Wheat Breeding in North western Ethiopia

“Wheat Science to text books” workshopCIMMYT, Texcoco, Mexico

December 5-11, 2010

Bahir Dar University: http://www.bdu.edu.et/

A. Wheat in Ethiopia (2009)

Cereals are 1st in area and volume of production

Area: 80.3% ~ 9.23 million hectares

A. Wheat in Ethiopia (cont’d)Total area of production, yield ha-1 and total

grain yield of the major cereal crops in Ethiopia (2009)

Crop Area (‘000000 ha)

% Area

Yield (Q ha-1)

Total yield (‘000000 Q)

Tef 2.58 (1st) 22.5 12.28 31.79 (2nd)

Maize 1.77 (2nd) 15.4 21.99 (1st) 38.97 (1st)

Wheat 1.68 (3rd) 14.64 18.27 (3rd) 30.76 (3rd)

Sorghum 1.62 14.07 18.36 (2nd) 29.71

Barley 1.13 15.5 17.5

Tef (Eragrost

is tef)

Agroclimate of Wheat Production in Ethiopia

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d

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d

IMPORTANT CONSTRAINTS OF WHEAT PRODUCTION

Many technical and socio-economic constraints

Problems depend on agro-ecology, demands of the wheat producers and consumers

A) Unavailability of improved cultivars for different agro-ecologies

B) Slow extension of available improved cultivarsIneffectiveness of formal and informal seed

sector/sources

IMPORTANT CONSTRAINTS OF WHEAT PRODUCTION (cont’d)

C) Disease pressure

Head scab

stemrust

Septoria

Yellowrust

Approximate areas affected by stripe rust , 2010

IMPORTANT CONSTRAINTS OF WHEAT PRODUCTION (cont’d)

D) Quality

E) High input prices (major concern of wheat growers)

F) water-logging (~12 million ha)

G) Characterization and grouping of L and G for

maximum exploitation of the wheat

environmentsYield gap (5-6 tons)

Approaches of breeding:

Conventional and participatory (Molecular ??)

Multi-location variety trials :Many agro-ecological zones ( eg. 10

representing testing sites in NWE)Plus more than 20 on-farm sites (FREGs)

for participatory VT and agronomic trials

Participatory variety selections –PVS (Farmers, extension agents and other research disciplines)

Variety testing (on-farm)

20 varieties1st year

Pre-verification 3-5 vars 2ndyear

Verification for release 3 cultivars 3rd year

Seed prodn

1-3 vars4th year

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$

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Lake tanaMirab gojamAWISemen gondarMisrak gojamDebub gondarAnrs zones

# FREGS&V SUB CENTERSc RESEARCH CENTERS$ TESTING SITES

200 0 200 400 Kilometers

N

EW

S

AMHARA REGION

FREGs

Criteria established by FREGs evaluation of bread wheat genotypes in two zones:

South Gonder (LOC 1) West Gojam (LOC2)

Criterion Score Criterion Score

Disease resistance 14 Disease resistance 12

Frost tolerance 13 Injera quality 11

Flour yield (“Bereket”) 12 Market demand 10

Maturity (earliness) 11 Yield 8

Yield 10 Flour yield (“Bereket”) 8

Lodging resistance 9 Bread quality 8

Tillering ability 7 Seed color 5

Spike size 6 Maturity (earliness) 5

Seedling vigor 5 Tillering ability 4

Injera quality 5 Seed size 4

Market demand 5 Spike size 2

Bread quality 4 Plant height 1

Seed size 3 Seedling vigor 0

Plant height 1

On-farm durum and bread wheat

On-farm G x N x L Quality trial

Crossing Bread and

durum wheat crosses using elite parents (exotic and local)

AC Morse; Navigator;

SST825;Kariega;Cracker Sprea

der rows

Filial pop.

Quality testing NIR (protein, starch, ash) Alveograph Glutomatic Milling lab

Small-scale seed production in FREGs

> 20 FREGs (of 20-25 farmers) for PVS and participatory seed multiplication

(FREGs as technology generation and dissemination

points)

SEED PRODUCTION

Improved varieties

DZ 2023(Megenagna)

DZ 2178(Mosobo)

HAR 2562(Densa)

ET12D4/HAR604(1)(TAY)

PVS and seed production (2009/10) at Farmers cooperatives

PVS-Onfarm with MSc students

PVS-Onfarm with MSc students

Wheat basic seed production

Local Seed Business

Wheat and maize seed production-Farmers field

B. Wheat in the courses1. “Principles of crop production” Pre-requisites courses (Plant anatomy and

morphology and plant physiology)

Preliminaries (Food production/population growth, climate change, Ethiopian agriculture) and wheat contribution

Production factors Environmental (temperature, light, water,

humidity, wind, soil …) Agronomic elements Crop protection –weeds, diseases, insects,

vertebrate pests, etc

B. Wheat in the courses (cont’d)2. “Cereals and Pulses Production” Pre-requisites (Principles of crop production)Wheat described separately as major cereal

crop among other cereals and pulsesWheat: origin, history and economic

importance, classification and botany, nutritive value, crop management, major constraints of production

Wheat yield and yield componentsCurrent wheat production status and recent

varieties under production (list and description of released varieties provided)

CIMMYT contribution (Maize and wheat)

B. Wheat in the courses (cont’d)3. Wheat in other coursesMajor Courses;Principles of GeneticsPlant BreedingPlant PhysiologyAgricultural Entomology Plant PathologyWeeds and Weed Management4. Practical Attachment ????

Wheat- MSc thesis studiesVariability (morphological, yield,

quality) studies

NUE (N rates)

GxE Interaction

PVS

Bahir Dar U http://www.bdu.edu.et/

Thank you !!