Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research

Maize became increasingly important in the food security of Ethiopia following the major drought and famine that occurred in 1984. More than 9 million smallholder households, more than for any other crop in the country, grow maize in Ethiopia at present. Ethiopia has doubled its maize productivity and production in less than two decades. The yield, currently estimated at >3 metric tons/ha, is the second highest in Sub-Saharan Africa, after South Africa; yield gains for Ethiopia grew at an annual rate of 68 kg/ha between 1990 and 2013, only second to South Africa and greater than Mexico, China, or India. The maize area covered by improved varieties in Ethiopia grew from 14 % in 2004 to 40 % in 2013, and the application rate of mineral fertilizers from 16 to 34 kg/ha during the same period. Ethiopia’s extension worker to farmer ratio is 1:476, compared to 1:1000 for Kenya, 1:1603 for Malawi and 1:2500 for Tanzania. Increased use of improved maize varieties and mineral fertilizers, coupled with increased extension services and the absence of devastating droughts are the key factors promoting the accelerated growth in maize productivity in Ethiopia. Ethiopia took a homegrown solutions approach to the research and development of its maize and other commodities. The lesson from Ethiopia’s experience with maize is that sustained investment in agricultural research and development and policy support by the national government are crucial for continued growth of agriculture.

African agriculture is largely traditional--characterized by a large number of smallholdings of no more than one ha per household. Crop production takes place under extremely variable agro-ecological conditions, with annual rainfall ranging from 250 to 750 mm in the Sahel in the northwest and in the semi-arid east and south, to 1500 to 4000 mm in the forest zones in the central west. Farmers often select well-adapted, stable crop varieties, and cropping systems are such that two or more crops are grown in the same field at the same time. These diverse traditional systems enhance natural enemy abundance and generally keep pest numbers at low levels. Pest management practice in traditional agriculture is a built-in process in the overall crop production system rather than a separate well-defined activity. Increased population pressure and the resulting demand for increased crop production in Africa have necessitated agricultural expansion with the concomitant decline in the overall biodiversity. Increases in plant material movement in turn facilitated the accidental introduction of foreign pests. At present about two dozen arthropod pests, both introduced and native, are recognized as one of the major constraints to agricultural production and productivity in Africa. Although yield losses of 0% to 100% have been observed on-station, the economic significance of the majority of pests under farmers' production conditions is not adequately understood. Economic and social constraints have kept pesticide use in Africa the lowest among all the world regions. The bulk of pesticides are applied mostly against pests of commercial crops such as cotton, vegetables, coffee, and cocoa, and to some extent for combating outbreaks of migratory pests such as the locusts. The majority of African farmers still rely on indigenous pest management approaches to manage pest problems, although many government extension programs encourage the use of pesticides. The current pest management research activities carried out by national or international agricultural research programs in Africa focus on classical biological control and host plant resistance breeding. With the exception of classical biological control of the cassava mealybug, research results have not been widely adopted. This could be due to African farmers facing heterogeneous conditions, not needing fixed prescriptions or one ideal variety but a number of options and genotypes to choose from. Indigenous pest management knowledge is site-specific and should be the basis for developing integrated pest management (IPM) techniques. Farmers often lack the biological and ecological information necessary to develop better pest management through experimentation. Formal research should be instrumental in providing the input necessary to facilitate participatory technology development such as that done by Farmer Field Schools, an approach now emerging in different parts of Africa.

Phosphorus is one of the seventeen essential nutrients required for plant growth. Despite its importance, it is limiting crop yield on more than 40% of the world's arable land. Moreover, global P reserves are being depleted at a higher rate and according to some estimates there will be no soil P reserve by the year 2050.This is a potential threat to sustainable crop production. Most of the P applied in the form of fertilizers may be adsorbed by the soil, and is not available for plants lacking specific adaptations. Available soil P and hence crop yield can, however, be increased through applying P containing fertilizers to feed the ever increasing world population. The P contained in crop residues if left in the field can be recycled by incorporating the residues into the soil whereas part of P in crop residues fed to livestock can be returned back to the soil in the form of manure and as bone meal. Additionally, plants have evolved a diverse array of strategies to obtain adequate P for their growth under P limiting conditions (a term called as P-efficiency mechanisms). Plant P-efficiency mechanisms include both improved uptake efficiency (the ability of a plant to take up more P under P limiting condition) and improved utilization efficiency (the ability of a plant to produce higher dry matter yield per unit P taken up). Uptake efficiency mechanisms include modification of root architecture, development of large root system, longer root hairs and thinner roots, exudation of low molecular weight organic acids, protons and enzymes such as phosphatases and phytases, association with mycorrhiza, production of cluster roots and expression of high affinity P transporters all of which contribute to increased P uptake efficiency of the plant. Other mechanisms include the use of alternative P-independent enzymes and glycolytic pathways, efficient cytoplasmic P homeostasis and higher ability to remobilize P from other plant parts all of which are part of enhanced P utilization efficiency. Traits related to the above morphological, physiological, biochemical and molecular adaptation mechanisms under P stress can be utilized in improving cultivated crops for P efficiency through breeding programs.

Advances in next-generation sequencing and genotyping technologies have enabled generation of large-scale genomic resources such as molecular markers, transcript reads and BAC-end sequences (BESs) in chickpea, pigeonpea and groundnut, three major legume crops of the semi-arid tropics. Comprehensive transcriptome assemblies and genome sequences have either been developed or underway in these crops. Based on these resources, dense genetic maps, QTL maps as well as physical maps for these legume species have also been developed. As a result, these crops have graduated from 'orphan' or 'less-studied' crops to 'genomic resources rich' crops. This article summarizes the above-mentioned advances in genomics and genomics-assisted breeding applications in the form of marker-assisted selection (MAS) for hybrid purity assessment in pigeonpea; marker-assisted backcrossing (MABC) for introgressing QTL region for drought-tolerance related traits, Fusarium wilt (FW) resistance and Ascochyta blight (AB) resistance in chickpea; late leaf spot (LLS), leaf rust and nematode resistance in groundnut. We critically present the case of use of other modern breeding approaches like marker-assisted recurrent selection (MARS) and genomic selection (GS) to utilize the full potential of genomics-assisted breeding for developing superior cultivars with enhanced tolerance to various environmental stresses. In addition, this article recommends the use of advanced-backcross (AB-backcross) breeding and development of specialized populations such as multi-parents advanced generation intercross (MAGIC) for creating new variations that will help in developing superior lines with broadened genetic base. In summary, we propose the use of integrated genomics and breeding approach in these legume crops to enhance crop productivity in marginal environments ensuring food security in developing countries.

The effects of soil bunds on runoff, losses of soil and nutrients, and crop yield are rarely documented in the Central Highlands of Ethiopia. A field experiment was set up consisting of three treatments: (i) barley-cultivated land protected with graded soil bunds (Sb); (ii) fallow land (F); and (iii) barley-cultivated land without soil bund (Bc). For 3 years (2007–2009), the effect of soil bunds on runoff, losses of soil and nutrients, and crop productivity was studied. Daily runoff and soil and nutrient losses were measured for each treatment using standard procedures while barley yield was recorded from the cultivated plots. The results showed that Sb brought about significant reduction in runoff and soil losses. Plots with Sb reduced the average annual runoff by 28 per cent and the average annual soil loss by 47 per cent. Consequently, Sb reduced losses of soil nutrients and organic carbon. However, the absolute losses were still high. This implies the need for supplementing Sb with biological and agronomic land management measures to further control soil erosion. Despite these positive impacts on soil quality, Sb do not increase crop yield. Calculated on a per-hectare basis, Sb even reduce crop yield by about 7 per cent as compared with control plots, which is entirely explained by the reduction of the cultivable area by 8·6 per cent due to the soil bunds. Suitable measures are needed to compensate the yield losses caused by the construction of soil bunds, which would convince farmers to construct these land management measures that have long-term beneficial effects on erosion control. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

To understand the genetic basis of tolerance to drought and heat stresses in chickpea, a comprehensive association mapping approach has been undertaken. Phenotypic data were generated on the reference set (300 accessions, including 211 mini-core collection accessions) for drought tolerance related root traits, heat tolerance, yield and yield component traits from 1-7 seasons and 1-3 locations in India (Patancheru, Kanpur, Bangalore) and three locations in Africa (Nairobi, Egerton in Kenya and Debre Zeit in Ethiopia). Diversity Array Technology (DArT) markers equally distributed across chickpea genome were used to determine population structure and three sub-populations were identified using admixture model in STRUCTURE. The pairwise linkage disequilibrium (LD) estimated using the squared-allele frequency correlations (r2; when r2<0.20) was found to decay rapidly with the genetic distance of 5 cM. For establishing marker-trait associations (MTAs), both genome-wide and candidate gene-sequencing based association mapping approaches were conducted using 1,872 markers (1,072 DArTs, 651 single nucleotide polymorphisms [SNPs], 113 gene-based SNPs and 36 simple sequence repeats [SSRs]) and phenotyping data mentioned above employing mixed linear model (MLM) analysis with optimum compression with P3D method and kinship matrix. As a result, 312 significant MTAs were identified and a maximum number of MTAs (70) was identified for 100-seed weight. A total of 18 SNPs from 5 genes (ERECTA, 11 SNPs; ASR, 4 SNPs; DREB, 1 SNP; CAP2 promoter, 1 SNP and AMDH, 1SNP) were significantly associated with different traits. This study provides significant MTAs for drought and heat tolerance in chickpea that can be used, after validation, in molecular breeding for developing superior varieties with enhanced drought and heat tolerance.

ABSTRACT The human influence on the global hydrological cycle is now the dominant force behind changes in water resources across the world and in regulating the resilience of the Earth system. The rise in human pressures on global freshwater resources is in par with other anthropogenic changes in the Earth system (from climate to ecosystem change), which has prompted science to suggest that humanity has entered a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene. This paper focuses on the critical role of water for resilience of social‐ecological systems across scales, by avoiding major regime shifts away from stable environmental conditions, and in safeguarding life‐support systems for human wellbeing. It highlights the dramatic increase of water crowding: near‐future challenges for global water security and expansion of food production in competition with carbon sequestration and biofuel production. It addresses the human alterations of rainfall stability, due to both land‐use changes and climate change, the ongoing overuse of blue water, reflected in river depletion, expanding river basin closure, groundwater overexploitation and water pollution risks. The rising water turbulence in the Anthropocene changes the water research and policy agenda, from a water‐resource efficiency to a water resilience focus. This includes integrated land and water stewardship to sustain wetness‐dependent ecological functions at the landscape scale and a stronger emphasis on green water management for ecosystem services. A new paradigm of water governance emerges, encouraging land‐use practices that explicitly take account of the multifunctional roles of water, with adequate attention to planetary freshwater boundaries and cross‐scale interactions. © 2014 The Authors. Ecohydrology published by John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Purpose:This article contributes new empirical evidence and nuanced analysis on the gender difference in access to extension services and how this translates to observed differences in technology adoption and agricultural productivity.Approach:It looks at the case of Ethiopia, where substantial investments in the extension system have been made, but the coverage and effect of these investments on female and male producers are not well-understood. This article employs a cross-sectional instrumental-variable regression method using a regionally representative data set of more than 7500 households in four major regions in Ethiopia during the 2010 main season.Findings:Female heads of households and plot-managers are less likely to get extension services through various channels and less likely to access quality services than their male counterparts after controlling for other factors. Receiving advice from extension agents is positively related to adoption of improved seed and fertiliser for both female and male, as hypothesised. However, beyond their influence through fertiliser and improved seed use, visits by or advice from agents are not significant or negatively significant in all productivity models estimated for females and males, which is in contrast to past studies. In some crop-productivity models estimated, it is the perceived quality of agents’ visits and access to radio that appear to be positively significant factors in explaining productivity levels for both females and males.Practical implications:Results highlight the need for stratified productivity models by gender and crop in future research. In terms of policy implication, results highlight the need to focus on quality of service and alternative channels of information, such as radio, to improve productivity.Originality/value:This article utilises a large-sample data set; uses the instrumental-variable regression method to address selection bias and endogeneity issues in productivity models; and stratifies the analyses to account for differentiated production functions by gender and crop.

Root architecture was determined together with shoot parameters under well watered and drought conditions in the field in three soybean cultivars (A5409RG, Jackson and Prima 2000). Morphology parameters were used to classify the cultivars into different root phenotypes that could be important in conferring drought tolerance traits. A5409RG is a drought-sensitive cultivar with a shallow root phenotype and a root angle of &lt;40°. In contrast, Jackson is a drought-escaping cultivar. It has a deep rooting phenotype with a root angle of &gt;60°. Prima 2000 is an intermediate drought-tolerant cultivar with a root angle of 40°–60°. It has an intermediate root phenotype. Prima 2000 was the best performing cultivar under drought stress, having the greatest shoot biomass and grain yield under limited water availability. It had abundant root nodules even under drought conditions. A positive correlation was observed between nodule size, above-ground biomass and seed yield under well-watered and drought conditions. These findings demonstrate that root system phenotyping using markers that are easy-to-apply under field conditions can be used to determine genotypic differences in drought tolerance in soybean. The strong association between root and nodule parameters and whole plant productivity demonstrates the potential application of simple root phenotypic markers in screening for drought tolerance in soybean.

BACKGROUND: The Ethiopian neonatal mortality rate constitutes 42% of under-5 deaths. We aimed to examine the trends and determinants of Ethiopian neonatal mortality. METHODS: We analyzed the birth history information of live births from the 2000, 2005 and 2011 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS). We used simple linear regression analyses to examine trends in neonatal mortality rates and a multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression model using a hierarchical approach to examine the associated factors. RESULTS: The neonatal mortality rate declined by 1.9% per annum from 1995 to 2010, logarithmically. The early neonatal mortality rate declined by 0.9% per annum and was where 74% of the neonatal deaths occurred. Using multivariate analyses, increased neonatal mortality risk was associated with male sex (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.38; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.23 - 1.55); neonates born to mothers aged < 18 years (HR = 1.41; 95% CI, 1.15 - 1.72); and those born within 2 years of the preceding birth (HR = 2.19; 95% CI, 1.89 - 2.51). Winter birth increased the risk of dying compared with spring births (HR = 1.28; 95% CI, 1.08 - 1.51). Giving two Tetanus Toxoid Injections (TTI) to the mothers before childbirth decreased neonatal mortality risk (HR = 0.44; 95% CI, 0.36 - 0.54). Neonates born to women with secondary or higher schooling vs. no education had a lower risk of dying (HR = 0.68; 95% CI, 0.49 - 0.95). Compared with neonates in Addis Ababa, neonates in Amhara (HR: 1.88; 95% CI: 1.26 - 2.83), Benishangul Gumuz (HR: 1.75; 95% CI: 1.15 - 2.67) and Tigray (HR: 1.54; 95% CI: 1.01 - 2.34) regions carried a significantly higher risk of death. CONCLUSIONS: Neonatal mortality must decline more rapidly to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 4 target for under-5 mortality in Ethiopia. Strategies to address neonatal survival require a multifaceted approach that encompasses health-related and other measures. Addressing short birth interval and preventing early pregnancy must be considered as interventions. Programs must improve the coverage of TTI and prevention of hypothermia for winter births should be given greater emphasis. Strategies to improve neonatal survival must address inequalities in neonatal mortality by women's education and region.

Abstract In the wake of the resource constraints for external farm inputs faced by farmers in developing countries, sustainable agriculture practices that rely on renewable local or farm resources present desirable options for enhancing agriculture productivity. In this study, plot‐level data from the semi‐arid region of Ethiopia, Tigray are used to investigate the factors influencing farmers' decisions to adopt agriculture practices, with a particular focus on conservation tillage, compost and chemical fertilizer. A trivariate probit model is used to analyze the determinants of adoption of these practices. In addition, stochastic dominance analysis is used to compare the productivity impacts of compost with that of chemical fertilizer based on a six‐year cross‐sectional farm‐level dataset. Our results indicate heterogeneity with regard to the factors that influence adoption decisions of the three practices and the importance of both plot and household characteristics on influencing adoption decisions. In particular, we found that household endowments and access to information, among other factors, impact the choice of sustainable farming practices significantly. Furthermore, the use of stochastic dominance analysis supported the contention that sustainable farming practices enhance productivity. They even proved to be superior to the use of chemical fertilizers — justifying the need to investigate factors that influence adoption of these practices and to use this knowledge to formulate policies that encourage adoption.

This study aimed to analyze the seed potato systems in Ethiopia, identify constraints and prioritize improvement options, combining desk research, rapid appraisal and formal surveys, expert elicitation, field observations and local knowledge. In Ethiopia, informal, alternative and formal seed systems co-exist. The informal system, with low quality seed, is dominant. The formal system is too small to contribute significantly to improve that situation. The informal seed system should prioritize improving seed quality by increasing awareness and skills of farmers, improving seed tuber quality of early generations and market access. The alternative and formal seed systems should prioritize improving the production capacity of quality seed by availing new varieties, designing quality control methods and improving farmer’s awareness. To improve overall seed potato supply in Ethiopia, experts postulated co-existence and linkage of the three seed systems and development of self-regulation and self-certification in the informal, alternative and formal cooperative seed potato systems.

Drought is considered to be a major threat to soybean production worldwide and yet our current understanding of the effects of drought on soybean productively is largely based on studies on above-ground traits. Although the roots and root nodules are important sensors of drought, the responses of these crucial organs and their drought tolerance features remain poorly characterized. The symbiotic interaction between soybean and rhizobia facilitates atmospheric nitrogen fixation, a process that provides essential nitrogen to support plant growth and development. Symbiotic nitrogen fixation is important for sustainable agriculture, as it sustains plant growth on nitrogen-poor soils and limits fertilizer use for crop nitrogen nutrition. Recent developments have been made in our understanding of the drought impact on soybean root architecture and nodule traits, as well as underpinning transcriptome, proteome and also emerging metabolome information, with a view to improve the selection of more drought-tolerant soybean cultivars and rhizobia in the future. We conclude that the direct screening of root and nodule traits in the field as well as identification of genes, proteins and also metabolites involved in such traits will be essential in order to gain a better understanding of the regulation of root architecture, bacteroid development and lifespan in relation to drought tolerance in soybean.

Use of genetic diversity from related wild and domesticated species has made a significant contribution to improving wheat productivity. Synthetic hexaploid wheats (SHWs) exhibit natural genetic variation for resistance and/or tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Stripe rust caused by (Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici; Pst), is an important disease of wheat worldwide. To characterise loci conferring resistance to stripe rust in SHWs, we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) with a panel of 181 SHWs using the wheat 9 K SNP iSelect array. The SHWs were evaluated for their response to the prevailing races of Pst at the seedling and adult plant stages, the latter in replicated field trials at two sites in Ethiopia in 2011. About 28% of the SHWs exhibited immunity at the seedling stage while 56% and 83% were resistant to Pst at the adult plant stage at Meraro and Arsi Robe, respectively. A total of 27 SNPs in nine genomic regions (1 BS, 2 AS, 2 BL, 3 BL, 3 DL, 5A, 5 BL, 6DS and 7A) were linked with resistance to Pst at the seedling stage, while 38 SNPs on 18 genomic regions were associated with resistance at the adult plant stage. Six genomic regions were commonly detected at both locations using a mixed linear model corrected for population structure, kinship relatedness and adjusted for false discovery rate (FDR). The loci on chromosome regions 1 AS, 3 DL, 6 DS and 7 AL appeared to be novel QTL; our results confirm that resynthesized wheat involving its progenitor species is a rich source of new stripe (yellow) rust resistance that may be useful in choosing SHWs and incorporating diverse yellow rust (YR) resistance loci into locally adapted wheat cultivars.

Land use land cover (LULC) change detection based on remote sensing data is an important source of information for various decision support systems. Information derived from land use and land cover change detection is important to land conservation, sustainable development, and management of water resources. This purpose of this study is therefore concerned with identifying the change in land use and land cover detection of the Tana basin. To identify land cover changes detection; remote sensing data, satellite imagery and image processing techniques had done within three dates of 1986, 2002 and 2018 using Land sat TM 30 m resolution images. ENVI and Arc GIS soft wares had used to identify the changes. The classification had done using six land cover (water body, bushland, grassland, forestland, cultivated, and residential land) class. Preprocessing and classification of the images had analyzed carefully and accuracy assessment was tested separately using the kappa coefficient. The results showed that overall accuracy in the basin was 84.21%, 83.32% and 91.40% and kappa coefficient of 79.02%, 83.32%, 89.66% for the years 1986, 2002 and 2018 respectively. This study indicated that in the last 32 years period, agricultural land and residential areas had significantly increased by 15.61% and 8.05% respectively in the basin. Therefore, proper land management practices, integrated watershed management, and active participation of the local community should be advance to protect undesirable LULC change in the basin.

BACKGROUND: Surra is an animal trypanosomosis, caused by infection with Trypanosoma evansi and leading to severe economic loss due to mortality and morbidity. Compared to tsetse-transmitted animal trypanosomoses, little attention is given to the epidemiology and control of surra. Understanding its epidemiology is a first step in local and global efforts to control the disease. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies on distribution, host ranges and prevalence of T. evansi infection. METHODS: Four electronic databases were searched for publications on T. evansi that met our inclusion criteria for the systematic review. Subsets of publications were subjected to meta-analysis for the pooled prevalence of T. evansi in various hosts as determined by multiple detection methods. RESULTS: A total of 272 references published between 1906-2017 were included. Trypanosoma evansi was reported from 48 countries; largely confined to Africa and Asia with publications on natural T. evansi infections from 77% (n = 48) of countries, contrasting with seven countries in South America, and four in Europe where T. evansi is not endemic but was imported with infected animals. Although surra is a notifiable disease, many countries do not report surra cases to OIE. Trypanosoma evansi was mainly reported from dromedary camels in Africa and the Middle East, water buffaloes, cattle, dogs and horses in East and Southeast Asia. In South America, the acute form of the disease was reported in horses and dogs. Surra was also reported in a wide range of wild animals. Some rare human cases occurred in India and Vietnam. Meta-analysis on a subset of 165 publications indicated pooled prevalence of T. evansi in domestic animals ranging from 14-31%, 6-28% and 2-9% using respectively antibody detection, molecular and parasitological tests, with camels as the most affected, followed by buffalo and cattle. CONCLUSIONS: This study illustrates that T. evansi affects a wide range of domestic and wild animals in Africa, Asia and South America with highest prevalence observed in dromedary camels. For successful control of T. evansi, both locally and globally, the role of wild animals in the epidemiology of surra needs further investigation.

Domesticated species are impacted in unintended ways during domestication and breeding. Changes in the nature and intensity of selection impart genetic drift, reduce diversity, and increase the frequency of deleterious alleles. Such outcomes constrain our ability to expand the cultivation of crops into environments that differ from those under which domestication occurred. We address this need in chickpea, an important pulse legume, by harnessing the diversity of wild crop relatives. We document an extreme domestication-related genetic bottleneck and decipher the genetic history of wild populations. We provide evidence of ancestral adaptations for seed coat color crypsis, estimate the impact of environment on genetic structure and trait values, and demonstrate variation between wild and cultivated accessions for agronomic properties. A resource of genotyped, association mapping progeny functionally links the wild and cultivated gene pools and is an essential resource chickpea for improvement, while our methods inform collection of other wild crop progenitor species.

Damage by insect pests, inter alia, is considered the limiting factor of bean production in Africa. This paper reviews the current status of insect pests of beans, focusing on their ecology and management, as well as the potential for integrated pest management (IPM) approaches in subsistence farming conditions, under which most beans are grown in Africa. Although numerous insect pests attack all parts of beans, bean stem maggots and bruchids are the most important field and storage pests, respectively. Foliage beetles, flower thrips, pollen beetles, pod borers, pod bugs, and sap suckers such as aphids also inflict significant damage. Control of bean pests in Africa is achieved through the use of a traditional IPM approach that consists of appropriate sowing dates, optimum plant density, varietal mixtures, intercropping, good crop husbandry, and locally available materials. Research should focus on low-input IPM approaches that encompass farmers' current practices, host-plant resistance, and natural biological control.

BACKGROUND: Tef (Eragrostis tef), an indigenous cereal critical to food security in the Horn of Africa, is rich in minerals and protein, resistant to many biotic and abiotic stresses and safe for diabetics as well as sufferers of immune reactions to wheat gluten. We present the genome of tef, the first species in the grass subfamily Chloridoideae and the first allotetraploid assembled de novo. We sequenced the tef genome for marker-assisted breeding, to shed light on the molecular mechanisms conferring tef's desirable nutritional and agronomic properties, and to make its genome publicly available as a community resource. RESULTS: The draft genome contains 672 Mbp representing 87% of the genome size estimated from flow cytometry. We also sequenced two transcriptomes, one from a normalized RNA library and another from unnormalized RNASeq data. The normalized RNA library revealed around 38000 transcripts that were then annotated by the SwissProt group. The CoGe comparative genomics platform was used to compare the tef genome to other genomes, notably sorghum. Scaffolds comprising approximately half of the genome size were ordered by syntenic alignment to sorghum producing tef pseudo-chromosomes, which were sorted into A and B genomes as well as compared to the genetic map of tef. The draft genome was used to identify novel SSR markers, investigate target genes for abiotic stress resistance studies, and understand the evolution of the prolamin family of proteins that are responsible for the immune response to gluten. CONCLUSIONS: It is highly plausible that breeding targets previously identified in other cereal crops will also be valuable breeding targets in tef. The draft genome and transcriptome will be of great use for identifying these targets for genetic improvement of this orphan crop that is vital for feeding 50 million people in the Horn of Africa.

Abstract The fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda , is a major pest of maize in North and South America. It was first reported from Africa in 2016 and currently established as a major invasive pest of maize. A survey was conducted to explore for natural enemies of the fall armyworm in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania in 2017. Smallholder maize farms were randomly selected and surveyed in the three countries. Five different species of parasitoids were recovered from fall armyworm eggs and larvae, including four within the Hymenoptera and one Dipteran. These species are new associations with FAW and were never reported before from Africa, North and South America. In Ethiopia, Cotesia icipe was the dominant larval parasitoid with parasitism ranging from 33.8% to 45.3%, while in Kenya, the tachinid fly, Palexorista zonata, was the primary parasitoid with 12.5% parasitism. Charops ater and Coccygidium luteum were the most common parasitoids in Kenya and Tanzania with parasitism ranging from 6 to 12%, and 4 to 8.3%, respectively. Although fall armyworm has rapidly spread throughout these three countries, we were encouraged to see a reasonable level of biological control in place. This study is of paramount importance in designing a biological control program for fall armyworm, either through conservation of native natural enemies or augmentative release.