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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.

Tef is a highly nutritious gluten-free Ethiopian cereal with food-feed potential. However, its productivity is affected by lodging, weed infestation, terminal drought, small seed size, and shattering. Following the recent availability of tef genome sequences, we highlight the need to harness the benefits that this underutilised crop offers to improve food security.

Tef [Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter] is an indigenous Ethiopian cereal providing healthy and nutritious diets for people and a palatable straw for livestock. Thirty-five released varieties and a local check were grown at two locations over two years in Ethiopia to investigate the variation in grain and straw yield and straw quality traits of tef. The investigated traits were grain yield (GY), straw yield (STY), crude protein (CP), in vitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD), metabolizable energy (ME), acid detergent fiber (ADF), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent lignin (ADL). GY, CP, IVOMD and ME were significantly (P < 0.01) affected by the variety of tef, the cultivation environment and their interactions. The performances of the GY, CP, IVOMD and ME traits were higher (P < 0.01) at mid-altitude, in Debre Zeit, compared to the high-altitude site, Holetta, and in 2016 than 2015. Similarly, the associations observed between GY and STY, among CP, ME and IVOMD, and among NDF, ADF and ADL were significant (P

The tef crop has both its center of origin and diversity in Ethiopia. Tef is the product of nature and nurture, and it has co-evolved with Ethiopians in the course of cultivation by the framers over the millennia. The diverse agro-ecologies and sociocultural conditions of the country have also endowed the country with a huge wealth of genetic diversity in phenologic, agronomic and morphological traits as well as traits associated to nutrition and biotic and abiotic stress tolerances. Such diversity offers opportunities to develop suitable varieties for diverse cropping systems, agroecologies and utilization aspects. However, the physiological mechanisms and the traits and genes associated with the nutritional values and stress tolerances are little known. Collection, characterization, evaluation and conservation of the tef genetic resources have not yet been comprehensively and systematically done. Because of this, some duplication of tef accessions are expected in the Ethiopian gene bank holdings. Hence, rigorous conservation, characterization, and utilization of these resources including its wild relatives are essential for sustainable improvement of the crop. Various studies based on morphological, cytological, biochemical and molecular markers suggested E. pilosa as the closest relatives to tef. The diploid ancestors of tef are, however, not yet known since E. pilosa is a tetraploid species like tef. Hence, the identification of the diploid progenitors of tef based on genome analysis as well as biochemical and molecular markers is far more than scientific curiosity since the knowledge of the diploid progenitors would open an avenue to resynthesize tef and create de novo variability including important traits like lodging tolerance. Overall, the most important areas of future research emphasis include: 1) Systematic and comprehensive collections of germplasm including wild relatives so as to mitigate the representation gaps and capture the evolutionary dynamics; 2) Extensive evaluation and characterization of the tef genetic resources including the wild relatives using both phenotypic, biochemical and molecular markers; 3) Establishment of more refined and representative set of “core tef germplasm” and minimization of duplications of germplasm accessions in gene-banks; and 4) Mining of the tef genetic resources with respect to the identification of noble genes and traits associated with abiotic and biotic stress tolerance, quality and metabolites.

In summary, whilst the generation of basic scientific information on the genetics, genomics, physiology and other related biosciences is still a fundamental requirement, the overall improvement of tef in Ethiopia requires a concerted and holistic multi-disciplinary approach. This, in turn, calls for enhancement of national, regional and international networking, collaboration and data sharing among research and development, and donor institutions and organizations. Last but not least, in order to see the impact on the genetic progress research on tef, it is imperative to undertake large-scale popularization of the released varieties, where the end-user farmers can see the impact of such improved technologies through demonstrations and scaling up activities involving improved varieties coupled with commensurate management practices.

A total of 188 tef genotypes including 144 pure lines selected from germplasm collection, 35 released varieties, eight breeding lines and their parents were evaluated in three replications at two locations in Ethiopia. The objectives were to assess the magnitude and pattern of phenotypic diversity in tef genotypes obtained from various sources in Ethiopia. Combined analysis of variance revealed highly significant (P < 0.01) differences among genotypes, locations and genotype by environment interaction for all studied traits. Thus, wide ranges of variations were observed for days to heading (40.3 to 60.8 days) and maturity (101 to 122.5 days), plant height (60.7 to 107.1 cm), panicle length (19.5 to 39.5 cm), number of fertile tillers per plant (2.1 to 5.5) and spikelet per panicle (156.7 to 441.7), 1000 kernel weights (20.7 to 33.0 mg), grain yield (3.7 to 7.3 t/ha) and lodging index (44.7 to 79.3%). Cluster analysis revealed six distinct clusters of 188 individual tef genotypes while the 14 populations were grouped into four distinct clusters. In general, existence of sufficient level of genetic variation was revealed for future use in tef improvement., ጤፍ መገኛው በኢትዮጵያ የሆነ ፈርጀ-ብዙ የአመራረት፣ የአመጋገብና የጤና ጠቀሜታ ያለው ሰብል ቢሆንም ምርታማነቱ በተለያዩ ማነቆዎች የተነሳ በሰፊው ከሚመረቱት የብርዕና አገዳ ሰብሎች አንፃር እጅግ ዝቅ ያለ ነው፡፡ ያለንን የጤፍ ዝርያ ብዝሃነት ማጥናት ግን እነኚህን የምርት ማነቆዎች ተቋቁመው የተሻለ ምርት ሊሰጡ የሚችሉ ዝርያዎችን ለመለየት ዕድል ይፈጠራል፡፡ የዚህ ጥናት ዓላማ ከተለያዩ ምንጮች የተገኙ 188 የጤፍ ብዝሃ-ዘሮችን በሆለታና በደብረ ዘይት ምርምር ማዕከል ውስጥ በኮምፕሊቲሊ ረንዶማይዝድ ብሎክ ዲዛይን ዘርቶ በመገምገም ያላቸውን የዝርያ ተለያይነት፣ ብዝሃነትና ስብጥር ምን እንደሚመስል ለማወቅ ነበር፡፡ በዚህ ጥናት መረጃዎችን ለመተንተን የቫሪያንስ፣ የክላስተር እና የፕሪንሲፓል ኮምፖንነት ትንተና ዘዴዎች ሥራ ላይ ውለዋል፡፡ የዚህ ትንተና ውጤት በስብስቦቹ መካከል ከፍተኛ የሆነ የመድረሻ ጊዜ (ፌኖሎጂ)፣ የምርታማነትና የምርት ኮምፖነንት፣ የግሽበት እና የሞርፎሎጂ ባህሪያት ተለያይነት እንዳለ ይጠቁማሉ፡፡ በተጨማሪ የክላስተር ትንተና በጥናቱ ውስጥ የተካተቱ 188 ብዝሃ-ዘሮችን ወደ ስድስት ቦታ ሲመድባቸው፤ 14 ፖፑለሽኖች ደግሞ ወደ አራት ምድብ ከፍሏቿዋል፡፡ እነዚህ ቡድኖች ግን በማህበረሰብ ከቦታ ቦታ ዝውውር የተነሳ የግድ የዘረ-መል ዝምድናንና የአካባቢ ቅርበትን መሰረት ያደረጉ ብቻ ሆነው አልተገኙም፡፡ የዚህ ጥናት ውጤት በአጠቃላይ ወደፊት በጤፍ ምርምር ማሻሻያ ውስጥ ልንጠቀምባቸው የምንችላቸው የብዝሃ-ዘር ተለያይነት እንዳለ ይጠቁማል፡፡

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.

Tef [Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter], is a staple food crop of Ethiopians that originated and diversified in Ethiopia. It has existed in Ethiopia throughout recorded history. Annually, it occupies 3.02 million hectares thereby ranking first among all cereals cultivated in the country. However, the national average yield of tef is low 1.6 t ha-1. The use of unimproved local cultivars and biotic and abiotic stresses are partially attributed to the low yield of the crop. Thus, the experiment was designed to develop high yielding and desirable quality improved varieties of tef 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. The combined data analysis across locations and over the years indicated that candidate variety Kora (DZ-Cr-438 (RIL No. 133B) performed better than the two checks and other test genotypes. Consequently, Kora was identified and approved for large scale production.

Journal of Science and Sustainable Development, Vol. 3 No. 2 (2015)

S1 recurrent selection was carried out to improve grain yield, plant height, ear placement, resistance to lodging and other desirable agronomic traits in Ukiriguru composite B (UCB) maize variety. This paper presents the genetic gain and progress made in improving these traits through two cycles of selection. Three hundred and sixty, and 254 S1 families were evaluated in three environments and 36 and 25 families were selected following 10% selection intensity during the first (C1) and the second (C2) cycles, respectively. The selected families were recombined in isolated half-sib recombination blocks using remnant seeds. The progress made through selection was determined by evaluating the parent population (UCB C0), the first (UCB S1 C1) and the second (UCB S1 C2) selection cycles in six environments in a randomized complete block design in four replications. Commercial open-pollinated and hybrid varieties were included as checks. UCB S1 C2 produced mean grain yield of 8.7 t ha-1 and had a significant (P < 0.01) genetic gain of 30% (2.0 t ha-1) with mean gain of 15.0% (1.0 t ha-1) cycle-1. The selection also resulted in short plant height and low ear placement with significant (P < 0.01) genetic gain of 9.6% (30.8 cm) and 19.6% (39.6 cm), respectively, and superiority in tolerance to diseases and resistance to lodging. Still selection had significant (P < 0.01) grain yield benefit of 35.0% (3.1 t ha-1) and 29.3% (2.6 t ha-1) relative to Gibe Composite 1 and Kuleni, respectively, and showed comparable yield potential with commercial hybrids, BH660 and BH670. It was concluded that two cycles of S1 recurrent selection have brought significant genetic improvement in grain yield and major agronomic traits in UCB. Hence UCB S1 C2 was fully released and recommended for commercial production in the mid-altitude (1600-1800 masl) agro-ecologies of Jimma and Illu Ababora Zones, and similar areas in the south-western areas of Ethiopia. After release, it was named as ‘Morka’ meaning ‘competent’, to express its yield potential which is comparable to the yield potential of popular hybrid varieties in the zones., East African Journal of Sciences, Vol. 4 No. 2 (2010): East African Journal of Sciences

Morka is a common name given to the maize (Zea mays L.) variety with the pedigree UCB S1 C2 after its official release. It is an open pollinated variety developed by the Jimma Agricultural Research Center from UCB after two cycles of S1 recurrent selection. Morka means “competent” in Afan Oromo language given to express its yield potential which is comparable to that of the popular hybrid variety, BH660, in the areas. Its performance was evaluated in field experiments carried out over two years in three locations environments where it gave mean grain yield of 8.7 t ha-1 and significantly (P < 0.01) out yielded the standard check (UCB) with a grain yield benefit of 30% (2.0 t ha-1). Better grain yield potential, significantly (P < 0.01) shorter plant height and lower ear placement, and superior tolerance to diseases and resistance to lodging than the original UCB are the desirable traits of this variety. Morka was recommended for commercial production in the mid altitude (1600-1800 m above sea level) agro-ecologies of Jimma and Illu Ababora Zones., East African Journal of Sciences, Vol. 4 No. 2 (2010): East African Journal of Sciences

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