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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 little scientific research on the crop, widespread use of local varieties coupled with traditional cultural practices, and lack of drought tolerant varieties. A multi-environment field experiment was, therefore, carried with the objectives of identifying and releasing high yielding and farmer- and consumer-preferred tef variety for moisture deficit areas of the country. The drought tolerant tef genotypes tested were derived from two independent crosses of Dtt2 x Dtt13 and DZ-Cr-387 x Dtt2. The parental lines Dtt2 (drought tolerant tef2) and Dtt13 (drought tolerant tef 13) were obtained by screening 5,000 ethylmethane sulfonate (EMS) mutagenized populations from an improved variety called Tsedey. Twelve candidate droughts tolerant tef genotypes from preliminary variety trials and a local as well as standard check varieties (Boset) were tested over two years (2018 and 2019 main cropping seasons) at five moisture deficit tef growing areas in Ethiopia (viz. Debre Zeit light soil, Minjar, Alemtena, Melkassa and Sirinka) using randomized complete block design with four replications. Late sowing combined with light textured soils was used to simulate terminal drought stress at Debre Zeit light soil and Minjar. The combined analyses of variance did not exhibit statistically significant difference for genotype by environment interaction. However, among the tested lines, the candidate line RIL 37 from Dtt2 x Dtt13 cross was found superior in grain yield over the standard check Boset variety (by 13.2%) and the local cultivar (by 27.6%). The candidate line was further evaluated in the variety verification trial during the 2020 main cropping season and approved for the release by the National Variety Release Committee in 2021 with name DZ-Cr-498 (RIL 37) or Boni.

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.

Tef is the major Ethiopian cereal grown on 3.02 million hectares annually and serving as staple food grain for over 70 million people. However, the national average yield of tef is low 1.6 t ha-1. This is partially due to the use of unimproved local cultivars, and biotic and abiotic stresses. Therefore the experiment was designed to develop high yielding and desirable quality improved varieties suitable for diverse agro-ecologies, farming systems and purposes. Fourteen tef genotypes including two checks were laid out in randomized complete block design using four replications for two years (2012 and 2013) at eight locations. Results of combined data analysis across locations and over the years showed that candidate variety Dagem [DZ-Cr-387 X Kay Murri (DZ-Cr-438 (RIL No 91A))] performed better than the two check and other test genotypes. Thus, Dagim was identified and released as best promising tef variety for production in the country.

ጤፍ በኢትዮጵያ ከሚመረቱ የብርዕና አገዳ ሰብልች ዋናው ሲሆን የዓመቱ ቁጥር ከ6.5 ሚሉዮን የማያንስ አርሶ አዯር ያመርተዋሌ፡፡ ይህም አጠቃሊይ በብርዕና አገዳ ሰብልች ከሚሸፈነው ማሳ 30% ድርሻ አሇው፡፡ ይሁን እንጂ ከላልች ሰብልች ጋር ሲነፃፀር ምርታማነቱ አነስተኛ ነው፡፡ ሇዚህም ምክንያቱ በከፊሌ አርሶ አዯሩ ያሌተሻሻለ የአካባቢ ዝርያዎችን በመጠቀሙና፣ የሰብለ ተፈጥሯዊ የመጋሸብ ባህሪ ናቸው፡፡ የዚህ ጥናት ዓሊማ በተሇየ ምርምር አሰራር የተገኘን የጤፍ ዝርያን በመፈተሸ የተሻሇ ምርት፤ የአገዳ ጥንካሬን አንዲሁም የዘር ቀሇም ያሇውና በአርሶ አዯሩ ተመራጭ ዝርያ ማፍሇቅ ነበር፡፡ በጥናቱ በቅርቡ የተሇቀቀ አንድ ዝርያና አንድ የአካባቢ ዝርያን ጨምሮ 10 የተሇያዩ የጤፍ አይነቴዎችን በማካተት በስድስት ወካይ ጤፍ አብቃይ ቦታዎች ሊይ ተፈትሸው ተስፋ (ዯዘ-ክሮስ-457) ተብል የተሰየመውና የተሇያዩ የጤፍ አይነቴዎች ተዳቅሇው የተገኘው ዝርያ ከላልች ማወዳዯሪያ ተፈታሽ ዝርያዎች የተሻሇ ውጤት በማስመዝገቡ በብሄራዊ የዝርያ አፅዳቂ ኮሚቴ ተገምግሞ ሇምርት እንዲሇቀቅ ተወስኗሌ፡፡ ይህ ዝርያ ከላልች ዝርያዎች በንፅፅር መጋሸብን በመቋቋሙ፤ የተሻሇ ምርት በመስጠቱ በአርሶአዯሩ ተፈሊጊ ከመሆኑም በሻገር ከዝርያው ባህሪ የተነሳ ሇመስኖ እርሻና በሰብሌ መድረሻ ጊዜ የማጨጃ የእርሻ መሳሪያ መጠቀም ያስችሊሌ፡፡, 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

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