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Recent Submissions
- Synergies of Farming with Alternative Pollinators (FAP) and Certified Organic Farming for Transformative Change of AgricultureAuthor(s): Christmann, Stefanie; Smaili, Moulay Chrif; Bencharki, Youssef (CABI Digital Library)Date: 2025-08-21Type: Book ChapterStatus: Timeless limited accessOrganic farming is a holistic and ambitious way of crop production challenging farmers starting in depleted soils. During the certification process for organic farming, farmers refrain already from using multiple chemicals to boost production, but often they cannot yet gain the full payment for certified organic production. Assumed income loss can limit readiness for organic production. An approach for pollinator protection in low- and middle-income countries, farming with alternative pollinators (FAP) can fill the gap, as the habitat-enhancement measures for pollinators substantially and significantly pay off for farmers in the first year. Planting marketable habitat-enhancement plants attracts higher diversity and abundance of wild pollinators, increasing productivity. The additional plants also attract higher abundance and diversity of natural enemies during a prolonged flowering time. In a large project in smallholder fields in Morocco, they reduced pests on average by 64.8% in main crops. The total net income was, on average, 121% higher than from monocultural control fields. Combination of certified organic agriculture and FAP might accelerate transformative change of agriculture in several aspects.
- Corrigendum to “Litter size, litter weight, and lamb survivability of Doyogena sheep managed under community-based breeding program in Ethiopia” [Heliyon Volume 8, Issue 11, November 2022, Article e11576]Author(s): Giorgis, Kebede H.; Haile, Aynalem; Getachew, Tesfaye; Jimma, Adisu; Gemiyu, Deribe (Elsevier (12 months), 2026-02-10)Date: 2025-03-26Type: Journal ArticleStatus: Open accessIn this article, the authors omitted a statement regarding ethical approval for the research presented in this publication, which is required under the journal's policies. The authors confirm that ethical approval was obtained from Areka Agricultural Research Centre Ethics Review Board for the research under the following reference number: AARC-2022-LRW-017.
- Moderate late sowing balances wheat yield and dough quality by regulating temperature-mediated nitrogen accumulation and translocationAuthor(s): Li, Yakun; Cao, Xidan; Feng, Jingyi; Li, HuiHui; Liu, Yi; Nangia, Vinay; Liu, Yang (Elsevier (12 months), 2026-02-09)Date: 2025-10-16Type: Journal ArticleStatus: Open accessAlthough numerous studies have reported the effects of late sowing on wheat yield, its impact on the microstructure and processing quality of wheat dough remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate how late sowing influenced wheat quality, with a focus on both the general characteristics and fine structure of dough. A two-factor split-plot field experiment was conducted during the 2020–2022 growing seasons. Sowing date was assigned as the main plot, including four treatments: T1 (October 8), T2 (October 20), T3 (November 1), and T4 (November 13). The subplot was wheat variety, comprising two strong-gluten varieties and two medium-gluten varieties. Results indicated that appropriately late sowing altered the source-sink ratio, enhanced nitrogen uptake and accumulation in wheat plants, and significantly increased grain protein content and protein yield. At T3, protein content increased by 1.71%–27.22%, and protein yield increased by 3.32%–15.42% compared with other sowing dates. Furthermore, late sowing improved the microstructure of the dough and enhanced the processing quality of the flour. The Mantel test and structural equation modeling revealed that moderate delay in sowing improved thermal conditions from wintering to flowering stage, which promoted nitrogen accumulation and translocation within the plants and increased the contents of protein and glutenin subunits in the grain. These changes ultimately optimized the dough microstructure and improved the processing quality of wheat. With the delay of sowing date, the grain yield of four wheat varieties peaked at T2 in both 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 growing seasons. Our study provides a theoretical reference for how sowing date affects wheat yield and quality.
- Estimation of Genetic Parameters for Deviation in Age at Market Weight and Deviation in Weight at Market Age in Menz SheepAuthor(s): Tesema, Zeleke; Yeshaw, Shanbel; Abebe, Aschalew; Gosheme, Shenkute; Bisrat, Asfaw; Abebe, Ayele; Areaya, Alemnew; Zewdie, Tesfaye; Demis, Chekole; Alemayehu, Liulseged; Yitagesu, Erdachew; Mekonnen, Tefera; Zewudie, Firdawok Ayele; Aydefruhim, Derb Aydefruhim; Belayneh, Tesfa; Alemnew, Eneyew; Gizaw, Solomon; Getachew, Tesfaye; Belay, Berhanu; Rischkowsky, Barbara; Jiang, Yu; Haile, Aynalem (Wiley, 2026-02-10)Date: 2025-10-30Type: Journal ArticleStatus: Timeless limited accessReducing the number of days from birth to slaughter is one strategy to improve animal feed and environmental efficiency. The export market use yearling sheep weighing 22–30 kg and usually purchases from large and small-scale traders at an early age (lambs weighing ≥ 15 kg) for mutton production. Hence, this study aimed to derive a new trait phenotype, which helps to reduce sheep market age without adverse effects on the market weight of Menz sheep and to evaluate the extent of exploitable genetic variation in this new trait. To this end, 11,258 lambs weighing ≥ 15 kg between 66 and 395 days of age were considered in this study. Co (variance) components and heritability estimates for novel traits were estimated using the average information restricted maximum likelihood method in WOMBAT fitting the animal model. The best-fitted model was selected from six models based on likelihood ratio test and Akaike's information criterion. The days-to-market weight of 16.3% of the animals was shorter by 48.2 days (with an estimated breeding value of −26.2 days) compared to the mean of the contemporary groups. The market weight of 15.5% of the animals was higher by 1.73 kg compared to the mean of the contemporary groups. There was a phenotypic variability of deviation in age at market weight (DAMW) and deviation in weight at market age (DWMA) for the sheep population in Molalie village compared to other villages. Likewise, the genetic standard deviation for DAMW and DWMA was 25 days and 0.79 kg, respectively. Based on the best-fitted model, the direct heritability estimate for DAMW and DWMA was 0.65 and 0.57, respectively. In addition, the maternal genetic effect explains 28% of the phenotypic variation in DAMW and 26% of the phenotypic variation in DWMA. The DAMW of Menz sheep in Dargegn and Molalie villages decreased significantly by 2.113 and 1.192 days year−1, respectively. The observed additive genetic variance for DAMW suggests further scope for genetic improvement in the flock to reduce the days-to-market weight of Menz sheep. Including this novel trait in a breeding objective could shorten days to market weight without necessarily reducing the genetic merit of the live weight included in the breeding objective.
- Genome-Wide Association Analysis of Drought Tolerance in a Chickpea MAGIC PopulationAuthor(s): Hamwieh, Aladdin; Istanbuli, Tawffiq; Imtiaz, Muhammad; Zewdie, Asrat (The International Food Legume Research Conference)Date: 2025-06-03Type: Conference PaperStatus: Open accessA Multi-parent Advanced Generation Inter-Cross (MAGIC) population of chickpea, comprising 3,054 MAGIC-derived Recombinant Inbred Lines (RILs), was evaluated under contrasting drought environments in Alem Tena (Ethiopia) and Terbol (Lebanon) to identify genomic regions associated with drought tolerance. Field phenotyping was based on a 1–9 drought tolerance scoring scale, where lower scores indicated better performance. A total of 3,354 experimental field plots were evaluated, including 300 replicated genotypes used as checks to improve scoring accuracy and adjust environmental effects. Data analysis was performed using Multi-Environment Trials (MET) and REMLbased variance components models. Genotyping of the MAGIC population was conducted using a 689,802 SNP dataset, later filtered to 495,495 high-quality SNPs using vcftools. The SNPs were distributed across 8 chickpea chromosomes. Population structure analysis was performed using the LEA package in R. The results of GWAS revealed significant genotype-by-environment interactions and identified environment-specific SNPs linked to drought tolerance. Forty-two RILs showed high drought tolerance (score ≤3) in Lebanon, while 40 distinct RILs were tolerant in Ethiopia. Twenty-nine RILs were moderately to highly tolerant across both locations. The contrasting timing of drought stress (postwinter in Lebanon and post-summer in Ethiopia) likely contributed to the distinct genetic associations observed. Moreover, 29 RILs were identified with elevated seed protein content, with 135 SNPs on a 182-kbp region of chromosome 5 significantly associated with this trait. These results provide valuable genomic resources for the development of climate-resilient and nutritionally enhanced chickpea cultivars, with potential applications in Australia and other dryland farming systems.