Indigenous crops also known as orphan crops are key contributors to food security, which is becoming increasingly vulnerable with the current trend of population growth and climate change. They have the major advantage that they fit well into the general socio-economic and ecological context of developing world agriculture. However, most indigenous crops did not benefit from the Green Revolution, which dramatically increased the yield of major crops such as wheat and rice. Here, we describe the Tef Improvement Project, which employs both conventional-and molecular-breeding techniques to improve tef-an orphan crop important to the food security in the Horn of Africa, a region of the world with recurring devastating famines. We have established an efficient pipeline to bring improved tef lines from the laboratory to the farmers of Ethiopia. Of critical importance to the long-term success of this project is -018-2115-5 the cooperation among participants in Ethiopia and Switzerland, including donors, policy makers, research institutions, and farmers. Together, European and African scientists have developed a pipeline using breeding and genomic tools to improve the orphan crop tef and bring new cultivars to the farmers in Ethiopia. We highlight a new variety, Tesfa, developed in this pipeline and possessing a novel and desirable combination of traits. Tesfa's recent approval for release illustrates the success of the project and marks a milestone as it is the first variety (of many in the pipeline) to be released.
The aims of the experiment are to determine and understand the effect of genotype, environment, and their interaction on grain yield of tef, and to identify and release stable and high yielding tef genotype for high potential areas of country. Twelve tef genotypes including two checks were laid out in randomized complete block design using four replications for two years (2016 and 2017) at twelve representative locations of high potential areas of the country. The trial was conducted on the plot size of 2m*2m with 10 rows per plot throughout all trial sites and 1.5m between replication, 1m between plot, and 20cm between rows. Agronomic and yield data were collected and subjected to statistical analysis in order to identify the best genotypes of the evaluated genotypes. Data from individual environments and combined over twelve locations were analyzed by using R 3.5 software version. The combined data analysis over locations and years indicated that the candidate variety Kaye Murri X 3774-1 (RIL18) performed better than the two checks and the other test genotypes. It gave 7.5% and 10.65% grain yield advantages over the standard check (Quncho) and local check, respectively. The significant genotypes x environments interaction effects indicated the inconsistent performance of genotypes across the tested environments. The candidate variety DZ-Cr-458 (RIL18) is the shortest vector from the AEC axis that identified as the most stable genotype. The National Variety Release Committee in Ethiopia investigated the two-year performance of Kaye Murri X 3774-1 (RIL18) and visited several locations where the new candidate variety was grown for evaluation under variety verification trial. Based on the critiques, the National Variety Release Committee the candidate variety was approved for release Kaye Murri X 3774-1 (RIL18), for high potential areas of the country with the vernacular name of "Ebba" as a standing witnessed for the earliest known tef scientist, Dr. Tadesse Ebba.
Tef is widely cultivated grain crop in Ethiopia by concerning 6.5 million smallholder farmers on about 30% of the full-scale region distributed to cereal crops. The goal of this experiment was to identify and release stable and high yielding tef genotype for moisture stress areas of country and to determine and understand the effect of genotype, environment, and their interaction on grain yield of tef. Fourteen selected tef genotypes obtained from two autonomous crosses and progressed through alternative for a minimum of eight generations, and a local and standard check varieties, were tested over a two years at seven tef growing sites in moisture stress areas of Ethiopia namely Debre Zeit, Alemetena, Dhera, Axum, Sirinka, Minjar and Mehoni, using randomized complete block design with four replications. Among the genotype tested, DZ-Cr-387 x 3774-13(RIL120B) was found predominant in terms of yield at tested moisture stress environments. This genotype was obtained through targeted cross between DZ-Cr-387 (Quncho) selected as a maternal parent for its high yielding capability and wide adaptability and, 3774-13 as a pollen parent for its extraordinarily white seed quality and earliness. The genotype DZ-Cr-387 x 3774-13(RIL120B) gave the average grain yield 2740 kgha-1 pooled across all environments. This genotype "DZ-Cr-387 x 3774-13(RIL120B)" was later released as DZ-Cr-453(RIL 120B) or Bora by the National Variety Release Committee in 2019, and with a yield advantage of 5.7% and 24.48% over the standard (Boset) and local check, respectively.
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