world with recurring devastating famines. We have established an efficient pipeline to bring improved tef lines from the laboratory to the farmers of Ethiopia. Of critical importance to the long-term success of this project is the cooperation among participants in Ethiopia and Switzerland, including donors, policy makers, research institutions, and farmers. Together, European and African scientists have developed a pipeline using breeding and genomic tools to improve the orphan crop tef and bring new cultivars to the farmers in Ethiopia. We highlight a new variety, Tesfa, developed in this pipeline and possessing a novel and desirable combination of traits. Tesfa’s recent approval for release illustrates the success of the project and marks a milestone as it is the first variety (of many in the pipeline) to be released., Euphytica, 214 (2), ISSN:0014-2336, ISSN:1573-5060