Striga causes a serious threat to successful cultivation of sorghum in areas of low and erratic rainfall and poor soil fertility. Therefore, to reduce yield losses and severity of Striga, a field experiment was conducted during the cropping season of 2015 on heavily Striga-infested field in Fedis District, Boko site to determine the effect of trap crops (cowpea, soybean, desmodium, control) and N fertilizer rates (0, 46, 92 and 138 kg N ha −1 ) on management of Striga, yield related traits and yield of sorghum. The experiment was laid out in a factorial arrangement in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Moreover, LAI, plant height, head weight plot −1 and aboveground dry biomass yield of sorghum were significantly (P < 0.05) increased by 4%, 9%, 28% and 33%, respectively, by use of cowpea as a trap crop over the control. Likewise use of cowpea as a trap crop significantly (P < 0.01) increased kernel weight head −1 by 6% and grain yield by 23% over the control. Similarly, the main effect of nitrogen showed that increased nitrogen rate up to 46 kg ha

No abstract

Due to the long duration of cassava roots maturity, drought and disease problems, intercropping grain and legumes in cassava should be developed. To intercrop component crops, it is important to reduce cassavas’ canopy through the evaluation of the pruning effect on root yields. The study was aimed to determine the effects of different plant spacing and pruning methods on root yield and root yield parameters of cassava grown in Eastern part of Ethiopia. Cassava variety ‘Kello’ was used for the experiment as a test crop. Five cassava plant intra-row spacing (0.60, 0.80, 1.00, 1.20 and 1.40 m) were assigned to main plots while pruning methods (cutback, debranching and no pruning) were assigned to sub plots. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design (RCBD) in a factorial arrangement with three replications. The result revealed that there were highly significant differences for number of roots per plant, root length, average root weight and unmarketable due to the effect of pruning, while significant differences was observed for total root yields due to intra-row spacing. There were also highly significant interaction effects for marketable and total root yields due to the effects of intra-row spacing and pruning. Cassava with no pruning recorded about, 21.9 and 25.7%, 10 and 26.4%, 17.2 and 19.9%, 43.5 and 58.7% over cassava with debranching and cutback for number of roots per plant, root diameter, root length and root weights, respectively. Cassava pruning and intra-row spacing also interacted and the highest root yield was recorded at 80 cm with cassava no pruning. Averagely, cassava with no pruning provided the highest marketable and total root yield by about 39.3 and 44.7%, 35.8 and 41.6% over cassava with debranching and cutback, respectively. Therefore, considering the land scarcity of the area intra-row plant spacing of 80 cm and cassava with no pruning was recommended for the study area and similar agro-ecology for land economy in eastern Harerghe zone.

Onion (Allium cepa L.) is an important crop worldwide. It is important in the daily Ethiopian diet. It is widely produced by small farmers and commercial growers throughout the year for local use and export market. No strong study has been conducted to evaluate the suitability of onion cultivation in Biyo Awale district of Diredawa. Hence, the present experiment was conducted to study the performance of improved varieties of onion for their suitability for cultivation in Biyo Awale district of Diredawa. The study was carried out during 2018-2019 cropping season to test the performance of onion varieties. Five high yielding onion varieties were planted in complete randomized block design experiment with three replications including local check at farmer's field. The quantitative data on bulb yield, plant height, bulb size and number of leaves of onion varieties were collected. Harvesting was done and weighed when all onion varieties reach maturity (90% tops down). The results revealed that the tested onion varieties differ significantly for leaf length, leaf number, neck diameter, bulb diameter, average bulb weight and bulb yield. Among the varieties Bombay red and Melkam produced higher bulb yield (25.56 and 21.13 t ha -1 ) and gave 140.68% and 98.96% yield advantage over local check varieties, respectively. Therefore, Bombay Red and Melkam varieties were recommended to the study area and similar agro-ecology.