Tef is the foremost cereal crop largely produced and consumed mostly in Ethiopia. It is grown on more than 3.1 million hectares annually. However, it's productivity relatively low (1.85 t/ha). On the other hand, it gained recently global popularity "Super grain" as healthy and performance food due to its gluten free especially for celiac disease, diabetic and gluten allergy people. It has also high mineral contents like iron for anemia, bone and heart health as well as brain function. Lodging is a major constraint which affect both yields and quality of the grain as well as the straw. This experiment was led to assess genetic variability between the lines relating to lodging and other yield related traits. A total of forty-nine recombinant inbred lines were tested for 16 traits using simple lattice design on two sites. All the traits measured over the sites displayed highly significant differences among the lines except fertile tiller per plant, while their environmental interaction effect also highly significant for most of the traits measured. Grain yield showed the highest phenotypic coefficients of variation (PCV) (26.36%) followed by above ground biomass (23.16%), while the remaining traits showed low (<10%) to moderate (10-20%). Moderate (10-20%) genotypic coefficient of variation was recognized for above ground biomass. Plant height and panicle length showed high broad sense heritability (H 2 ) (>60%), whereas half of the remained traits showed low (<30%) and moderate (30% to 60%) heritability. Genetic advance as percent of the mean (GAM) was the highest for above ground biomass (>17.02%) and least for number of branches per panicle (0.09%). From all the traits evaluated in this study, plant height, panicle length showed high H 2 and aboveground biomass performs relatively high values of GCV, PCV and GAM. Therefore, these traits are important for selection and further improvements. This study revealed that four recombinant inbred lines had higher yield and low lodging index than local as well as standard checks.

Tef (Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter), is the major Ethiopian cereal crop which feed peoples The prevalence and damage inflicted by diseases and insect pests varies from region to region and shows large seasonal variation, the current status of diseases is generally little known. Information on the prevalence and status of diseases would be essential to devise sound management options. So, our objective is to assess the status of major tef foliar diseases in central highland area of Ethiopia. Assessment was carried in the major tef producing districts of West Shewa, South-west and North shewa zones of Ethiopia. The assessment done in 2019/2020 main cropping season along the main roads and accessible routes in each survey district, and stops made at every 5-10 km intervals based on vehicles odometers as per tef fields available. We have assessed 35 fields which have the potential to produce tef from three zones. From our assessment the major tef foliar diseases recorded were leaf rust, head smudge and spot blotch. The highest tef leaf rust severity (90S) recorded in north shewa zone Mendida district where as the lowest (0%) recorded in Awaro, Asgori, woliso and Dendi districts from South west shewa zone. The highest head smudge severity recorded in west shewa zone liben jawe district where as the lowest head smudge severity recorded in woliso, wolimera and tokekutaye district. There is no head smudge disease recorded in north shewa zone. From our assessment, we have concluded that tef leaf rust and head smudge are the most economically important diseases. Therefore, it is very crucial to develop management option to mitigate those diseases.

The aims of the experiment are to determine and understand the effect of genotype, environment, and their interaction on grain yield of tef, and to identify and release stable and high yielding tef genotype for high potential areas of country. Twelve tef genotypes including two checks were laid out in randomized complete block design using four replications for two years (2016 and 2017) at twelve representative locations of high potential areas of the country. The trial was conducted on the plot size of 2m*2m with 10 rows per plot throughout all trial sites and 1.5m between replication, 1m between plot, and 20cm between rows. Agronomic and yield data were collected and subjected to statistical analysis in order to identify the best genotypes of the evaluated genotypes. Data from individual environments and combined over twelve locations were analyzed by using R 3.5 software version. The combined data analysis over locations and years indicated that the candidate variety Kaye Murri X 3774-1 (RIL18) performed better than the two checks and the other test genotypes. It gave 7.5% and 10.65% grain yield advantages over the standard check (Quncho) and local check, respectively. The significant genotypes x environments interaction effects indicated the inconsistent performance of genotypes across the tested environments. The candidate variety DZ-Cr-458 (RIL18) is the shortest vector from the AEC axis that identified as the most stable genotype. The National Variety Release Committee in Ethiopia investigated the two-year performance of Kaye Murri X 3774-1 (RIL18) and visited several locations where the new candidate variety was grown for evaluation under variety verification trial. Based on the critiques, the National Variety Release Committee the candidate variety was approved for release Kaye Murri X 3774-1 (RIL18), for high potential areas of the country with the vernacular name of "Ebba" as a standing witnessed for the earliest known tef scientist, Dr. Tadesse Ebba.

Haricot bean, often known as Boleqe in Ethiopia. It is a major legume crop produced widely all over the world.Depending on the variety, it may adapt to a wide range of environmental conditions, from sea level to almost 3000 meters above sea level. It thrives commonly in warm climates with temperatures ranging from 18 to 24°C. Despite its importance for nutrition and export, haricot bean production in Ethiopia is limited to small regions and small-scale growers, with little or no fertilizer or soil amendments being employed. The responses of the haricot bean varieties to each limitation varied, although they are mostly determined by the environmental conditions. The main bottle neck of haricot bean production is the lack of improved high producing cultivars that suit to each agroecology. The current experiment was carried out on six released haricot bean varieties with half diallel without reciprocal crosses on the field to make F1 hybrids in all possible combinations and with the objective of evaluation of agronomic traits of haricot bean varieties and performing their half diallel cross by using complete block design. An analysis of variance revealed a highly significant difference in yield contributing components among these released varieties at 5% probability level for most of the traits. This suggests that the released haricot bean varieties have a high genetic variation.

Tef is the main cereal crop widely produced and consumed in Ethiopia and preferred by millions of local smallholder farmers. It also gained recognition as a food crop in other parts of the world very recently due to its gluten-free grains and its nutritive value. Lodging is the major factor which greatly reduces both yields and quality of tef grain as well as the straw. The current study was conducted to group the lines as their similarities and assess the magnitude of genetic distances among them; then identify the contribution of individual traits for total variations. A total of 49 lines were evaluated for 16 traits using simple lattice design at Holetta and Debre Zeit in 2017 main rainy season. All the traits evaluated over the locations showed highly significant differences among the lines except fertile tiller per plant, while the lines x location interaction effect was highly significant for most of the traits evaluated. Cluster analysis grouped the lines into four clusters based on their similarity. The highest inter-cluster distance noted between clusters two and four while the lowest was between clusters one and four. Principal component analysis showed that about 77.6% of the gross variance among lines explained by five Principal components with eigenvalues greater than unity. This study revealed that four recombinant inbred lines had higher yield than local and standard checks. RIL# 14 showed highest grain yield, low lodging index and other desirable traits than all lines, which could base and strengthen future tef breeding if incorporated as plant material; especially for lodging problem.