Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research

About: Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research is a education organization based out in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Agriculture. The organization has 785 authors who have published 856 publications receiving 13001 citations.

Genome-Wide Survey of SNP Variation Uncovers the Genetic Structure of Cattle Breeds

Abstract: The imprints of domestication and breed development on the genomes of livestock likely differ from those of companion animals. A deep draft sequence assembly of shotgun reads from a single Hereford female and comparative sequences sampled from six additional breeds were used to develop probes to interrogate 37,470 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 497 cattle from 19 geographically and biologically diverse breeds. These data show that cattle have undergone a rapid recent decrease in effective population size from a very large ancestral population, possibly due to bottlenecks associated with domestication, selection, and breed formation. Domestication and artificial selection appear to have left detectable signatures of selection within the cattle genome, yet the current levels of diversity within breeds are at least as great as exists within humans.

Factors that transformed maize productivity in Ethiopia

Abstract: Maize became increasingly important in the food security of Ethiopia following the major drought and famine that occurred in 1984. More than 9 million smallholder households, more than for any other crop in the country, grow maize in Ethiopia at present. Ethiopia has doubled its maize productivity and production in less than two decades. The yield, currently estimated at >3 metric tons/ha, is the second highest in Sub-Saharan Africa, after South Africa; yield gains for Ethiopia grew at an annual rate of 68 kg/ha between 1990 and 2013, only second to South Africa and greater than Mexico, China, or India. The maize area covered by improved varieties in Ethiopia grew from 14 % in 2004 to 40 % in 2013, and the application rate of mineral fertilizers from 16 to 34 kg/ha during the same period. Ethiopia’s extension worker to farmer ratio is 1:476, compared to 1:1000 for Kenya, 1:1603 for Malawi and 1:2500 for Tanzania. Increased use of improved maize varieties and mineral fertilizers, coupled with increased extension services and the absence of devastating droughts are the key factors promoting the accelerated growth in maize productivity in Ethiopia. Ethiopia took a homegrown solutions approach to the research and development of its maize and other commodities. The lesson from Ethiopia’s experience with maize is that sustained investment in agricultural research and development and policy support by the national government are crucial for continued growth of agriculture.

Genetic Dissection of Drought and Heat Tolerance in Chickpea through Genome-Wide and Candidate Gene-Based Association Mapping Approaches

Abstract: To understand the genetic basis of tolerance to drought and heat stresses in chickpea, a comprehensive association mapping approach has been undertaken Phenotypic data were generated on the reference set (300 accessions, including 211 mini-core collection accessions) for drought tolerance related root traits, heat tolerance, yield and yield component traits from 1–7 seasons and 1–3 locations in India (Patancheru, Kanpur, Bangalore) and three locations in Africa (Nairobi, Egerton in Kenya and Debre Zeit in Ethiopia) Diversity Array Technology (DArT) markers equally distributed across chickpea genome were used to determine population structure and three sub-populations were identified using admixture model in STRUCTURE The pairwise linkage disequilibrium (LD) estimated using the squared-allele frequency correlations (r2; when r2<020) was found to decay rapidly with the genetic distance of 5 cM For establishing marker-trait associations (MTAs), both genome-wide and candidate gene-sequencing based association mapping approaches were conducted using 1,872 markers (1,072 DArTs, 651 single nucleotide polymorphisms [SNPs], 113 gene-based SNPs and 36 simple sequence repeats [SSRs]) and phenotyping data mentioned above employing mixed linear model (MLM) analysis with optimum compression with P3D method and kinship matrix As a result, 312 significant MTAs were identified and a maximum number of MTAs (70) was identified for 100-seed weight A total of 18 SNPs from 5 genes (ERECTA, 11 SNPs; ASR, 4 SNPs; DREB, 1 SNP; CAP2 promoter, 1 SNP and AMDH, 1SNP) were significantly associated with different traits This study provides significant MTAs for drought and heat tolerance in chickpea that can be used, after validation, in molecular breeding for developing superior varieties with enhanced drought and heat tolerance