Factors Associated With Minimum Dietary Diversity Among Children Aged 6 to 23 Months in Debre Berhan Town, Central Ethiopia: Community-based Cross-sectional Study

Background: Minimum dietary diversity (MDD) is the consumption of four or more food groups from the seven food groups. Poor infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices in the first 2 years of age are among major causes of childhood undernutrition, illness, and mortality. Therefore, this study aimed at investigating MDD and its associated factors among IYC aged 6–23 months in Debre Berhan town, central Ethiopia.Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was undertaken from January 1 to 30, 2017. A simple random sampling technique was used to sample 377 IYC aged 6-23 months with mothers/caregivers. An interviewer-administered structured and pretested questionnaire was used to collect data through a face-to-face interview. Data were cleaned and entered into Epidata 3.1, exported to SPSS software version 20. Logistic regression was fitted and an odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval (CI) and p-value less than 0.05 was used to identify factors associated with MDD. Results: A total of 377 IYC aged 6-23 months with mothers/caregivers were participated in the study. The proportion of children who met the MDD practice was 58.4%. Mother’s education [(AOR = 0.15; 95% CI = 0.02-0.88), (AOR = 0.21; 95% CI = 0.05-0.97)], mother’s occupation (AOR = 0.28; 95% CI = 0.15-0.54), father’s occupation (AOR = 3.45; 95% CI = 1.40-8.54), and number of antenatal care visit by mothers (AOR = 0.54; 95% CI = 0.30-0.97) were factors associated with MDD among IYC.Conclusion: Even though the study showed better progress as compared to the national prevalence of the consumption of MDD, it is substandard in the study area. Thus, more efforts need to be done to achieve the recommended MDD intake for all children aged between 6 and 23 months. Increasing mothers’ level of education, creating employment opportunities for both mothers and fathers’, and increasing the frequency of ANC service use are vital interventions to improve IYCF practices in Debre Berhan town.

Cultivation of Pleurotus ostreatus on Agricultural Wastes and Their Combination

Background. Mushrooms are increasingly becoming an important component of diets worldwide, and it is of paramount importance to choose appropriate substrates to grow them. The objective of this study was to grow Pleurotus ostreatus mushroom using different agricultural substrates. Methods. Corncobs, finger millet straw, and bamboo waste were collected from different sites of the Awi Zone. The substrates were chopped into small pieces, and 500 g of their dry mass alone and their combination was measured, packed in a polythene bag, moistened, and pasteurized. The cooled substrates were inoculated with a spoon of P. ostreatus spawn brought from Debre Berhan University. The bags were placed in the growing room, and growth parameters were recorded continuously with environmental variables. The experimental setup was a complete randomized design, six treatments with three replicates. Results. The fastest spawn running phase of P. ostreatus was 28.71 ± 0.80 days, pinhead formation was 32.36 ± 0.26 days, and fruiting bodies’ formation was 5.19 ± 0.74 days after the pinhead was recorded on the corncob substrate. The highest fresh weight and biological efficiency with the significant statistical association were obtained from P. ostreatus grown on finger millet straw (253.07 ± 1.05 and 50.20 ± 0.47, respectively). The highest average number of pinheads and fruiting bodies (29.60 and 11.44, respectively) was recorded on finger millet straw. The lowest biological efficiency (20.80 ± 0.41), fresh weight (101.48 ± 0.91), number of pinheads (14.40), and number of fruiting bodies (4.25) were recorded from a mixture of corncob and bamboo waste (50% each) substrates. Conclusion. Finger millet straw is recommended as the best substrate for the cultivation of P. ostreatus. The mixed substrate of corncob and bamboo waste (1 : 1) for P. ostreatus cultivation is not encouraged due to poor growth performance.

Prevalence and associated factors of gender based violence among Baso high school female students, 2020

Background Gender-based violence (GBV) is a common reproductive health problem, especially in developing countries. It is still the first research priority area in Africa that is identified by World Health Organization. The main aim of this study was to identify the prevalence and determinants of Gender Based Violence among Baso high school female students in Debre Berhan town, Ethiopia. Methods An institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted in Debre Berhan, Ethiopia. A total of 350 female students were selected by stratified sampling technique. A self-administered structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. Each independent variable was fitted separately into bivariate logistic analysis, and Variables with p-values less than 0.25 in bivariable model were fitted into multivariate logistic regression analysis to evaluate the degree of association with gender-based violence. The significance level was obtained with 95% CI and p-value < 0.05. Result The prevalence of GBV during the lock- down was 36.2% (95% CI 0.3, 0.4), and the lifetime prevalence of GBV was 47.2% (95% CI 0.4, 0.5). The prevalence of life time sexual violence and physical violence were found to be 27.99% (95% CI 0.2, 0.3), and 37.99% (95% CI 0.3, 0.4), respectively. Sexual violence and physical violence during the lockdown were found to be 21.3% and 17.8%, respectively. Respondents educational performance (AOR = 4.5; 95% CI 1.8, 11.3), monthly pocket money received from their parents (AOR = 3; 95% CI 1.6, 5.6), free discussion about reproductive issue (AOR = 2.7; 95% CI 1.4, 5.2), and experience of sexual intercourse (AOR = 13.2; 95% CI 4.8, 36.4) were found to be associated factors of gender based violence. Conclusion and recommendation Gender Based Violence is still a significant sexual and reproductive health issue in Ethiopia. Governmental and non-governmental organizations should give due attention to this problem. Moreover, further large-scale studies are needed to estimate the national figure of GBV and to identify route causes.

Growth and Bulb Yield of Garlic as Influenced by Clove Size

Garlic is an important cash crop in many regions of Ethiopia. However, the yield of the crop is constrained by several factors. Among these, inappropriate clove size is one of the major agronomic practices that can decrease the yield of the crop. Hence, a field experiment was conducted during the 2020/21 main cropping season at Debre Berhan University, College of Agriculture and Natural Resource Sciences, demonstration and research site to evaluate the effect of clove size on growth and bulb yield of garlic (Allium sativum L.). The treatments consisted of five clove sizes: 1–1.49 g, 1.5–1.99 g, 2–2.50 g, 2.51–2.99 g, and 3–3.5 g. An improved variety “Tseday” was used as a planting material. The experiment was laid out as a randomized complete block design in a factorial arrangement and replicated for three times. The results revealed that clove size significantly influenced all growth and yield parameters of garlic. Planting of 3–3.5 g cloves reduced days to emergence by 11 and 6.33 days and days to maturity by 28.33 and 18.00 days, respectively, as compared to planting of 1–1.49 g and 2–2.5 g cloves. This treatment also increased total bulb yield by 25.88% and 15.58%, respectively, as compared to planting of 1–1.49 g and 2–2.5 g cloves. In addition, this treatment significantly increased most of the growth and bulb yield components. Hence, it can be concluded that planting of 3–3.5 g cloves could be recommended to enhance early emergence, good vegetative growth, and total bulb yield of garlic.