Wheat Breeding in North
western Ethiopia
 “Wheat Science to text books” workshop
 CIMMYT, 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)
Tef
2.58 (1st)
22.5
12.28
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
Total yield
(‘000000
Q)
31.79 (2nd)
17.5
Tef
(Eragrostis
tef)
Agroclimate of Wheat Production in Ethiopia
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 cultivars
 Ineffectiveness of formal and informal seed sector/sources
IMPORTANT CONSTRAINTS OF WHEAT PRODUCTION (cont’d)
C) Disease
pressure
Head
scab
Septori
a
Yellow
rust
stem
rust
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
environments
Yield 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
Variety testing (onfarm)
 Participatory variety
20 varieties
1st year
selections –PVS
(Farmers, extension
agents and other
AMHARA
REGION
research
disciplines)
Pre-verification
3-5 vars
2ndNyear
#
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W
$
$
S
c
Verification for release
$
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V
&
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c
#
#
#
#
$
#
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c
#
V
&
V
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FREGs
E
#
3 cultivars
3rdSITES
year
TESTING
RESEARCH CENTERS
SUB CENTERS
FREGS
Anrs zones
Debub gondar
Misrak gojam
Semen gondar
AWI
Mirab gojam
Lake tana
th
Seed prodn
1-3 vars
4 year
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
GxNxL
Quality trial
On-farm
durum and
bread wheat
Crossing
 Bread and durum
wheat crosses
using elite parents
(exotic and local)
Filial pop.
AC Morse; Navigator;
SST825;Kariega;
Cracker
Spreade
r rows
Quality testing
 NIR (protein, starch, ash)
 Alveograph
 Glutomatic
 Milling lab
SEED PRODUCTION
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)
Improved varieties
DZ 2023
(Megenagna)
HAR 2562
(Densa)
DZ 2178
(Mosobo
)
ET12D4/HAR604(1
)
(TAY)
PVS and seed production
(2009/10) at Farmers cooperatives
PVS-Onfarm with MSc students
PVS-Onfarm with MSc students
Local Seed Business
Wheat basic seed production
Wheat and maize seed productionFarmers field
B. Wheat in the courses
1. “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 pulses
 Wheat: origin, history and economic importance,
classification and botany, nutritive value, crop
management, major constraints of production
 Wheat yield and yield components
 Current 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 courses
Major Courses;
 Principles of Genetics
 Plant Breeding
 Plant Physiology
 Agricultural Entomology
 Plant Pathology
 Weeds and Weed Management
4.
 Practical Attachment ????
Wheat- MSc thesis studies

Variability (morphological, yield, quality)
studies

NUE (N rates)

GxE Interaction

PVS
Bahir Dar U http://www.bdu.edu.et/
Thank you !!