Genetic variability studies provide basic information for breeders to develop different stress-tolerant varieties. In the present study, forty-nine Tef genotypes were evaluated under strong acid soil (pH 4.97) and lime treated (pH 5.90) soils in the lathouse at Assosa Agricultural Research Center in 2017 to estimate the genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance of various traits of tef genotypes in relation to soil acidity stress. The result indicated that there was high significant (p<0.01) differences among genotypes for all traits under both environments; except for shoot biomass in the combined data analysis. The two environments differed significantly in their effect on all traits except on plant height, panicle length, culm length, total and fertile tillers and number of primary branches, although environment contribution to total TSS was less than 10% in 13 of the 17 traits studied; its high contribution was to harvest index (42.6%) and grain yield pot-1 (32.5%). Big reduction due to soil acidity was recorded for yield of primary panicle (27.78%), grain yield pot-1 (33.85%) and harvest index (35.6%). A contribution of G was from 44.5% in harvest index to 90.5% in panicle length. The GxE interaction was also significant for all traits and it contributed more than 15% in 11 of the traits, indicating inconsistency of performance of genotypes under acidic and lime treated soils. PCV, GCV, and GAM were high (>20%) for fertile tillers per plant, panicle weight, yield of primary panicle, grain yield, and harvest index under both acidity levels and in the combined analysis. Heritability was high (>60%) for all traits except for shoot biomass in the combined analysis and lime treated soil. In general, there was wide genetic variability in the traits studied pointing to the possibility of improving the desired traits, including grain yield under both environments and over environments through the selection of elite genotypes.

Tea is one of the most commonly consumed stimulants in the world. It is cultivated commercially at Wushwush, Gumero, and Chewaka tea estate plantations, in Ethiopia. Over 150,000 hectares of Ethiopian land are available for the production of high-quality tea, but only 3,099 hectares are currently under cultivation. In Ethiopia, tea clones Mlk-1, Mlk-2, 11/56, S-15/10, FNF, 11/4, 6/8, L6, B9, Chai, BB-35, and SR-18 are commercially grown. Ethiopia’s favorable environmental conditions for high-quality tea production increased the availability of tea throughout the year, and the availability of a sufficient labor force is a significant opportunity for tea companies. However, tea production is still infant because it needs huge capital to establish the tea plantations and production, the pest problems, limitations of improved technologies like cultivars, and lack of tea genetic resources. Besides, there is a limitation of comprehensive research to develop innovative technologies in the case of tea agronomic, breeding, and pest management for Ethiopian conditions. Thus, the government should invite investors and facilitate necessary things for the investors to increase the tea industry in the country. The tea research should be strengthened for the development and implementation of the appropriate technologies.

Cereal is very important crop for human consumption in the world. Among the cereal crops, tef is one of the most popular and staple crop that originated and highly diversified in Ethiopia. The demand is very high in the country, and it needs production expansion to the area where tef is not primary grown. The current study was consists of forty-nine tef genotypes were conducted by using simple lattice design at Assosa, Western Ethiopia for two consecutive cropping seasons (2016 and 2017) to evaluate the performance of tef genotypes for the non-traditional tef growing area particularly Assosa, Ethiopia. The analysis of variance indicated that there was high (p ≤ 0.01) significant difference among tested tef genotypes for days to heading, plant height, panicle length, culm length, grain yield, and harvest index. From the mean performance of genotypes, the maximum grain yield of 14.70 kg ha-1 , 14.33 kg ha-1 , 13.49 kg ha-1 , and 13.31 kg ha-1 were obtained from G-12, G-1, G-37 and G-19. These genotypes were showed superior performance in grain yield and they could be recommended for further evaluating under the next breeding phase of variety trail.

Article InfoSoil acidity stress is one of the yield limiting factors in high rainfall areas of Ethiopia such as the Benishangul-Gumuz region and developing acid tolerant varieties are the most cost-effective method to tackle the problem. Forty-nine tef genotypes were evaluated under two soil regimes, acidic (pH 4.97) and lime-treated (pH 5.90) soils using completely randomized design (CRD) with three replication in the lathouse at Assosa Agricultural Research Centre in 2017 to identify acid stress tolerant genotypes of tef based on selection indices and determine the most appropriate indices. Grain yield (g pot -1 ) under both soil conditions used in the computation of acid stress indices. The most effective stress indices which were highly correlated with the yield in both environments were stress tolerance index (STI), geometric mean productivity (GMP) and mean productivity (MP). YSI, PCRD, TOL, and SSI identified the stable genotypes with little yield reduction, however, they are not correlated with high yield and selected genotypes which had low in yield potential. Five genotypes, namely DZ-01-3492 (#28), DZ-01-3733(#29), DZ-01-3405(#34) and DaboBanja(#40) with high grain yield under both environments were identified which are the most widely adapted genotypes. In addition, the genotypes adapted for one of the environment were also identified and therefore, recommended for the future breeding program.

Cereal is very important crop for human consumption in the world. Among the cereal crops, tef is one of the most popular and staple crop that originated and highly diversified in Ethiopia. The demand is very high in the country and it needs production expansion to the area where tef is not primary grown. The current study was consists of forty-nine tef genotypes were conducted by using simple lattice design at Assosa, Western Ethiopia for two consecutive cropping seasons (2016 and 2017) to evaluate the performance of tef genotypes for the non-traditional tef growing area particularly Assosa, Ethiopia. The analysis of variance indicated that there was high (p#0.01) significant difference among tested tef genotypes for days to heading, plant height, panicle length, culm length, grain yield and harvest index. From the mean performance of genotypes, the maximum grain yield of 14.70, 14.33, 13.49 and 13.31 kgha-1 were obtained from G-12, G-1, G-37 and G-19. These genotypes were showed superior performance in grain yield and they could be recommended for further evaluating under the next breeding phase of variety trail.