International Journal of Agriculture and Biosciences

The trial was carried out at three locations such as at Hawassa, Wondo Genet and Koka from 2014 to 2015 to determine appropriate environment and harvesting cycle for the growth, yield and yield components of Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia L.). The experiment comprised three levels of harvesting cycle (Cycle 1, 2 and 3) were used on a plot size of 3.6 m length and 3.6 m width arranged in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four replications. SAS (version 9) software was used to compute the analysis of variance. The LSD test was used to compare the mean separations at 5 % probability level. The result revealed that, most of the studied parameters were influenced significantly by the main effects (location and harvesting cycle) and interaction effect. The highest percent essential oil content and essential oil yield/ha were obtained at Koka from the second harvesting cycle and Hawassa from the first harvesting cycle, respectively. In contrast, the respective least value was obtained at Wondo Genet from the second harvesting cycle and at Koka from the third harvesting cycle. Therefore, cultivation of Lavender at Hawassa and a place where having the same agro-ecologies to Hawassa from the tasted harvesting cycle is highly recommended for the production of the highest essential oil yield.

Keywords: Lavandula angustifolia L., Harvesting cycle, Percent essential oil content, Essential oil yield

Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is the second most important source of human dietary proteins and the third most important source of calories. Also, it has a high nutritional value with important protein contents (~22%), minerals (calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, zinc), and vitamins necessary to warrant the food security of people in the developing countries. A field experiment was conducted on farmer’s field of Kako kebele of Benatsemay woreda of South Omo Zone of Southern Ethiopia using six improved common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris (L.)) varieties under rain fed condition in 2015. The objective of the study was to select the best performing common bean varieties that will increase productivity and production of common in the target areas. The treatments involved were thirteen improved varieties of common bean Tatu, Remeda, Sari-1, Wajo, Ibado and Deme. The experiment was carried out using a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications at Kako in 2015. The result of analysis of variance showed that both of the phenological and yield and yield component parameters studied were significantly affected by varieties. In this study, there were significant variations observed among the common bean varieties for days to flowering, plant height, 1000 seed weight and grain yield. The effect of varieties on grain yield was significant and the best performing varieties of common bean namely Tatu (1.033kg/plot), Remeda (0.959kg/plot), Sari-1(0.849kg/plot) or Wajo (0.908kg/plot) would be recommended for the specific community and its vicinity even though further study should be carried out including a number of recently released varieties for improved common bean production in the target area and also to put the recommendation on strong basis.

Keywords: Common Bean, Phenological Parameters, Yield Components, Varieties, Yield

In Ethiopia, a significant number of studies have been done on land degradation and determinants of land management practices in different parts of the country. Several attempts have been made in the agriculture, forestry and other development sectors to improve land productivity, food availability and cash income of the poor farmers. However, it has not been still possible to curb up the situation since all the efforts have lacked proper planning and implementation of the research and development endeavors particularly in the field of natural resources. In recent days the idea of area development using an integrated watershed management (IWM) approach has received recognition in the national development strategy. The objective of the study to establish common understanding in integrated watershed management among different stakeholders, to select representative watersheds in areas with different agro ecologies, farming system and levels of land degradation, and to characterize biophysical, socioeconomic and institutional issues, and prepare intervention in the selected watershed, A multidisciplinary team was formed for site selection, characterization, planning and implementation of the watershed research. by the team members the site was selected on the Raya Azobo wereda it is known as Guguf water shed and formal survey was carried out using structured questionnaire to quantify and verify the informal survey findings. The site selection was depending on different agro ecologies, farming system and levels of land degradation low altitude-low rainfall-mixed farming). The preliminarily delineated boundary was verified in the field using GPS and establishes reference benchmarks for future operations. Finally, map of the watershed was produced, and other information such as elevation ranges, area, slope and other aspect was extracted. The delineated watershed was geo-referenced and digitized for its contour, roads, rivers and other features. The selected watershed does vary in biophysical, land use, soil type conditions, irrigation coverage, means of water use and the type and number of livestock they support, including agro-ecological zoning, elevation, rainfall pattern and amount, temperature, land use and soil types. The analysis was done by SPSS v20.as a result the soil type 45.2% red soil, 22.6% black soil, 29.0% clay and 3.2% other type this is in the cultivated land. Similarly, the slope of the study area is also58.1% flat, 29.0% slightly sloppy and 12.9% sloppy. The application of fertilizer for the common crops in the study area 77.4% of the farmers apply fertilizer for maize and 22.4% without fertilizer, in line with this for teff 61.3% apply fertilizer and 38.7% without fertilizer. For sorghum 87.1% apply fertilizer and 12.9% also without fertilizer, similarly for barley 80.6% apply fertilizer and 19.4% without fertilizer. In general, the primary research interventions in the lowland agro-ecology would focus on the identified soil and water management, Crop Production Practices, Livestock Production Practices, Forestry and Agro-forestry Practices constraints involving integrated multidisciplinary approaches and focus on conservation based, integrated watershed management research.

Keywords: Site selection, Awareness creation, Delineation, action plan, Interventions, Ethiopia

Arabica Coffee is one of the most important agricultural commodities in Ethiopia. Despite considerable effort at vegetative propagation of coffee plants, they still are propagated by seedlings produced from seeds. Coffee seeds have been considered intermediate storage behavior with varying results. It is highly desirable that seeds are stored safely to optimize coffee seedling production at the appropriate time and season with ideal climatic conditions for planting in the field. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of storage temperature, time of storage and initial seed moisture content on germination and seedling performances of coffee seeds and to determine the appropriate seed handling method. In this experiment, the effects of storage temperature (ST) with two levels (15oC & ambient), time of storage with six levels (sowing after 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 months) and initial seed moisture content with four levels (12, 17, 22 & 27%) on coffee seedling growth were studied in a split-split-plot factorial design. The data collected were subjected to Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) using statistical analysis system version 9.2 software (SAS, 2009). Treatment means were separated using LSD at 0.05 probability level. The present findings of storage environment with cold temperature (15oC) maintained early seedling growth parameters much better performances than did ambient temperature condition. All tested seedling growth parameters were highest at initial time of storage. After third month seed quality drastically reduced especially under ambient storage condition. Seeds dried to 12% moisture content showed inferior performance throughout the trial period. Seeds with 27% initial moisture content showed higher performances at initial storage time but when aged drastically declined. Storage temperature, time of storage and initial seed moisture contents showed highly significant main and interaction effects and seeds dried to intermediate moisture level (17 & 22%), stored under cold temperature and sown at early times resulted in enhanced seedling growth. Hence, it is advisable drying coffee seeds to about 17% to 22% moisture contents and keep under storage with relatively lower temperatures at about 15oC for not more than six months of storage. As the present finding was limited to single cultivar and done under specific environmental condition further investigation is significant.

Keywords: Arabica coffee, Seedling, Growth

Soyabeans is known to be attacked by Root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp) causing serious yield loss of 17-80%. The use of chemicals to control the pest is successful but expensive and environmentally harazardous. Since sorghum is tolerant by supporting less reproduction of root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp) it is used as intercrop and in rotation to study its effect on M. javanica (MJ). The research was aimed at determining the effect of these crops in rotation including their intercrop on M. javanica population in soil, their growth and yield. Nine possible rotation combinations over a period of three years was laid. They are sb-sg-sb (T1), sb-sb/sg-sg(T2), sb-sb-sb (T3), sg-sb/sg-sb/sg(T4), sg-sg-sb/sg(T5), sg-sb-sb/sg(T¬6), sb/sg-sb/sg-sb(T7), sb/sg-sb-sb/sg(T8) and sb/sg-sg-sg(T9) in 2001, 2002 and 2003 growing seasons. Data were collected on establishment count, plant height (8 weeks and 12 weeks), yield/ha,100 grain weight, number of nodules/plant, number of pods/plant, number of root galls per plant and number of M. javanica j2/250cm3 of soil. The result indicated that there was significant difference (P=0.05) between the treatments for both sorghum and soyabeans yield. The highest sorghum yield of 1667.20kg/ha was obtained in treatment T6 in the third year. While that of Soyabeans was 1439.90kg/ha in treatment T4. However, it was at par with soyabeans yield of 1432.40kg/ha and 1242.40kg/ha in T1 and T7 respectively. There was significant difference (P=0.05) between the number of M. javanica j 2/250cm3. The lowest M. javanica j2/250cm3 of soil of 125.30 in the third year was obtained in T6. Therefore, it could be concluded that T¬6 is best crop rotation sequence to reduce the number of M. javanica population in the soil.

Keywords: Soyabeans, Sorghum, Rotation, Meloidogyne, Intercrop

Coffee seeds have been considered intermediate storage behavior with varying results. It is highly desirable that seeds are stored safely to optimize coffee seedling production at the appropriate time and season with ideal climatic conditions for planting in the field. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of time of storage and initial seed moisture content on germination and seedling emergence rate of coffee seeds. In this experiment, the effects of time of storage with six levels and initial seed moisture content with four levels on coffee seed germination and early seedling growth were studied in a split-plot factorial design. The data collected were subjected to Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) using statistical analysis system version 9.2 software (SAS, 2009). Treatment means were separated using LSD at 0.05 probability level. The present findings revealed that seed germination and seedling emergence rate were highest at initial time of storage. Seeds dried to 12% moisture content showed inferior performance throughout the trial period. Storage temperature, time of storage and initial seed moisture contents showed highly significant main and interaction effects and seeds dried to intermediate moisture level (17 & 22%), stored under cold temperature and sown at early times resulted in enhanced germination percentage and field emergence rate. Hence, it is advisable drying coffee seeds to about 17% to 22% moisture contents and keep under storage with relatively lower temperatures at about 15oC for not more than six months of storage. As the present finding was limited to single cultivar and done under specific environmental condition further investigation is significant.

Keywords: Coffee seed, Seedling, Growth

The improved nutritional value of 2600ME (Kcal/kg) diet at the instance of 8% optimum dietary Crude Fibre (CF) level sequel to enzyme supplementation for improved broiler performance may also provoke changes in the blood profile, especially serum cholesterol and glucose. Hence, this study was conducted to monitor the blood profile of unsexed Obamarshal strain of broiler chickens fed multi-fibre source-based 2600ME (Kcal/Kg) diets at varying CF (4, 8, and 12%) and Roxazyme®G2G inclusion levels (0, 200 and 400mg/kg diet) per CF level in a 3X3 factorial arrangement to produce 9 treatment diets labeled A to I in ascending order of CF and enzyme levels. Birds were provided test diets and water ad libitum in the starter and finisher phases. Blood samples were drawn from the sampled experimental birds from the neck vein at 50 days of age and were subsequently used for evaluation of haematological and serum biochemical indices in triplicate using standard procedures. The values of haematological indices for the treatment groups were generally not significantly affected by the individual variable factors and their interaction. The range of values of haematological indices was within the range for normal chickens. Similarly, the varying CF and enzyme levels and their interaction except cholesterol and glucose did not affect the serum metabolites. The values of serum cholesterol in the birds ranged from 75mg/dl for diet H (12% CF) to 97mg/dl for diet C (4% CF), which were within the range of 92 to 100mg/dl for normal chickens. However, serum glucose concentration in the birds ranged from 133mg/dl for diet A (4% CF) to 195mg/dl for diet H (12% CF) (which is outside the normal range of 167mg/dl) for normal chickens. Thus, 12% dietary CF level might have implications for lower carcass fat and higher carcass glycogen irrespective of enzyme inclusion level, which, are worthy of consideration in broiler production.

Keywords: Broiler chicken, Crude fibre, Metabolisable energy, Roxazyme®G2G, Blood profile