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Barley is an important food security and industrial crop in Ethiopia and its production is constrained by several factors including soil acidity stress. Thus, an experiment was conducted using 320 barley genotypes in alpha lattice design with two replications at Holeta, Jeldu and Midakegn testing sites during 2017 and 2018 to assess genetic variability among barley genotypes, to identify barley genotypes tolerant to acid soils using stress indices and to assess the association among stress indices as well as grain yield. Data analysis showed significant (P≤ 0.01) differences between the genotypes and the interactions. Estimates of heritability and genetic advance of the studied traits also revealed potential prospects for genetic improvement of traits of interest. Moreover, the overall mean grain yield under non-stress was 3212.42 kg ha-1 (1797 to 5936 kg ha-1) compared to 2347.83 kg ha-1 (1797 to 5936 kg ha-1) under acid soil stress indicating a yield reduction of 26.92%. Assessment of acid soil stress indices was also found to be promising in identifying tolerant genotypes with good yield potential. Yield under stress showed a strong positive correlation (r = 0.89**) with yield under non-stress indicating that some genotypes which performed well under non-stress also showed good performance under acid soil stress. Moreover, STI, GMP, MP, AAI and ATA revealed the existence of a strong positive correlation between themselves and yield performance under both sets. Therefore, high yielding and tolerant barley genotypes were identified for further adaptation studies and simultaneous breeding line identification for subsequent crossing and variety development.&nbsp

Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is one of the most important nutritious food and cash crops grown in Ethiopia. This study evaluated the compatibility of common bean genotypes to intercropping with maize and assessed land use efficiency of mixed cropping for sustainable intensification of maize-legume based farming systems. Twenty-five common bean genotypes were evaluated under sole and intercropping with a maize hybrid, BH540, in 2011 and 2012 at Bako. Significant variations were observed among the common bean genotypes for most studied traits under sole and intercropping conditions. On average, about 88% yield reduction was recorded for the common bean genotypes intercropped with maize as compared to sole cropping. Genotypes MEXICO235 X PAN-182 and UBR(92)25-13-1 had higher seed yield under both cropping systems and also showed relatively lower yield reduction due to intercropping, indicating the compatibility of these genotypes for mixed cropping. Seed yield had positive and significant correlation only with seeds per pod and harvest index under sole cropping, but it had strong positive association with days to maturity, plant height, pods per plant, harvest index and number of primary braches under intercropping. Maize-common bean ntercropping slightly increased land use efficiency and land productivity. Genotypes ICTAJU-95-28, UBR (92)25-13-1 and MEXICO235XPAN-182 exhibited relatively higher total land equivalent ratio (LER) and relative crowding coefficient (RCC) under intercropping. In general, common bean genotypes used in this study were highly affected by the competition imposed by maize, indicating the need for further research to develop more compatible varieties of component crops and adjust the time of common bean intercropping with maize.

Drought stress is the most important factor that limits mung bean production and productivity at large in drought-prone areas of Ethiopia. It is hence necessary to identify and verify drought-tolerant and productive varieties of major crops grown in drought areas of the country like mung bean. The present study was conducted to evaluate mung bean genotypes for drought tolerance under in-vitro conditions and to assess the performance of the in-vitro developed regenerants under greenhouse conditions. The in-vitro experiment was thus arranged in a factorial experiment using a completely randomized design with three replications. Three mung bean genotypes, NLLP-MGC-06/G6 (tolerant), VC6368 (46-40-4)/G34 (moderate), and NLLP-MGC-02/G2 (sensitive) and five polyethylene glycol (PEG) levels (0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0%) were used. The analysis of variance exhibited significant differences among the genotypes for all the studied parameters except the number of roots per shoot. There were significant differences observed among PEG levels for all the studied parameters. Significant genotypes x PEG interactions were observed for all the studied traits except total roots per culture and survival percentage. Increasing polyethylene glycol concentration from 0% to 2.0% in the medium caused a gradual increase in root length from 0.49 cm at 0% PEG to 1.17 cm at 2.0% PEG, respectively. This revealed an adaptive mechanism to the decreased moisture content in the root zones of plants and enhanced increased root length to reach deeper water in the soil. Regenerant from the treatment combinations of G34 (0) exhibited the highest values for the number of primary branches per plant (4.00). Grain yield for the in-vitro regenerated plants evaluated at greenhouse conditions ranged from 552.52 kg ha-1 at the treatment combination of G2 (1) to 996.23 kg ha-1 at the treatment combinations of G6 (0). Most of the regenerants obtained from NLLP-MGC-06/G6 and VC6368 (46-40-4)/G34 showed the best performance under the greenhouse for drought-tolerance under the in-vitro condition, suggesting that the accumulated performance of the tested regenerants under in-vitro conditions was realized under greenhouse conditions. It also indicated that in-vitro culture is an important tool to identify and verify drought-tolerant genotypes and improve desirable agronomical traits. Further study is indeed required to understand the mechanism of drought tolerance for in-vitro-selected somaclones., Journal of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Vol 7 No 2 (2022)

Forty-nine sorghum varieties (hybrids and open pollinated) were evaluated across five environments during the 2016 main cropping season. The objectives of this study were to estimate the magnitude and nature of genotype by environment interaction for grain yield and to determine yield stability of striga resistant sorghum genotypes in the dry lowland areas of Ethiopia. The study was conducted using a simple lattice design with two replications. The result of the combined analysis of variance for grain yield revealed highly significant (P≤0.001) difference among environment (E), genotype (G) and genotype × environment interaction (GxE). Environment explained 76.13% of the total variation, whereas G and GxE explained 11.21% and 12.66% of the total variation, respectively. The magnitude of the environment was 6.8 times greater than the genotype, implying that most of the variation in grain yield was due to the environment. Based on combined analysis of variance over locations, the mean grain yield of environments ranged from 588 kg ha-1 at Humera to 4508 kg ha-1 at Sheraro. The highest yield was obtained from ESH-1 (3278 kg ha-1), while the lowest was from K5136 (735 kg ha-1) and the average grain yield of genotypes were 2184 kg ha-1. AMMI and GGE biplot stability models were used to identify stable genotypes for partitioning the GxE into the causes of variation and the best multivariate models in this study. Thus, AMMI model was used to identify superior genotypes for specific and wide adaptation. Accordingly, K7439, K7252 and K7437 were specifically adapted to low environments of Humera, Kobo and Fedis, whereas, ESH-1 and K7233 were the better hybrids for favorable environments of Mehoni and Sheraro, respectively. Moreover, the GGE biplot identified two different sorghum growing mega-environments for grain yield. The first mega environment includes higher (Mehoni) to low yielding (Humera, Kobo and Fedis) environments, respectively, with the winner genotype ESH-1 and the second mega environment containing the highest yielding environment in Sheraro area with winner genotype K7233. Thus, the whichwon- where biplot showed two winning genotypes in two mega environments. However, the standard hybrid check, ESH-1 won in most of the environments. Therefore, ESH-1 can be recommended for wider cultivation due to better grain yield and stability performance across the test environments in the dry lowland areas of Ethiopia.

Yam production in Southwest Ethiopia is threatened by a socioeconomic, a biotic and biotic factors. The objective of this study was to document the major yam production constraints, farming systems, the number of farmers identified landraces and trait preferences from major growing areas of Southwest Ethiopia. A participatory rural appraisal study was conducted in seven yam producing districts of the region. Data were collected from 240 yam growers using a semi-structured questionnaire, focus group, key informant discussions and field observations. Yam production restraints were mainly associated with socioeconomic factors such as low attention given to the crop and dilution of the crop by improved crop technologies, which reported by 14.71 and 11.15% of respondents, respectively. Drought and wild animal attacks were the major cause of yield reduction, as reported by 14.4 and 13.93% of the respondents, respectively. A total of 38 farmers’ named yam landraces was identified for their traits preferences. The major yam traits preferred by farmers were: high yield (35.42%), good market (11.05%), early maturity (8.86%), powdery after boil (10.48%) and disease resistance (3.53%). Medicinal use reported by 5.58% of respondents and white and mixture with red flesh color (5.91%) was the main farmer and market preferred traits. Yam variety development programs should therefore discourse the above constraints and farmerpreferred traits for sustainable yam production in Southwest Ethiopia.&nbsp

Drought has become challenging globally, particularly under rain-fed crop production systems of Ethiopia. It is one of the major causes for wheat yield reduction. One hundred forty-four durum wheat genotypes were evaluated at Debre-Zeit experiment station in 2017 dry season, under drought stressed and non-stressed environments, to identify drought tolerant genotypes and suitable drought screening indices. The trial was conducted during the off-season. Based on grain yield under stressed and non-stressed conditions, various drought tolerant indices including Abiotic tolerance indices (ATI), Geometric mean productivity (GMP), Stress tolerance indices (STI), Stress stability indices (SSI), Tolerance indices (TOL), Yield index (YI) and Drought resistance indices (DRI) were computed. The combined analysis of variance showed that moisture, genotypes and their interaction had a significant (p≤0.01) effect on grain yield. Principal component and Correlation analysis indicated that DRI, YI, YSI and REI, as important indices highly correlated with grain yield under stress suggesting their suitability to identify drought tolerant genotypes. Cluster analysis also grouped the genotypes into five different clusters having various characteristics. Overall, evaluation of durum wheat genotypes for drought stress using different analysis identified G-16, G-763, G-31, G-119, G-63 and G-30 as drought tolerant genotypes. DRI, YI and YSI could be regarded as good indices for the identification of drought tolerant lines. MP, GMP, and REI were the best indices to identify suitable genotypes to both drought and non-drought stressed environment.

Genetic diversity present within and between populations is crucial for breeding and conservation. The objective of this study was to assess the genetic diversity in yam landraces by using agro-morphological and microsatellite markers. Phenotypic diversity of 36 landraces collected from southwest Ethiopia was determined using diversity indices, principal component and cluster analyses. High phenotypic diversity indices were recorded, ranging from 0.53 to 1.50, with a mean of 0.985. Principal component analysis identified seven PCAs which contributed 88.4% of the total phenotypic variation among the landraces. The test primers amplified a total of 30 fragments, of which 80% was polymorphic. The number of alleles detected per locus ranged from 1 to 5, with a mean of 3. Number of effective alleles ranged from 1 to 3.57. Gene diversity ranged from 0.00 to 0.80 with a mean of 0.53. The mean polymorphic information content ranged from 0.00 to 0.72, with a mean of 0.30. The Simple Sequence Repeat markers and phenotypic traits showed similar clustering patters of landraces except some differences. The results obtained in this study are useful for future yam breeding and conservation program.&nbsp

Selecting genotypes based on secondary has been employed in crop improvements to various managments. However their importance in maize breeding has been limited. This study was conducted to identify high yielding maize hybrids and to study combining abilities of maize inbredlines for secondary traits of adaptations to maize-bean intercropping. Maize genotypes (G=42) were planted at two locations in 6x7 α-lattice design as maize-bean intercrop and as sole maize. All data were collected and analyzed for individual Management (M) and Environments (E) followed by across M and E using random model in SAS. Significant G, E, M, Line (L) and Tester (T) effects were observed for most of the traits measured while LxT, ExM, ExG, MxG, ExMxG, MxL, MxT and MxLxT effect for few. Relative reduction (RR) varied from - 11.7% to +5.4%. Stalk diameter (SD), Yield (GY), Leaf area/area index (LA/LAI) and Ear height (EH) of the G decreased opposed to Plant height (PH) and Leaf number (NL) in maize-bean intercropping. Heritability (H2) ranged from 0.49(LAI) to 0.98(EH). General combining ability (GCA) effects for L varied from -0.77** to 0.89** for GY, -54.07** to 95.4** in leaf area (LA); - 23.6** to 25.1** in PH, -1.42** to 2.0** in SD and -0.99** to 1.35** in NL. Four hybrids (Entry: 2, 3, 4 and 18) performed well under sole maize and showed resilience under maize-bean intercropping conditions were recommended for possible release. Five lines (L2, L3, L4, L18 and L19) showed desirable GCA effects across managements were identified to start crossing program.

Assessment of genetic variability in crop species is one of the major activities to meet the diversified goals in plant breeding programs. However, there is a lack of sufficient information on the genetic variability study of mung bean. Therefore, field experiment was conducted on sixty mung bean genotypes with the objectives to assess the genetic variability, heritability, and genetic advance for desirable traits that have a vital role in determining and designing breeding strategies. The experiment was conducted at Jinka Agricultural Research Center laid out in a 6 × 10 alpha lattice design with two replications during the 2018 cropping season. The analysis of variance revealed highly significant (P≤0.001) differences for most of the traits indicating the existence of high genetic diversity among the genotypes. High estimates of genotypic coefficient of variance (GCV) and phenotypic coefficient of variance (PCV) was observed for harvest index (48.77% and 59.73%). The lowest GCV and PCV estimates were obtained for days to flowering (3.26% and 6.82%), days to maturity (2.08% and 4.20%), seed yield per hectare (0.34% and 0.45%), and biomass yield per hectare (0.08% and 0.13%). Terminal leaf length, terminal leaf width, peduncle length, plant height, number of primary branches per plant, seeds per pod, seed yield per plant, hundred seed weight, seed yield per hectare, biomass yield, and harvest index exhibited high heritability values. High heritability coupled with high GAM estimates was recorded for plant height, the number of primary branches per plant, hundred seed weight, and harvest index. In general, the observed variability could help to develop breeding schemes for mung bean.&nbsp

Additional file 1. Mean values of 13 quantitative traits of 64 lentil genotypes grown at Debre Berhan 2018.

A multi-environment evaluation of mung bean genotypes was conducted in six environments across Ethiopia to select promising genotypes. This study was conducted to estimate the magnitude of genotypes by environment interaction (GEI) and seed yield stability of the selected drought-tolerant mung bean genotypes across different environments. A total of fifteen mung bean genotypes were used. Out of these, two released varieties were used as standard checks. The field experiments were conducted during the 2019 main cropping season at six locations namely Humbo, Gofa, Melkassa, Konso, Jinka, and Kako using a randomized complete block design with three replications. Data were subjected to analysis of variance, Additive Main Effects and Multiplicative Interaction (AMMI), and GGE bi-plot analysis. A combined analysis of variance revealed significant variations among the genotype, environments, and GEI for yield and yield-related traits, indicating that seed yield was significantly affected by these factors. Analysis of variance from the AMMI model indicated the contribution of environment, genotype, and GEI was 59.6%, 16.8%, and 14.8% of the total variation in seed yield, respectively. Sum squares of the first and the second interaction principal component axis (IPCA) explained 47.4% and 7.4% of the GEI variation, respectively. The IPCA1 mean square was highly significant (P≤0.01) and that of IPCA2 was significant (p≤0.05), indicating the adequacy of the AMMI model with the first two IPCAs for cross-validation of the seed yield variation. The magnitude of the GEI sum squares was 4.4 times that of the genotypes sum squares for seed yield, indicating the presence of substantial differences in genotypic responses across the environments. The results for the AMMI, Yield stability index (YSI), AMMI Stability Value (ASV), and GGE biplot, analyses depicted that the genotypes G6 (NLLP-MGC-24), G13 (Acc006), and G3 (NLLP-MGC-15) were identified as stable and high yielders across the environments and should be considered for variety release. AMMI1 biplot showed Kako was the potential and favorable environment for mung bean production, while Humbo was an unfavorable for mung bean production., Journal of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Vol 7 No 1 (2022)

Knowledge of the sources and magnitude of variability among genotypes plays a pivotal role in any crop improvement program to maximize gains from selection. This experiment was conducted at Bako Agricultural Research Center in 2011 cropping season with the objective of studying and estimating the extent of genetic variability in common bean genotypes under sole and mixed cropping systems. Meanwhile, the wider range of variability observed from the mean of various quantitative traits. The genotypes that varied by cropping system depicted the presence of high level of variability. The highest genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) and phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) values were recorded for hundred grain weight (29.56 and 35.46 g), biological yield (27.22 and 31.37) and grain yield (26.60 and 31.54 q/ha), whereas the lowest GCV and PCV values were recorded for days to maturity of sole common bean genotypes. Phenotypic variance in both sole and mixed cropping systems was higher than that of genotypic variances. This implies that, considerable contribution of environmental factors to the phenotypic expression of the genotypes. High broad sense heritability as observed under both sole and intercropping systems indicated that, genetic improvement can be obtained through further selection programme. Important agronomic traits: pods per plant, seeds per pod and branches per plant had positive and significant correlation with grain yield in most cases. Path coefficient analysis at genotypic level indicated that all traits except plant height, seeds per pod and hundred grain weights exerted their positive direct effect on grain yield. Hence, the current study identified the presence of wide variability between those common bean genotypes which can be used for further breeding program and selection can be made using those traits associated to yield. Key words: Genotypic variance, heritability, intercropping, phenotypic variance, quantitative traits, sole cropping.

Maize is the second most widely grown food cereal crop cultivated in the world and consumed in various form of as part of diets of human and animals. However, its production and productivity is affected by biotic and abiotic stresses among which, soil acidity is the key factor. This field experiment was conducted to estimate the genetic variability of maize for yield and yield related traits, and determine the association of traits with grain yield at Assosa and Bambasi districts during the 2017main cropping season. The experiment consisted of limed and unlimed soil as main plots and 21 maize varieties as the sub-plots arranged in a split plot design with 3 replications. Highly significant (P

Finger millet is one of the major growing crops in Amhara region particularly in West Gojjam Zone in maintaining food and nutrition security. However, the quality of finger millet seeds, agronomic packages and the productivity of the crop is very low as well as maintaining of genetic diversity is not documented. The present study was carried out in Yilmana-Densa and Mecha districts of Northwestern Ethiopia to document farmers’ knowledge and experiences on finger millet seed management practices. Data were collected from 120 households using a structured questionnaire and focus group discussion. The results showed that 72.5% of the respondents explained that seed selection is made by both husband and wife; and the seed was selected soon after threshing 58.3% of the respondents replied that the seeding materials are selected soon after threshing while 37.5% did during planting time. Almost all respondents used locale made materials to clean seed and 97.5% of them didn’t use storage chemicals as finger millet do have a long shelf life like teff. Nowadays farmers used improved varieties of finger millet as its productivity is better than the local varieties. Therefore, the existing finger millet seed management practices has been contributing for maintaining genetic diversity, however, the system is insufficient to hold and enhance the existing function of the extension organization, farmer cooperative union, NGO and government organization to meet the seed quality thereby seed security. Hence, establishing and strengthening linkages among stakeholders to use indigenous knowledge on seed management practices, seed selection, diversity conservation and seed security for a bad time., Journal of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Vol 6 No 1 (2021)