On-farm Characterization of Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) Landraces in the Highlands of North Gondar, Ethiopia

Abstract

Barley is an important crop for the North Gondar highlands of Amhara Region, Ethiopia. To assess the characterization of barley landraces, 180 farmers from six villages in three districts of north Gondar zone were selected and surveyed. With regard to distribution status, most of the recorded landraces of barley were endangered. The main end uses of barley in the study area were kolo, beso, tela, injera, korefe, kita and kinche. According to farmers, the main criteria for selecting a variety was varietal characteristics mainly in the pre-harvest operation. The main characteristics for doing so are length of the spike, size of the seed, amount of seed per spike, ability to withstand disease, stand of the plant, tillering ability, number of rows, and germination ability. The majority of farmers renew the seed mostly between 1 and 3 years. The main reason for renewing are production decline, to prevent landraces from elimination and to increase productivity. The majority of the farmers stated that they do not store seeds for long period of time associated with the fact that they hardly produce any surplus that can be stored for longer years. In barley production, women have roles of joint decisions on number and types of varieties to grow, plot allocation, and storage. However, postharvest processing is mainly decided by women. Farmers have proverbs associated with how much women are important in saving and maintaining barley landraces and make ready when the need arises. Hence, barley genetic resources should be conserved before they are lost and farmers" variety selection criteria should be incorporated in the modern breeding of barley. The active involvement of women in the maintenance and improvement of landraces should not be undermined in the modern crop improvement programs.

Genetic diversity and population structure of barley landraces from Southern Ethiopia’s Gumer district: Utilization for breeding and conservation

“…We identified 30 different barley landraces in Ethiopia’s Gumer district ( Table 1 and S1 Table ). The landraces identified by the farmers have a local name that describes their characteristic values [ 38 – 42 ].…”

Farmers’ knowledge on cultivation, utilization and conservation practices of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) in three selected districts in Ethiopia

“…This study's result showed that the majority of farmers (91.3%) who cultivate barely were married. A similar study in Welmera and Ejjera districts also showed that the majority (78%) of farmers who used to grow barley were married [ 22 ]. This may imply that most local farmers who cultivate barley are married.…”

“…Farmers designate local names based on characteristics of barley such as spikelet length, dehulling, digestibility, row type, seed size, seed color, yield, kernel color, plant height, and place of origin, use-values, and the person who first introduced the barley to the area. According to the results of various studies, Ethiopian farmers utilize the majority of these traits to identify, name, and describe barley varieties in their areas [ 7 , 9 , 21 , 22 , 33 ]. Similar research, which was done on eset [ 34 ] and on beans [ 35 ], reported that farmers attach local names with different characteristics that are used to describe and differentiate.…”

“…In a similar study conducted in two districts of West Shewa, no other cereal crop can be processed into so many different forms of food so as barley [ 15 ]. Various localized Ethiopian traditional foodstuff and local drinks, which have been prepared from barley varieties, were reported from different parts of Ethiopia [ 21 , 22 , 40 ]. Farmers use their own knowledge that was gained through experiences for seed selection and conservation.…”

“…From a genetic resource utilization and conservation point of view, there is a potential to exploit the genetic differences by making use of farmers’ knowledge, as the names that farmers give to varieties is the unit that they manage and select over time [ 18 , 19 ]. In this regard, farmers’ knowledge and on-farm diversity of barley was assessed in Bale and North Shewa [ 20 ], Tigray region [ 18 ], Welmera and Ejere districts [ 21 ], highlands of North Gondar [ 22 ], northwestern parts [ 6 ] and Bale high lands of Ethiopia [ 23 ].…”