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AbstractIntercropping of cereals and legumes is common in Ethiopia. However, intercropping of lupine with tef is a new practice in Northwestern Ethiopia’s tef-based cropping system. In the 2016 and 2017 main cropping seasons, a field experiment was conducted in Gozamin District, East Gojjam Zone, to assess the effect of plant density of lupine intercropping with tef on the productivity of tef fields. The two experimental factors were two inter-row spacings (20 and 40 cm) and three intra-row spacings (10, 15, and 20 cm) of lupine intercropped with tef, and their factorial combination was studied using a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The highest tef grain yield (1.80 t ha−1) was recorded from 40 and 20 cm inter- and intra-row spacing of lupine intercropped with tef, respectively. The highest lupine yield (2.74 t ha−1) was recorded from sole cropping. A total of 40 and 15 cm inter- and intra-row spacing of lupine intercropped with tef improved tef equivalent yield (2.32 t ha−1), area time equivalent ratio (1.09), actual yield loss (0.87), monetary advantage index (396.2 USD), net benefit (2479.5 USD ha−1), and marginal rate of return (MRR) (682%). Among all planting densities, 40 and 15 cm inter- and intra-row spacing of lupine were the most profitable and had the highest yield advantage based on equivalent yield and other economic benefits. To maximize the productivity of tef fields, 40 cm of inter- and 15 cm of intra-row spacing of lupine intercropping with tef was recommended.

Striga hermonthica is a major biotic threat to worldwide food security, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Sorghum production in North Gondar is challenged by the parasitic weed causing low crop yields. One of the options widely practiced is intercropping with legumes and variation in sowing dates of the intercropped crop species. A field experiment was conducted at two locations; Metema and Sanja at Gondar Agricultural Research Centers in the 2017/18 cropping season. Three sowing dates of soybean (2 weeks and 1 week before sowing and at a sorghum plantation) to control Striga. The study laid in a randomized complete block design with three replications in a factorial combination, two sorghum varieties; improved (Berhan) and a local variety commonly grown in the area and soybean “Afgat” varieties were used. A highly significant difference between Striga count (SC) and dry matter, grain yield (GY), above-ground biomass, and thousand seed weight (TSW) were the main effects and their interactions. SC, GY, and TSW were significant at Metema and combined over locations, but only GY at Sanja. Highest grain yield, biomass, thousand seed weight and lowest Striga counts was obtained in resistant variety at 2 weeks soybean sown before sorghum and, highest Striga was recorded in susceptible variety where soybean was sown at the same date with sorghum. Economic analysis results showed the highest and lowest net returns of 32,048.50 and 8,660 ETB per hectare from 2 weeks before with resistant sorghum and the same date with susceptible sorghum, respectively. Therefore, in the study area, the “Berhan” variety at 2 weeks before sorghum sowing is recommended for profitable sorghum production and Striga management.

Fruit and Vegetables are growing both rain fed and irrigation in Ethiopia and important for food security and income generation to a large proportion of the rural household. Enhancing onion farmers to reach markets and actively engage in the markets key challenges influencing onion production in Ethiopia. So the study aimed to analyze determinates of onion market supply. The study specifically aimed to address determinates that affecting onion production and market supply of rural households. A total of 275 households were selected using a multi-stage sampling technique followed by a probability proportional to sample size. The result indicated that in the study area 79.27% of onions producing households were male-headed whereas, the remaining 20.73% were female-headed household heads. On the other hand model results show that sex, age, household size, land size, motor pump, marketing contract, post-harvest value addition and market information positively and significantly affected the volume of onion supplied to the market. The findings imply that policymakers as well as policies designed at national level should consider on promoting the market contract, dissemination of improved onion varieties and input of production, intensification of land, expanding of post-harvest value addition activities and expanding the existence of irrigating equipments.

Potentials of pragmatic crop rotation practices and organic matter applications for restoration of soil health and productivity of degraded highland crop fields were studied for three rotation phases from 2013 to 2015 in northwest Ethiopia. Factorial combinations of five crop rotations (R1+ = bread wheat–clover–potato, R2+ = clover–bread wheat undersowing lupine–potato, R3+ = potato–clover–bread wheat, R4+ = bread wheat undersowing lupine–potato undersowing lupine–bread wheat, and R5+ = lupine–potato undersowing lupine–bread wheat) and four manure application rates [M1 = control/0tha−1 manure, M2 = 2.5 tha−1 sesbania green manure (SGM), M3 = 5 tha−1 fresh cattle manure (FCM), and M4 = 2.5 tha−1 SGM + 5 tha−1 FCM] were laid out in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four replications. Plus sign (+) with crop rotation indicated that crop residues and green manure of legumes at 50% flowering were incorporated into the soil. The results showed that soil properties and productivity of crops were markedly improved with three-year interventions of crop rotation and manure application. As compared to that of the initial before starting the experiment, soil bulk density, pH, CEC, and contents of organic carbon, total nitrogen, available phosphorous, and exchangeable potassium were improved on average by about 23%, 18%, 67%, 89%, 150%, 89%, and 44%, respectively, with R1+M4 treatment combination in three-year period. Similarly, compared to that of 2013, productivity of bread wheat and potato increased on average by about 446% and 540% in 2015 with R3M4 and R1M4, respectively.

The study was initiated to explore genetic advance and rate of genetic progress over years of bread wheat genotypes in Ethiopia. Twelve bread wheat genotypes released in between 1995 and 2012 were used as experimental treatments. The experimental treatments were laid out on randomized complete block design with three replications across locations over 2 years. The study was conducted at Adet, Debretabor, Finoteselam, Injibara and Simada in 2014 and 2015 cropping seasons. The combined analysis of variance of genotypes, environments and their interactions showed significant difference (P

Onion is an important vegetable product for food security and income generation to a large proportion of the rural household of Ethiopia. Enhancing onion farmers to reach markets and actively engage in the markets as a key challenges influencing onion production in Ethiopia. The perishability nature of onion necessitates an effective marketing channel choice decision. So the objective of this study was the analysis of factors affecting market outlet choice decision of farmers. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select the sample kebeles and households, whereby 275 farm household using a stratified random sampling method for this study. Both primary and secondary data were collected to address the objectives. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and an econometric model by using SPPS and STATA software. Multivariate probit model was used to analyze factors affecting market outlet choices of smallholder onion producers. Multivariate probit model result showed that the probability of choose wholesales, retailer, rural collectors, and consumers market outlet was significantly affected by post-harvest value addition, amount of onion production, land size allocated for onion production, ownership of motor pump, educational status of the household head and the total livestock owned. Based on the finding the government and the concerned stakeholders should focus on promoting the dissemination of improved onion varieties and input of production, intensification of land for onion, expanding of post-harvest value addition activities, strengthening of the existence of formal and informal education and promote and encourage onion farmers on investment onion production.

A field experiment was conducted for 2 years during the main cropping seasons of 2017 and 2018 in Fogera Plain to study the productivity response of lowland rice varieties to different sources of nitrogen fertilizer. The experiment was conducted using a factorial arrangement of three sources of N fertilizer (conventional urea, slow-release urea and urea supergranule) and three varieties of rain-fed lowland rice (Hiber, Ediget and X-jigna) laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The recommended rate of 69 kg N ha–1 was used for all three sources of nitrogen fertilizer. Results showed that highest soil-plant analysis development value, leaf area index (LAI), thousand-grain weight, biomass and grain yields of rice were recorded with the interaction of urea supergranule N fertilizer application and Hiber rice variety, while the lowest values of the parameters were recorded with the interaction of conventional urea application and X-jigna rice variety. Rain-fed lowland rice grain yield of 4.6 ton ha–1 was obtained from the interaction of urea supergranule and Hiber rice variety. Economic evaluation results showed also that the highest net return of 58,947.50 Ethiopian Birr ha–1 was estimated from the combination of urea supergranule and Hiber rice variety. According to the present results, the interactions of urea supergranule N fertilizer with Hiber and Ediget rice varieties were found as the first and the second outsmarted combinations that would be used further for exploiting more grain yield and net benefits of rain-fed lowland rice without yield penalty in Fogera Plain, northwest Ethiopia.

Vegetables are important for income generation to a large proportion of the rural households. Enhancing tomato farmers to reach markets and actively engage in the markets is a key challenge influencing tomato production in Ethiopia. The perishable nature of tomato necessitates effective marketing channels choice decisions. So, the main objective of this study was analyzing the determinants of market outlet choice decisions of tomato producers. The two-stage random sampling procedure was used to select the sampled kebeles and households, whereby 235 farm households were surveyed for the study. Both primary and secondary data were collected to address the objectives. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and an econometric model by using SPSS and STATA software. Multivariate probit Model results showed that the probability to choose wholesalers, collectors, retailers, and consumers market outlets were significantly affected by age of the household head, educational status of the household head, distance to the nearest market, access to credit, owning transport facility, land allocated to tomato and household size. Policy implications drawn from the study findings include that the government and concerned stakeholders should focus on strengthening rural-urban infrastructure, intensification of land for tomato, expanding the accessibility of credit and strengthening the existence of formal and informal education.

Sustainable intensification of agriculture is a means of reducing the demand for increased land resources. A field experiment was conducted at two major finer millet producing areas of northwestern Ethiopia from 2017 to 2018 cropping seasons with the objective of assessing land use efficiency, profitability, and productivity of finger milt in finger millet-legume additive design intercropping. Factorial combinations of two legume crops (haricot bean and lupine) intercropped with finger millet, two planting methods (row and mixed) and three finger millet-legume planting ratios (100%:75%, 100%:50% and 100%:25% of the recommended seed rate of sole crops) were laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Two sole crop finger millets (planted in rows and broadcast) and two sole crop legumes (haricot bean and lupine) were included for comparison purposes. Results revealed that the primary objective of maintaining the “full” grain yield of finger millet in an intercropping was achieved in finger millet-haricot bean row intercropping at 100:25 (2.68 tone ha-1) and100:50 (2.72 tone ha-1) planting ratios. Average over the three scenarios, the latter cropping system (65%) and finger millet haricot bean intercropping at 100:75 planting ratio (56%) gave significantly higher yield advantage over sole cropping of finger millet and haricot bean separately. Maximum marginal rate of return was observed in finger millet-lupine mixed intercropping (1281%) and finger millet-haricot bean row intercropping (1175%). Thus, it could be concluded that the latter cropping system could be used for improving household food security to smallholder farmers by increasing the productivity of finger millet, land use efficiency, and profitability.

Bast fiber dyeing process is common practice as the value addition of most bast fibers demanded for various commercial and household applications. In this research work, kusha fiber (extracted previously) was subjected to dyeing using direct, reactive, vat and cationic dyes for the first time. Dyeing process was perfrmed using concentrations 0.5%, 1%, & 3% (W/W) dye to fiber with MLR 1:20. After dyeing process, performance of dyed fiber and tensile tests were conducted. The results revealed that K/S value of all dyed kusha fiber samples increases as the concentration of dyes applied increases. The dyed fibers color fastness to washing was found good both in dry and wet rubbing fastness. Reactive dyed samples have shown good rubbing fatness performance over the others. Regarding light fastness, the result shows there was good performance for all samples according to blue wool light fastness standard that exceeds 6. The tensile strength and elongation of dyed samples showed slight decrement both in vat and direct dyed samples; whereas, considerable decrement was observed both in reactive and basic dyed samples due to formation of covalent bond and acid processing medium.

Currently, eco-friendly products have been given great attention as the world is being polluted severely by non-biodegradable products and by-products. Different textile products have their own share in affecting the environment. This research is focused on exploring alternative bast fiber products to support the supply chain and to assess the possibility of using this fiber as a substitute to already available bast fibers. Kusha fiber was extracted and optimized from Ethiopian kusha plant stem – Girardinia bullosa (Steudel) wedd. – using caustic soda solution by varying the concentration, temperature, and time using design expert 6.0.10, quadratic model software. Tensile property, chemical composition, X-ray diffractometer (XRD), Fourier-transform-infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), fiber morphology, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) of the fiber were determined. Fiber characterization showed its tensile strength, and the cellulose content was equivalent to or even better than other bast fibers. Morphology of the fiber was similar to that of typical cotton with visible lumen and a slightly flat surface. Therefore, this new extracted fiber has a great potential to be used for different applications such as fiber-reinforced composites, textile furnishing, apparel, and nanocellulose extraction.