While pulses are staple food-legumes in Ethiopia, their productivity is low due to low soil fertility. Elite rhizobial strains that significantly increased shoot dry weight and nitrogen (N) contents of common beans and soybeans in greenhouse were selected for two-year field trials to evaluate their effect on yields of the pulses in the field. Each pulse had six treatments, namely four rhizobial inoculants, uninoculated control and synthetic N fertilizer. In the droughtaffected year 2015, inoculated pulses tolerated moisture stress better than non-inoculated controls. Inoculation was conducive to higher or equivalent yields compared to synthetic N fertilizer. At Halaba, bean inoculated with strain HAMBI3562 gave the highest grain yield (1500±81 kg ha -1 ; mean±SE) while the control yielded only 653±22 kg ha -1 . At Boricha, HAMBI3570 gave a grain yield (640±35 kg ha -1 ) comparable to synthetic N. When rainfall was optimal in 2016, inoculation with HAMBI3562 and HAMBI3570 gave grain yields (around 4300 kg ha -1 ) equivalent to synthetic N. With soybean, strain HAMBI3513 produced consistently higher or comparable biomass and grain yields compared to synthetic N. In conclusion, HAMBI3562 and HAMBI3570 for beans and HAMBI3513 for soybeans can serve as inoculants for areas having similar conditions as the test areas.

BackgroundHIV/AIDS is affecting the majority of the population, particularly the productive age group between 15–49 years resulting in social and economic crisis. The rate of HIV infection would undoubtedly be lowered if safe sexual practices such as correct and consistent use of condoms had been followed. The aim of this study was therefore to assess intention to use condom among students in Agena preparatory school, Guraghe zone, Ethiopia. Agena is an urban area in south Ethiopia.MethodsInstitution based cross-sectional study was conducted. A two stage sampling was applied by stratifying students in to (grade 11 and 12) with each grade having four section (A, B, C, D). Then systematic random sampling was used to select students in each section. Analyses of frequencies and summary measures like mean and Standard Deviation of selected variables were done. Bivariate and multivariate analysis was done to measure the association between different variables.ResultsOut of 450 respondents 122(27.1%) had history of sexual intercourse. Of whom the majority 86(70.5%) had two or more sexual partners. And 45(37%) never used condom, 12(9.8%) used condom sometimes and 65(53.2%) used condom every time during sex. About 300(67.7%) of the respondents have no intention to use condom in the next sexual encounter. On multivariate analysis those students who have high perceived susceptibility (AOR = 1.94 (1.16-3.2)) and high self-efficacy (AOR = 27 (14.4-54.2)) were more likely to have intention to use condom than others.ConclusionsIntention to use condom in the next sexual intercourse is very low. Information Education and Communication (IEC) on reducing number of sexual partners along with condom use promotion targeting in-school adolescents should be the primary strategy of HIV/AIDS prevention process.

Both organic and chemical fertilizers play a vital role in enhancing crop productivity and maintaining soil health. However, inflated prices of chemical fertilizers also reduced their rate of application, hence, reducing crop productivity in Ethiopia. Therefore, to sustain the productivity of lands and crops, there is an urgent need to promote the use of organic fertilizers. Vermicomposting is one method of preparing enriched compost with the use of earthworms. With the support of the second phase of the Agricultural Growth Program (AGP-II), the introduction and promotion of vermicomposting technology were conducted. However, the production status and role of vermicomposting for smallholder farmers in the area are unclear. Therefore documenting the achievement and progress of vermicomposting is necessary. Both primary and secondary data (2018-2021) were collected by using snowball sampling techniques. The descriptive statistics reveal that in addition to potato production, farmers are using vermicompost for chat, enset, coffee, forage and vegetable production. Accordingly, the production, utilization, and sale trend of vermicompost increased from 2018 to 2021. In addition, vermicomposting created an opportunity for farmers to participate in earthworms and vermicompost selling. Due to this, those who had vermicompost in their home garden do not use inorganic fertilizers for any crop production during the last four years. In addition, the average cultivated cropland coverage by vermicompost-based production also increased from 2018 to 2021. Its preparation procedure is also consistent with the manual provided to them. Therefore expanding vermicomposting technology in the area has the potential to enhance sustainable crop and land productivity.  Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. Tech. 12(2): 88-95, December 2022

Coffee pulp and husk are the main by-products generated by the coffee processing plants and are disposed into arable land and surface water causing environmental pollution. Therefore, the major objectives of the present study were to isolate and characterize the dominant microbes during the composting periods. Coffee husk + Cow dung, Coffee husk + Poultry manure and Coffee husk + Desmodium triflorum in 3:1 (v/v) ratio were used to prepare the compost. A total of 729 microbial isolates were recovered from composting coffee husk and other combinations. Bacteria (37.04%) were the dominant group followed by actinomycetes (33.74%) and fungi (29.22%). Amongst the bacteria actinomycetes were dominant (78.09%) followed by Bacillus species (48.45%) and Pseudomonas species (37.25%). The mycoflora of coffee husk compost piles were dominated by Rhizopus species (23.09%) followed by Mucor species (23%) Aspergillus species (10.7%) and Pencillium species (10.7%). The successions of microbe in 3 of the compost piles were different during the sampling periods.