Available via license: CC BY-NC 4.0
Content may be subject to copyright.
171
Citation: Amare B, Birhane T (2020) On farm demonstration of faba bean (Vicia faba L) varieties in orobanche infested areas of Ofla district, South Tigray, Ethiopia.
Int J Agric Sc Food Technol 6(2): 171-175. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.17352/2455-815X.000069
https://dx.doi.org/10.17352/ijasftDOI:
2455-815X
ISSN:
LIFE SCIENCES GROUP
Abstract
Faba bean variety demonstration was conducted at Adigollo kebelle (Ofl a district, South Tigray, Ethiopia in 2016 main cropping season to demonstrate the performance
of the Orobanche tolerant faba bean variety. The tested materials were improved (Hashenge) and local faba bean varieties. The demonstration was conducted in six
farmers’ fi eld that has plot size of 20 m by 20 m. Farmers were selected based on their interest to share their plot of land Farmers’ perception was collected individually and
in group discussion form to evaluate the yield and yield components of the varieties at maturity stage. Moreover, grain yield and orobanche count per plot was measured
from each plot. Based on the biological data, Hashenge variety gave higher grain yield (3.54 t/ha) as compared with the local variety (1.14 t/ha). Accordingly, Hashenge
variety has shown 201.5% grain yield advantage over the local variety. On the other hand, orobanche count per plot was taken from each farmer’s plot. In this regard, the
population of orobanche weed grown in the plots of Hashenge variety was lower as compared to the local variety grown plots (27.36 and 43.52 plants per m2, respectively).
This shows more resistance to orobanche weed was recorded in the improved variety (Hashenge). Based on farmers’ perception, the Hashenge variety has better yield
and other yield component performance as compared to the local variety and it was appreciated by farmers for further popularization and scaling up/out. Therefore,
the improved and orobanche tolerant faba bean variety should be scaled out not only to the southern zone of Tigray region but also to other orobanche infested areas
(locations) of the country, like south Wollo and North Gonder of the Amhara region, Ethiopia.
Research Article
On farm demonstration of faba
bean (Vicia faba L.) varieties
in orobanche infested areas
of Ofl a district, South Tigray,
Ethiopia
Birhanu Amare* and Tsehaye Birhane
Tigray Agricultural Research Institute, Alamata Agricultural Research Center, P.O.Box 56,
Tigray, Ethiopia
Received: 04 August, 2020
Accepted: 26 October, 2020
Published: 27 October, 2020
*Corresponding author: Birhanu Amare, Tigray Agricul-
tural Research Institute, Alamata Agricultural Research
Center, P.O.Box 56, Tigray, Ethiopia,
E-mail:
Keywords: Demonstration; Faba bean; Orobanche;
Tolerant; Variety
https://www.peertechz.com
Introduction
Ethiopia is the largest producer of faba bean (Vicia faba L.) in
Sub-Saharan Africa, and it is an important crop for smallholder
farmers in the highlands of Ethiopia, which practice mixed crop-
livestock farming. Faba bean is an important crop in the wheat/
barley-based cropping systems of the Ethiopian highlands. It
is the largest legume crop in terms of area and an important
food and cash crop for many households. In 2012/13, about 4.4
million smallholder farmers planted 574,000 ha of faba bean
producing 0.9 million tones at an average productivity of 1.6
tons per ha [1]. In rural areas, where diets are cereal based,
faba bean is an extremely important source of household
nutritional security as it is high in protein and is important in
diversifying diets. Faba bean also helps to improve soil fertility
and soil health and sustain the productivity of barley and wheat
through nitrogen fi xation and when used as a rotational crop,
it also helps reduce pest and weed infestations [2].
Crenate broomrape (Orobanche crenata) is occasionally
known by the synonym Orobanche speciosa. This out-crossing
species shows genetic diversity, but no clearly defi ned local
races [3]. The parasite belongs to the class Dicotyledonae
order Scrophulariales, and family Orobanchaceae. Orobanche is
commonest in the Mediterranean countries, the Middle East
and East Africa (Ethiopia), while other species have a wider
distribution [4]. O. crenata is important in Ethiopia where it
infests many legume crops, particularly faba bean, fi eld pea,
chickpea, lentil and dekoko (Pisumsativum var. abyssinicum) [5-
7]. The distribution of the weed in Tigray region is increasing at
alarming speed from some localized areas to almost throughout
172
https://www.peertechz.com/journals/international-journal-of-agricultural-science-and-food-technology
Citation: Amare B, Birhane T (2020) On farm demonstration of faba bean (Vicia faba L) varieties in orobanche infested areas of Ofla district, South Tigray, Ethiopia.
Int J Agric Sc Food Technol 6(2): 171-175. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.17352/2455-815X.000069
the whole southern zone of the region [7,8]. In highly infested
areas, farmers are avoiding growing food legume crops,
resulting in substantial reductions to both the extent of
cultivated areas and to food legume production. The parasitic
weed O. crenata, though known to have been a problematic weed
in parts of North Wello and neighboring areas in the Amahara
region for quite some period, and has become a major pest of
faba bean and fi eld pea in the highlands of the southern zone
of Tigray in the last two decades . The weed reduces the ability
of the host plant to absorb water from the soil under moisture
stress conditions, and causes drought stress and wilting of the
host resulting in heavy yield loss. The effect is more pronounced
in northern Ethiopia where moisture availability is limited. The
total areas infested in Tigray region have been estimated more
than 5000 ha in fi ve districts. Faba bean yield losses due to this
weed can reach up to 99.2 % in Tigray (unpublished data). Due
to orobanche infestation measures that have been taken so far
including chemical herbicide sprayings and manual weeding
of O. crenata plants in the Tigray were not effective enough
to reduce the parasitic weed population and curb further
distribution of the weed and as a result it has become a major
threat to faba bean production in the region and is colonizing
previously un-infested neighboring districts. However, an
integrated approach has to be devised to alleviate the problem
that is challenging faba bean production.
Alamata Agricultural Research Center, in collaboration
with ICARDA has been developed many faba bean technologies
that include demonstration of orobanche tolerate faba bean
variety and its management practices in southern zone of
Tigray region. However, there are constraints that hinder faba
bean production in the farmers of Ofl a district (South Tigray,
Ethiopia) which includes almost non faba bean variety that can
tolerant the nexious orobanche weed except the only Hashenge
variety which was developed by Alamata Agricultural research
center. The variety consistently gave higher yield and lower
broomrape count than local in the infested areas. Even though
the problem of the orobanche weed in that areas has been
serious for long times, there was no other activities carried out
so far by other government and non government organizations
to control or minimize this weed in the area. Therefore, it is
quiet important to conduct demonstration of the Hashenge
variety to compared with the local variety in the orobanche
infested areas of Ofl a district, south Tigray, Ethiopia.
Materials and methods
Description of the study areas
Faba bean demonstration was carried out in the orobanche
infested areas of Ofl a district (Adigollo testing location),
Southern Tigray during 2016 main growing season. Adigollo is
located in Ofl a district, south Tigray, Ethiopia which has an
altitude of about 2446 meter above sea level. According to the
14 years data collected from Ofl a district bureau of agriculture,
the study area has maximum and minimum temperatures of
5.4 to 20.2oC, respectively (Ofl a BoA, personal communication).
Moreover, it is located 12 o 31’ N latitude and 39o 33’ E longitude
with its annual rainfall of about 833 mm [9]. The area represents
highlands of South Tigray Zone with moderate rainfall (average
annual rainfall of 600 mm), which extends mostly from half of
Jun to late- September and the dominant soil type is clay soil
and slightly acidic with a pH of 6.167 [10] Table 1.
Table 1: Soil characteristics of the demonstration area.
pH OM OC TN C:N P CEC EC Soil Type
6.167 2.343 1.36 0.14 9.91 13.6 19.2 0.17 clay to clay loam
OM: organic matter (%); OC: Organic carbon (%); TN: Total Nitrogen (%); P:
Phosphorus (ppm), CEC: Cation Exchange Capacity (cmol/kg ) soil, EC: Electrical
Conductivity (mS/cm)
Treatments and design
The demonstration was conducted at Adigollo kebelle of
Ofl a district, South Tigray in 2016 in six farmers’ fi eld using
plot size of 20 m by 20 m and spacing of 40 cm between rows.
Because this district is highly infested with orobanche weed that
can reach up to 100% yield loss in local faba bean varieties [10].
In this research, the improved faba bean variety (Hashenge)
that was released from Alamata agricultural research center
and one local faba bean variety were used. About 6 farmers
were selected based on their interest to share their plot of land
and their perception was collected individually and in group
discussion including other additional four farmers to evaluate
the yield and yield components of the varieties at maturity
stage. Moreover, grain yield and orobanche count per plot was
measured from each variety.
Results and discussion
Performance of Faba bean varieties for their yield and
yield components
Based on the biological data, Hashenge variety gave higher
grain yield (3.54 t/ha) as compared with the local variety (1.14
t/ha). Accordingly, Hashenge variety has shown 201.5% grain
yield advantage over the local variety. Even though there was
yield variation among the faba bean growers of the varieties,
the improved variety (Hashenge) has shown consistence grain
yield performance over the local variety. This could be due
to the advantage of improved management practices which
include the advantage of chemical fertilizer and bio-fertilizer
utilization, weeding, and more importantly, due to its tolerance
to the parasitic weed (broomrape). Because different farmers
had different fi eld management or land preparation practices
and soil related variation was also played the variations among
farmers Figure 1.
On the other hand, Hashenge variety gave higher grain
yield in the variety verifi cation trials conducted prior to the
demonstration trial. According to the Alamata Agricultural
research center data [11], this variety has a yield potential that
can yield more than 5 t/ha.
Orobanche count per plot was taken from each farmer’s
plot of the tested area (Table 2). In this regard, the population
of orobanche weed in the Hashenge variety grown plots was
lower as compared to the local variety grown plots. This
shows more resistance to orobanche weed was recorded in
the improved variety. In the fi eld evaluations of yielding
173
https://www.peertechz.com/journals/international-journal-of-agricultural-science-and-food-technology
Citation: Amare B, Birhane T (2020) On farm demonstration of faba bean (Vicia faba L) varieties in orobanche infested areas of Ofla district, South Tigray, Ethiopia.
Int J Agric Sc Food Technol 6(2): 171-175. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.17352/2455-815X.000069
components conducted by individual and group farmers, the
varieties were rated and scored points as showed below (Table
3). Hence, farmers’ response indicated that Hashenge variety
scored highest result for its yield and yield components at fi eld
condition. In the farmers’ discussion and interview, days to
maturity (earliness), plant height, number of seeds per pod,
number of pods per plant, tiller capacity, disease reaction and
grain yield estimation were the parameters.
Perceptions of participant farmers towards Hashenge
variety compared to the local
During group discussion and variety evaluation conducted
in this trial, farmers were viewed the varieties in different
parameters listed below.
Based on the farmers’ perception, the Hashenge variety
had better performance as compared to the local variety and
selected for further popularization and scaling up/out. In the
discussion, more farmers have highly preferred the improved
variety for its higher grain yield, better tillering capacity, larger
and export standard seed size as well as orobanche tolerance.
In addition, as shown in the plant height score, the biomass of
the improved variety was also highly appreciated by farmers
of the group and it will be used as a means of minimizing the
animal feed shortage.
Opportunities and challenges to faba bean production in
south tigray
Opportunities: The agro-ecology in the highland areas of
south Tigray (Ethiopia) is very suitable for not only for faba
bean but also for highland pulses in general. In the study
district, farmers were stopped faba bean production since
1985 due to the sever problem of Orobanche weed and the
fi nding of Alamata Agricultural research center that released
the orobanche tolerant faba bean variety (Hashenge) plays
an important solution for the faba bean producers existed for
the last many years. More importantly, the local and export
demand for faba bean crop increases from time to time and
farmers are appreciated by the local government to produce
this crop in large amount. In addition, since pulse crops in
general plays in soil fertility enhancement and used as break
crops for disease and insect pests, they are currently demanded
by seed producing cooperatives at national level and individual
farmers. However, the following challenges are greatly
affecting faba bean production in South Tigray:
Challenges: Orobanche crenata is a species of broomrape,
commonly known as bean broomrape. It is a common parasite
of the faba bean (Vicia faba). It grows in the Mediterranean
basin, and in North and East Africa [12]. It has no chlorophyll,
and gets its carbohydrates from the host’s phloem, and water
and minerals from the host’s xylem. In the demonstration
areas, the detrimental effect of this weed in crop yield of the
faba bean crop can reach up to 100% and causes total crop
loss. In addition, the occurrence of other diseases of the faba
bean crop such as faba bean gall, checolate spot and Ascochyta
blight minimizes the tolerance of the crop to the invasive
weed (Orobanche crenata) and causes higher yield reduction in
the faba bean production areas of farmers. During this trial
reductions in the faba bean biomass occurred in its vegetative
and more importantly is in its reproductive organs. According
to the farmers found in the study area, they perceived that
the severity of the Orobanche weed increases when moisture
shortage occurred not only in that specifi c year but also in the
previous years.
Figure 1A,B: Infestation level of Orobanche weed in the plots of local (A) and
Improved (B) faba bean varieties at fi eld condition.
Table 2: Mean grain yield and Orobanche number per hectare of faba bean varieties
at Adigolo kebele.
Variety GY (t/ha) Orobanche number per m2Remark
Hashenge 3.54 27.36
Local 1.14 43.5
S.E 8.35 98.81
Table 3: Farmers’ perception (score) on Hashenge variety compared to local variety
at Adigollo kebelle (Ofl a district).
Variety scores (0 to 10)
Variety attributes Local Hashenge
Plant height 2 8
Number of Pods per plant 3 7
Tiller capacity 2 8
Water logging tolerance 3 7
Number of seeds per pod 4 6
Early maturing 6 4
Disease resistance/tolerance 3 7
Grain yield 2 8
Mean 3.44 6.55
S. D 1.58 1.58
T- value 4.15***
NB: *** indicated signifi cance level at 1% probability level
174
https://www.peertechz.com/journals/international-journal-of-agricultural-science-and-food-technology
Citation: Amare B, Birhane T (2020) On farm demonstration of faba bean (Vicia faba L) varieties in orobanche infested areas of Ofla district, South Tigray, Ethiopia.
Int J Agric Sc Food Technol 6(2): 171-175. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.17352/2455-815X.000069
A survey conducted in Ofl a district has showed the adverse
effect of the parasitic weed categorized as direct and indirect
impacts. Among the indirect classes, reduce the fertility status
of the soil and high disease pressure as the result of cereal
based mono-cropping system, malnutrition of households,
cost incurred for buying of legume grains and loss biodiversity
these crops were the priority stated. Of the direct threats
stated, it increased cost of production incurred for clearing
the infested lands and force farmers to give up of the most
profi table legume crops. Based on the faba bean growers
of the area, the Orobanche infestation increases when they
experienced repeated faba bean crop production year after
year and this could be due to the weed seed bank enhancement
in that specifi c soil bank. The repetition of faba bean crop
production in the same fi eld year after year comes from their
fragmentation plots and less fi eld size that they own. In this
area, most farmers owned about half a hectare of land because
of the high population in the highland area of the Ofl a district
[13-16].
Since Hashenge variety has better seed size 78.7 to 94
gram per 100 seed weight and attractive appearance, it will
be appreciated to those growers who want to export their
produce. Because, larger seed size (more than 80 gram per 100
seed weight) and attractive physical appearance of grain color
can fulfi lled the export standard. Therefore, this variety which
has large seed size and good market look increases farmers’
awareness to produce Hashenge faba bean variety instead of
local varieties which have smaller seed size. Moreover, the
demonstration trial has showed the importance of producing
improved faba bean variety (Hashenge) due to its multipurpose
advantages and the tolerance of this variety to the parasitic and
noxious Orobanche weed.
Conclusion and recommendations
In the demonstration time, Hashenge variety has
showed higher grain yield and this variety has recorded a
yield advantage of 201.5% over the local variety. The variety
consistently gave higher yield and lower broomrape count
than local variety across the demonstration areas conducted
in different farmers’ fi elds. The release of this variety further
facilitates the application of integrated approach such as the
use of herbicides that enhanced the tolerance or resistance level
of the variety explained by higher yield and lower Orobanche
population. Therefore, this variety is best option to continue
the production of faba bean crop in the orobanche infested
areas of South Tigray and to enhance faba bean productivity.
Hence, it is better to popularize and scaled out this orobanche
tolerant variety to areas where orobanche infestation occurred.
Moreover, this variety should also be scaled out to other
orobanche infested areas, such as southern Wollo and North
Gonder zones of the Amhara region and needs an integrated
approach with other stakeholders. Development of special seed
system so as to ensure seed security and further distribution
of the seed in orobanche infested areas is also an important
task with maximum care not to introduce the noxious parasitic
weed to non infested areas.
Acknowledgement
The authors are extremely grateful to ICARDA (USAID)
project for its fi nancial and capacity building (trainings and
workshops) source to this and other related activities. Not only
fund source for these activities, ICARDA (USAID) had provided
different materials, like modern double pickup vehicle, bag
sealer (sealing machine), modern tractor, etc for the facilitation
of activities that have been conducted in the mandate areas of
the center during the project phase (2015 to 2018). Therefore,
the authors ones again appreciate and express its gratitude
to the ICARDA (USAID) as well as the Alamata Agricultural
Research center for their intensive material and fi nancial
support.
References
1. Food and Agriculture Organization (2015) Statistical Database of the United
Nation Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Statistical Division. Rome.
2. Sahile S, Fininsa C, Sakhuja PK, Ahmed S (2008) Effect of mixed cropping and
fungicide s on chocolate spot Botrytis fabae ) of faba bean (Vicia faba ) in
Ethiopia. Crop Protection 27: 275–282. Link: https://bit.ly/34vHJ6l
3. Paran I, Gidoni D, Jacobsohn R (1997) Variation between and within broomrape
(Orobanche) species revealed by RAPD markers. Heredity 78: 128-131. Link:
https://go.nature.com/31HgqE1
4. Perez-De-Luque A, Eizenberg H, Grenz JH, Sillero JC, Avila C, et al. (2010)
Broomrape management in faba bean. Field crops Research 115: 319-328.
Link: https://bit.ly/31HRmgt
5. Rezene F, Gerba L (2003) Weed Research in High Land Food Legumes of
Ethiopia. In: Ali K, Kenneni G, Ahmed S, Malhotra R, Beniwal S, Makkouk, K,
Halila MH (eds)2003. Food and forage legumes of Ethiopia: Progress and
prospects. Proceedings of the Workshop on Food & Forage Legumes 22-26
September 2003, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 278-287.ɸ
6. Rubiales D, Pérez-de-Luque A, Fernández-Aparicio M, Sillero JC, Román B, et
al. (2006) Screening techniques and sources of resistance against parasitic
weeds in grain legumes. Euphytica 147:187-199. Link: https://bit.ly/31FNBb8
7. Teklay A, Kiros M, Yemane N, Hadas B, Abrha K (2013) Interaction between
broomrape (Orobanchecrenata) and resistance faba bean genotypes
(ViciafabaL.) in Tigray region of Ethiopia. Canadian Journal of Plant Protection
1: 104-109.
8. Birhane T, Abebe T, Nega Y, Workineh A (2016) Study on occurrence and
importance of faba bean diseases with special consideration to the newly
emerging “faba bean gall” in Tigray, Ethiopia. African Journal of Agricultural
Research 2: 33-38.
9. Zenebe A, Gebresamuel G, Girma A (2015) Characterisation of Agricultural
Soils in CASCAPE Intervention Woredas in Tigray Region. Annual report. Link:
https://bit.ly/3mhUerW
10. Teklay A, Hadas B, Yemane N (2013) Distribution and economic importance
of broomrape (orobanchecrenata) in food legumes production of south
Tigray, Ethiopia. ESci Journal of Crop Production 2: 101-106. Link:
https://bit.ly/31I35eI
11. AARC (Alamata Agricultural Research Center) (2015) Annual report of Alamata
agricultural research of crop directorate, Alamata, South Tigray, Ethiopia.
12. Maalouf, F.; Khalil, S.; Ahmed, S.; Akintunde, A.N.; Kharrat, M.; El Shama’a, K.;
Hajjar, S.; Malhotra, R.S. (2011) Yield stability of faba bean lines under diverse
broomrape prone production environments. Field Crops Research. 124: 288-
294
175
https://www.peertechz.com/journals/international-journal-of-agricultural-science-and-food-technology
Citation: Amare B, Birhane T (2020) On farm demonstration of faba bean (Vicia faba L) varieties in orobanche infested areas of Ofla district, South Tigray, Ethiopia.
Int J Agric Sc Food Technol 6(2): 171-175. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.17352/2455-815X.000069
13. BoA (2007) Ofl a District Bureau of Agriculture and Natural resources and
management, Progress Report.
14. Tadesse B, Tadesse A, Fessehaie R (1999) Orobanche problem in south Wollo.
Annual Research Review, Ethiopian Agricultural Research Organization.
15. Meles K, Haile M (2005) Distribution of some orobanche and cuscuta species
in Tigray. Poster presented at the 7th Annual Conference of the Weed Science
Society of Ethiopia. 24-25 November 2005, Addis Abeba, Ethiopia.
16. Meles K, Abebe T, Nega Y, Kebede A, Beyene H (2011) Evaluation of broomrape
(Orobanche crenata) resistance faba bean genotypes in the highland of
Southern Tigary. Annual Report. Alamata Agricultural research center, Tigray,
Ethiopia.
Copyright: © 2020 Amare B, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use,
distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
