The Effect of Housing and Waste Management Practice for Milk Production in Arba Minch Town, Gamo Zone, Ethiopia

The objective of the study was to assess waste management practice of small holder dairy farms in Arba Minch town. The survey methodology was systematically purposive sampling using semi-structure questionnaires. Herd composition were observed lactating cows (15%), pregnant cow (10%), lactating and pregnant (20 %), heifer (10%) bull (10%) oxen (10%) male calf (10%) and female calf (15%). While in the sechaarea; lactating (20%), pregnant (10%), lactating and pregnant cow (25 %), heifer (10%) bull (5%) oxen (10%) male calf (10%) and female calf (10%). So in the study area most respondent holds lactating and pregnant cows. Respondent uses open barn, open camp and others. That not comfortable for animal. This covers (22%), (7.5%) and (2.5%) of respondent respectively. The major wastes are dung, urine (52.5%).Most respondent (95%) said that wastes affect animal, human, environment. It sometimes cause of complain with neighbors due to leaking of wastes and bad smell from the farm (82.5) and source some zoonotic disease, cough and etc.

Study on Prevalence and Major Species Identification of Ixodidae Ticks of Bovine in Soddo Zuria Districts of Wolayta Zone in Southern Nation Nationalities and People’s Region

A cross-sectional study design was conducted from November 2019 to April 2020 to identify the major ixodidae tick species and their prevalence in Sodo Zuria districts of Wolaita Zone in SNNPR of Ethiopia. A total of 3287(1701 male and 1586 female) adult ixodid ticks were collected from 500 animals during the study period. In this study three genera/sub-genus; Amblyomma, Rh. (Boophilus) and Rhipicephalus and four species were identified. From the three genera Amblyomma takes highest prevalence (45.29%). From four species identified, two of them belong to genus Amblyomma; Amblyommavariegatum and Amblyommacohaerence, one Boophilus; Boophilusdecoloratus and one Rhipicephalus; Rhipicephalusevertsievertsi. The quantitative hierarchy of the tick species was Rh. evertsi (14.40%), A. cohaerence (17.60%), A. variegatum (27.66%) and B. decoloratus (40.34%) in ascending order. Therefore, the result indicated that B. decoloratus (40.34%) and A. variegatum (27.66%) are the most abundant tick species of cattle in Sodo Zuria districts. Except B. decoloratus of which more females than male were collected, the number of male ticks counted were exceed those of female. The result of this study also demonstrated a significance variation (p<0.05) on infestation between local, cross and exotic breed cattle’s with highest prevalence in exotic breeds (75%),than both cross (56.2%) and local (68%) breeds and poor body conditioned cattle’s. Although a comparatively higher infestation was found on animals > 4 years compared with ≤ 4 year ones and between females than males and the difference was not statistically significant (p >0.05). Acaricide application was the main tick control method in the study area. Thus strategic application of acaricides might minimize the burden of ticks on the cattle of the study area.

Effect of Plant Spacing on Yield and Yield Components of Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) Cultivars at Wolaita Sodo University, Ethiopia

Potato is a very important food and cash crop in Ethiopia, especially in the high and mid altitude areas. It is important to choose and adjust potato cultivars with appropriate population per unit area to get for better yield and quality. This experiment was conducted with the objective to determine appropriate plant spacing for different potato cultivar at Wolaita Sodo during belg cropping season. The experiment was arranged in a Factorial combination of three plant spacing (60 x 30, 75, x 30 and 90x 30 cm), and four potato cultivars (Belete, Gudene, Chala and Local) in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Results revealed that both the main effect of cultivars and plant spacing significantly (P < 0.05) affected yield and yield components of potato while their interaction is non-significant (P > 0.05) for most of the parameters considered. Days to flowering, days to maturity, plant height, leaf area index, total tuber yield (TTY), average tuber weight per plant, marketable tuber yield (MTY),unmarketable tuber numbers, dry matter content and harvest index were significantly affected by main effect of cultivar and plant spacing. Days to 50% emergency and stem number per hill were influenced only by the main effect cultivar. Whereas, marketable tuber numbers and total tuber numbers were significantly affected by the interaction effects of cultivars and plant spacing .Total tuber yield 34.40 t/ha) and marketable tuber yield (29.31 t/ha) of cultivar Gudene were significantly higher than TTY (23.71 t/ha) and MTY (18.43 t/ha) of Local cultivars. Cultivar Gudene produced 45.08%, 17.96% and 6.6 % more TTY over Local, Chala and Belete respectively. However, the result was statistically in par with cultivar Belete. Cultivar Gudene and Belete produced more than one fold MTY over Local cultivar. Regarding spacing, the highest total tuber and marketable tuber yield recorded from 60cm inter row spacing and the lowest from 90cm and 75cm inter row spacing resulted intermediate yield. Therefore, from this study, it can be concluded Gudane and Belete cultivars at a plant spacing of 60 x 30 cm and 75 x 30 cm resulted in highest marketable tuber yield could be recommended to potato growers in the study.

Role of Sesbania sesban (L.) Merrill for Soil Fertility Improvement in Ethiopia: A Review

Most of world’s agricultural land is degrading rapidly, and productions of agricultural crops are declined in Ethiopia due to land degradation and reduction of soil fertility. Growing of fertilizer trees in agricultural lands is timely and cost efficient way to enhance soil fertility parameters. Fertilizer trees are used to improve the condition of soils used for farming. They capture nitrogen from the air and put it in the soil through their roots and falling leaves. Sesbania sesban, Gliricidia, Tephrosia, and Faidherbia albida are known as fertilizer trees. Sesbania sesban is multipurpose fast-growing, perennial legume tree and N-fixing shrub suitable as a soil quality improver. Sesbania sesban can grow as agroforestry component and alley cropping. It provides green manure and its leaves produce rich compost and this maintain soil fertility through Biological nitrogen fixation

Effect of Organic and Inorganic Fertilizers on Agronomic Growth and Soil Properties of Coffee (Coffea arabica L.) at Jimma, Southwestern Ethiopia

A field experiment was conducted at Jimma Agricultural Research Center, Agaro Agricultural Research Sub Center, southwestern Ethiopia for five consecutive cropping seasons from 2015/16 to 2019/20 to evaluate effect of organic (conventional compost) and inorganic NP fertilizers on agronomic growth and soil properties of coffee (Coffea arabica L.). The treatments consisted of 100% recommended decomposed coffee husk alone, 100% recommended NP rate alone, 100% of NP + 25% of compost (DCH), 75% of NP + 50% of compost (DCH), 50% of NP + 50% of compost (DCH), 50% of NP + 75% of compost (DCH), 25% of NP + 75% of compost (DCH), 25% of NP + 100% of compost (DCH) and Control (without input, farmers’ practice). The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with three replications. Higher yield of clean coffee yield was obtained from the application of 50% dose of nitrogen and phosphorous from inorganic fertilizer sources and 50% dose of decomposed coffee husk (2083.5kg ha-1) while the lowest clean coffee yield (1570.5kg ha-1) was obtained from no application of fertilizers. Application of organic fertilizers (compost) with inorganic fertilizers gave statistically similar yield components to NP fertilizer alone for five years. Significant differences (p>0.05) due to soil nutrient sources were observed in coffee height where inorganic fertilizer treatment resulted in tallest coffee plants (348.23 cm) and no application of nutrients having the shortest coffee trees (200.49 cm) after two year. Lower yield and yield components of Limu1 coffee were achieved from no application of organic and inorganic fertilizer sources. In conclusion, organic fertilizers (conventional compost) alone cannot provide a viable substitute for inorganic fertilizer without causing a significant yield. Therefore, integrated use of organic and inorganic fertilizers was recommended for coffee production at Jimma, southwestern Ethiopia and other similar agro ecology.

Influence of Slope Gradient on Coffee Soil Fertility in Goma Woreda of Oromia Region

This study was to evaluate the influence slope gradient on coffee soil fertility. Accordingly, soil samples, and field history was collected from 10 coffee farms during pinhead phase. Soil samples collected from 0-30 cm depth were prepared and analyzed in the laboratory following standard procedures. For data analysis, one-way ANOVA was used. The results revealed that coffee cultivations have practiced under wide range of slope gradients in study sites. Variations in slope gradients significantly influenced the coffee soil fertility. Consequently, OM, clay, CEC, available P, Mg and Na generally showed a decreasing trend with increasing slope gradient, whereas sand was opposite. For sound conclusion, appropriate soil and water conservation measures, N, P, K, organic fertilizers are recommended for future work.

Genetic Diversity Assessment and Biological Description of Caster bean crop (Riciunus communis L.)

Castor bean is an important nonedible oilseed crop that has many industrial uses. Genetic diversity in a germplasm is the fundamental requirement for crop improvement programs. There are several genetic markers available for assessment of genetic diversity among the genotypes and accessions. Though castor bean is a monotypic, it exhibits wide phenotypic diversity. In castor bean, genetic markers such as agro-morphological characters, biochemical and cytological markers were widely used in characterization of genetic variation in the germplasm from India, Nigeria, Turkey, China, Brazil, Iran, and Ethiopia which indicated a low-to-high-level diversity in the castor bean germplasm depending on the markers and the genotypes studied.

Dairy Cattle Genetic Improvement and Breeding Practice in Gacho Baba Woreda Gamo Zone, Southern Ethiopia

The study was conducted in Gacho Baba Woreda, Gamo Zone with the aims to assess dairy cattle breeding practices of the communities. A total of 80 households were selected purposively by setting the criteria of having dairy cattle. In the study area 70.6% of the respondents practices natural free mating. Around 26% of the respondents practice natural controlled mating. The remaining 3.4% of the sampled household use AI technology trough AI technicians. natural mating (77.5%) was the common practice of mating in the study area followed by both (natural mating and artificial insemination) (12.5%)methods. irrespective of the agro ecologies, most of the respondents depended on bulls (60%) reared by their neighbors/friends. The primary problem identified by respondents was lack of AI Technicians skill, AI Equipment’s, Management problem, and Lack of AI were reported to be the most limiting factors to cattle breeding practices with index value 0.283, 0.237, 0.259, and 0.219 respectively.

Phytochemical Study and Antioxidant Activity of Annona muricata (Annonaceae) and Corchorus olitorius (Tiliaceae) Two Medicinal Plants from the Ivorian Pharmacopoeia Used in the Treatment of Diabetes

Annona muricata and Corchorus olitorius are two medicinal plants whose leaves are widely used in Ivory Coast both in nutrition and for the treatment of various pathologies because of their phytochemical compositions. The objective of this study was to determine the phytochemicals and to assess the antioxidant property of the leaves of these two plants. The phytochemical study was carried out using tests for the identification and quantification of phytoconstituents. As for the study of antioxidant activity, it was carried out by measuring the anti-free radical activity either by ABTS or by DPPH. Qualitative phytochemical screening revealed the presence of flavonoids, polyphenols, saponins, sterols, catechetical tannins and terpenes. The quantitative phytochemical screening of the extracts showed that the content of flavonoids (329.10 ± 2.51 mg Eq quercetin/Kg) and that of polyphenols (82.09 ± 0.13 mg Eq gallic acid/g) of Annona muricata are higher than the content of flavonoids (178.45 ± 1.09 mg Eq quercetin/Kg) and that of polyphenols (67.98 ± 5.22 mg Eq gallic acid/g) of Corchorus olitorius. The results of the antioxidant activity by measurement of the ABTS radical shows that the aqueous extract of Annona muricata exhibits the best activity with an IC50 value of 1.79 ± 0.15 μM, while the aqueous extract of Corchorus olitorius records an IC50 value of 2.64 ± 0.05 μM. Similar results are observed with the measurement of DPPH. The various metabolites demonstrated have various therapeutic properties which may be involved in the treatment of diabetes. This would confirm the therapeutic use reported by the populations. However, the evaluation of the antimalarial, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory activities as well as the toxicity test of the aqueous extract of these plants would be necessary.

Management, Pest and Diseases of Stingless Bee (Trigona iridipennis Smith) with a Special Focus to Kerala, India

Stingless bees are highly social insects which populated the tropical earth 65 million years ago longer than honey bees. They are limited to tropics and subtropics lacking venom apparatus and cannot sting. Impacts of anthropogenic influences on honey bees were already reported. Recent studies also showed that the nesting behaviour of Trigona (Tetragonula) iridipennis Smith in natural habitat also vary due to interaction, pheromones and environmental stimulus. Trigona iridipennis Smith shows great diversity in plant selection for dietary as well as resin sources. The shift towards ornamental plants for foraging may be an adaptation evolved in response to human modification of the environment. The bees collect resin from a variety of sources for building nest, its maintenance and also for defence. Bee traffic is found to be related to time, season, and strength of the colony. The adult black soldier fly, H. illucens fly which thrived on decaying organic matter occasionally found entry into the stingless bee hives through the entrance tube, especially on weak colonies. The adult fly did not feed on the brood, pollen and honey pots but the larval stage of the pest damaged the colonies. The nitidulid beetle Aethina sp. damaged brood cells, pollen and honey pots. The study also highlights the various food sources of Trigona iridipennis Smith in Kerala which can be further explored for flourishing meliponiculture.