Mango (Mangifera indica L.) is the second among fruit crops in Ethiopia in its production coverage and economical importance. However, compared to the countries' potential, it is at the infant stage. This study was conducted to identify the main mango cultivars, production practices and constraints in east and western Ethiopia in 2016. Study areas were selected purposively based on their extensive mango production. Thirty-one cultivars of unknown origin were identified based on farmers' characterization criteria. The majority of the farmers were found not to apply fertilizers (63.7%), supplementary irrigation (87.6%), nor prune their mangos (50%). About 50% of growers revealed fruit yield of 100-200 kg/tree and harvest fully ripe. Packaging and transportation of mangos were entirely below the standard. Availability of agricultural inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides, pest, knowledge and skill gap, and availability of improved varieties were the major constraints. Assessment of similarities in terms of farming system, mango production practices, harvest, post-harvest handling, marketing, and their constraints indicated that 76.9% of growers were similar. Therefore, improvement of the pre and postproduction practices, utilization and/or conservation of the identified cultivars, and addressing the constraints will be crucial to improving the mango sector in Ethiopia.

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Little efforts have been made on mango genetic resource assessment in Ethiopia though it is one of the major fruit crops. This study was conducted to assess the diversity of 69 mango cultivars of different growing regions of the country based on 44 phenotypic descriptors. The results of both univariate and multivariate analysis of variance computed for quantitative data, and results from descriptive statistics for qualitative characters indicated the presence of phenotypic variation among the cultivars. Further analysis of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) indicated the first four components explained more than 75% of the total variation in which most fruit, seed and leaf characters contributed much to the observed variation. The cultivars were grouped into 13 clusters by Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Means clustering method from the Euclidean distances estimated from phenotypic characters. The three clusters (II, X, and XIII) constructed each by one cultivar while others encompass more than one irrespective of their geographic regions. This indicated the presence of diversity among cultivars in Ethiopia which can be exploited for further improvement, use, and conservation of mango genetic resources.

Characterization and conservation of germplasm is a critical step toward the genetic improvement of the crop. This study assessed variation in 257 common bean genotypes which included 207 accessions obtained the National Gene Bank of Kenya, 33 accessions from Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), 13 landraces collected from farmers' fields and four commercial varieties for various agronomic traits. The experiments were laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replicates at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (Kenya) for four seasons between 2019 and 2020. Significant differences (P≤0.05) existed among the common bean accessions for all traits studied. Seed yield ranged from 220.6 to 4641.9 kg/ha (KNB0106) among the accessions with a mean of 1267.0 kg/ha. Significant (P ≤0.05) positive correlation was recorded for days to flowering and days to maturity (0.73), while 100-seed weight had a significantly negative correlation with the number of pods per plant (-0.66) and the number of seeds per pod (-0.65). High (>20%) broadsense heritability was recorded for 100-seed weight (89.0%), days to flowering (76.8%), and grain yield (60.5%). Nineteen accessions that combined early maturity and high-yielding traits were identified. On average, higher seed yields were recorded for large-seeded and climbing genotypes compared to smallseeded and bush types. Common bean accessions characterized can be exploited in breeding programs.