A field experiment involving eleven improved banana (Musa paradisiacal var. sapiertum) varieties and one local check was carried out at Jinka Agricultural Research Center during the 2006 to 2009 cropping seasons under rain fed conditions to identify the best performing variety to the target areas of South Omo Zone. The banana varieties included in the field experiment were eleven improved (

Abstract:A field experiment involving seven improved sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] varieties and one local check was carried out at Kako farmers' training center during the 2006 main cropping season to identify the best performing variety to the lowlands of South Omo Zone. The sorghum varieties included in the field experiment were seven improved (Seredo, Meko-1, 76TI#23, Gambella 1107, Teshale, Gubiye, Abshir) and a local check. The experimental design was a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Phenological and growth parameters such as yield and yield components, total biomass and harvest index were studied. The result showed that all phenological and growth parameters were significantly affected by variety except number of tillers and panicle length per plant. There was a proportional increment on the number of tillers per plant observed for the improved sorghum varieties over the local check. Grain yield, total biomass, 1000 seeds weight and harvest index were significantly affected by variety. Grain yield advantages of 74.26%, 64.96% and 58.06%, were obtained from the improved sorghum varieties Teshale, Meko-1 and Gambella 1107, respectively over the local check. The highest grain yields of (3.3667 t ha -1 ) and (2.4733 t ha -1 ) were recorded for the varieties Teshale and Meko-1, respectively. Therefore, it can be concluded that use of the improved sorghum varieties such as Teshale or Meko-1 is advisable and could be appropriate for sorghum production in the test area even though further testing is required to put the recommendation on a strong basis.

Wheat is one of the most important cereal crops of the world and is a staple food for about one third of the world’s population. Despite the significant area of wheat production in the country, the mean national yield 1.3 t ha-1 is 24% below than mean yield for Africa and 48% below than global mean yield. A field experiment was carried out at Senegal and Selmamer during 2014 cropping season to determine the effects of sowing methods and seed rate on yield of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Treatments were two sowing methods namely row planting and broadcasting with six  Seed rate (kg/ha): 125, 150, 175, 200, 225 and 250 kg/ha.The experimental was laid in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with thee replications. The study result depicted that sowing method and seed rate had brought significant effect on the   yield of bread wheat. The maximum grain yield of 3.9 t ha-1 and the minimum 2.7 t ha-1 were obtained from seed rate of 125 kg ha-1 and 200 kg ha-1 respectively. And the maximum grain yield of 3.5 t ha-1 was obtained from row planting and the least 3.13 t ha-1 was recorded from broadcast method; from these output we can conclude that, using of seed rate of 125 kg ha-1 and row planting is advisable for bread wheat production in the Senegal and Senmamer kebeles and their vicinities to increased wheat production and productivity.

Mung bean is an important pulse crop grown by poor farmers in marginal and drought-prone areas of Ethiopia. Information on the extent of genetic divergence in mung bean is vital to identify diverse genotypes for crop improvement and the efficient utilization of the existing genetic resources. Therefore, the objectives of the study were to assess the extent and pattern of morphological diversity among the mung bean genotypes and to identify the traits contributing to the genetic diversity using multivariate analyses. The experiment was conducted using 60 mung bean genotypes at Jinka Agricultural Research Center during the 2018 cropping season. The first seven principal components explained 80.1% of the total variation. Almost all the studied traits were important contributors to the divergence. The cluster analysis based on quantitative traits revealed four distinct groups. The highest inter-cluster distance was recorded between cluster I and cluster IV (D 2  = 43.16 units). The minimum inter-cluster distance was noted between cluster III and cluster IV (D2 = 12.16 units). The maximum and minimum intra-cluster distances D2 were recorded within cluster I (D2 = 6.49 units) and cluster III (D2 = 3.53 units), respectively). The range of intra and inter-cluster distance was 3.53 to 6.49 units and 12.16 to 43.16 units, respectively. Hence, the high genetic distance exhibited within and among clusters has to be exploited through the crossing and selection of the most divergent parents for future mung bean breeding programs.

Field experiments were conducted on pastoral and agro-pastoral areas of South Omo Zone at Dasenech, Hammer and Gynagatom woredas of South Omo Zone, Southern Ethiopia on four cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L) Walp.] varieties in 2019 under irrigation. The objective of the study was to select the best performing cowpea varieties in the target areas. The cowpea varieties included in the field experiment were (Black eye bean, Bole, TVU, and Kankeit). The experiments were carried out using a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The combined analysis of variance results depicted that there were significant differences among the varieties for all the studied parameters except the number of seeds per pod. The mean values for plant height ranged from 84.89 (cm) for the variety Bole to 120.67 (cm) for TVU. The mean values for the number of pods per plant ranged from 24.33 for the variety Bole to 46.90 for TVU. The mean value for 100 seeds weight was maximum (21.11g) for the cowpea variety black eye bean and, while it was minimum (17.11 g) for the variety TVU. The highest overall mean grain yield of 2457.0 kg ha-1 was recorded for the variety Kankeit while the minimum 1695.3 kg ha-1 was noted for the cowpea variety black eye bean. Therefore, the variety Kankeit and TVU could be recommended for the study areas however further research should be done to put the recommendation on a strong basis. Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. Tech. 12(1): 137-140, June 2022