Micro-nutrient status

According research findings in major zones of the country there is no deficiency of Fe and Mn, on major crops such as wheat, tef, maize and citrus whereas the deficiency of Zn and Cu were severe.

Integrated nutrient management

• Integrating inorganic fertilizers with organic sources such as FYM and compost have been identified as environmentally sound and economically profitable approach for sustainable soil fertility improvement and thereby increasing crop yield.
• Incorporation of the green manure plant species such as dolichos lablab, mucuna prureins, lupin, crotolaria have been identified as effective to improve soil fertility and enhance the efficiency of applied fertilizer and thus increase crop yield.
• From the research findings obtained over the past few years, rotations of wheat after faba bean, rape seed, and barley have been identified as the best rotation system in wheat dominated Arsi province.
• Two common bean varieties (Nasir and Dimitu) have identified as suitable pulse crops for inter-cropping with Maize in high rain fall areas. They can increase the income of the farmers by up to 30% as compared to growing sole maize and moreover they improve the fertility status of the soil.
• In the moisture stress areas, growing of common bean as an inter-crop with maize integrated with tie-ridging technique to conserve moisture has been identified as effective system to improve the yield of maize by 20-30%.
• Growing of common bean with sorghum in rotation and inter-cropping system has been identified as most the effective strategy to increase the yield of sorghum by four fold and land intensification of about 40-50%.
• Dekeko (low land field pea) has been found effectively produced when panted at the soil moisture of between 20 to 30% and 40 and 15 cm inter and intra row spacing respectively.
• In melka Worer area, the recommended seed rate of sesame has been identified as 80 kg/ha.
• Suitable coffee pruning and training system that can boost the yield of the crop has been identified
• Using desmodium as mulching (being harvested twice per year) in coffee plantation has been identified as effective system to improve the yield of coffee, soil fertility status and controlling weed.
• Relay Inter-cropping of coriander with coffee has been found effective in land intensification and hence it is economical to grow the two crops altogether.
• New biofertilizers strains that can boost the yield of Faba bean and soya bean and increasing the yield of the crops up to 30% have been identified.
• A strain called CP-5 has been identified for chick pea and it can boost the yield of the crop by about 60% 

Vertisols and Acid Soils Management

• According to the research results conducted on highland Vertisols areas, black cumin and white cumin and coriander have been identified as highly economical and alternative crops as compared to other field crops such as teff, wheat, chick pea and lentil. The result indicated that one can produce 990, 1081 and 4185 kg/ha black and white cumin and coriander respectively. This means the monetary advantage of these high value crops is 34,855.0, 19,587.0 and 13,295.9 in that order as compared to the popular crop on Vertisols i.e teff.
• It was found that barely yield can be increased from 2.5 ton/ha to 4.5 ton/ha by applying 1.5 to 3.5 ton/halime (according to the exchangeable acidity level of the soil) and 46 kg/ha P2O5. On the other hand, the yield of the same crop has increased to 3.7 ton/ha by applying compost and lime altogether.
• Split application of liming i.e. 1/3 of the recommended rate for the crop (maize, soybean, and barley) has-been found effective as compared to the application of the full rate once. This also gives an opportunity for the resource poor farmers.
• Low pH and associated low P availability is major limiting factor for the production of highland pulse son Nitisoils where faba bean and field pea are mainly grown. Therefore, liming has been found as effective reclamation option where the rate is determined based exchangeable acidity level of the soil.
• Impeded drainage is the major constraint affecting productivity of cereals and pulses on Vertisoils. Therefore, using BBF (broad bed and furrow) system has been found effective to drain excess water from the field and boosting productivity.

Agricultural Water and Soil Salinity Management

Irrigation and Drainage commodity

• Irrigation interval, depth of water application and water use efficiency (WUE) has been determined for alfalfa and banana in Werer and middle Awash areas
• Seasonal crop water requirement (CWR), WUE and irrigation has been determined for
• Haricot bean, sorghum and pepper in Melkasa area,
• Chickpea in Debrezeit and Gerado/Desse areas, for cotton in middle Awash, Gewane, lower Awash andArbaminch areas,
• Groundnut in middle Awash and Gode areas and forkenaf in middle Awash area,
• Maize in middle Awash, central rift valley includingMelkassa, in Gerado/ Dessie and Dire Dawa areas,
• Sesame in middle Awash and Gode areas,
• Teff in Gerado/Dessie area,
• Wheat in middle Awash, Melkassa, and Debre-Zeitareas,
• Rice at Melka werer and tomato Melkassa
• Tomato, onion, pepper, maize and sorghum in Mohoni areas
• Optimum supplemental irrigation regime has been determined for maize in Melkassa and middle Awash areas.
• Optimum deficit irrigation scheme has been determined for tomato in Malkassa, for supermint in Koka and forsesame in Melka Werer areas.
• The influence of water deficit stress at various growth stages on crop growth and yield has been identified foronion in Melkassa area and for maize in Koka, and foronion and sesame in in Melka Werer areas
• Seasonal CWR of onion has been determined atdifferent growth stages and in different seasons formiddle Awash, central rift valley
• Similarly, CWR of tomato in different seasons has been determined for central rift valley and Dire Dawa areas
• CWR of established citrus (orange) orchard has been determined for upper Awash (Nura Era), middle Awashand central rift valley areas
• Similarly, seasonal CWR and gross irrigation requirement has been determined for mandarin in upper Awash(Nura Era), for mango in central rift valley and for banana in upper Awash (Nura Era) and middle Awash areas
• On the other hand, optimum irrigation regime(application depth, time, method and interval) hasbeen determined for onion in Ziway Dugda, Dire Dawa, Melkassa and Melka Werer areas
• Similarly, optimum irrigation regime has beendetermined for tomato in Melkassa, Dire Dawa, andMelka Werer areas.
• Optimum irrigation regime has also been determinedfor pepper in middle Awash and Bako areas and forsweet potato in middle Awash area
• Optimum irrigation regimes have been determined fororange and mandarin in upper Awash, for banana in middle awash and for coffee nurseries and establishedstands in Jimma areas.
• About six to eight Arabica coffee genotypes relatively tolerant to drought stress have been identified orscreened at seedling stage under controlled rainoutshelter condition in Jimma and Sidamo areas.
• Drip irrigation method also showed promising results in increasing water use efficiency and yield. The highest crop yield and WUE have been achieved with drip irrigation as compared to furrow irrigation.

Soil Salinity Management

• Among the various tree species, Sesbania sesban, Albizialebbeck, Acacia nilotica and Acacia tortilis have been found to be tolerant to soil salinity with potential of ameliorating both physical and chemical properties ofthe soil and lowering the level of ground water table asbio-drainage agents.
• Two rice varieties, namely NONA BOKRA and IR72593-B-3-2-3-5 have been identified as salt tolerantand as alternative crop in salt affected areas of the riftvalley and middle Awash.
• On saline affected soils, the use 46 kg N/ha and irrigating 75mm water at 17 days interval was found to be effective for improved production of cotton in the rift valley/Werer areas.

Three wheat varieties, namely Simba, Geleme and Kubsa, have been found to be adaptable to moderate soil two cotton varieties, Nazil-84 and Acala sj-2, were found to be relatively tolerant to highly saline soils and high yielders under salinity stress condition in middle awash areas.

• Four forage grass species, namely Chloris gayana,Cinchrus spp, Panicum antidotale, Sorghum sudaness,and two legume forage species (Medica sativa andSesbania sesban) have been identified as adaptable and tolerant to and high biomass yielding in saline soil areas, and have remarkably reduced the soil salinity content.
• Intermittent leaching with single application of 20 cm depth every recession period and continuous ponding with an application of 15 cm water depth has beenadvised as a proper leaching practice for cotton and rice, respectively, in saline-sodic soils of Melka Sediarea, where subsurface drainage system was also recommended to control ground-water table, reduce soil salinity level and increase crop yields.
• The nature, extent, cause and distribution of .salinesodic soils have been studied in irrigated areas of Amibara and Fentale, and in lower, middle and upper Awash, Rift valley and northern, southern and easternlow land areas and river basins and information has been generated for the users.

Integrated Watershed Management 

The major objectives of integrated watershed management (IWM) research case team are to rehabilitate degraded lands, control gully formation and land degradation as a result of deforestation/loss of vegetation cover, runoff and erosion, and generation, adoption/introduction and popularization of improved biological and physical soil and water conservation practices in major watersheds. 

In line with this, so far different activities have been carried out indifferent parts of the country. But most of the activities have been focusing on more of development works, mainly introduction of various improved crop, forestry and/or agro-forestry and livestock production technologies, rural energy saving, soil and water conservation practices, and gully rehabilitation technologies with participation of the community in model watersheds.

Currently, the case team has developed short, medium and long term strategies and started some research activities to generate technologies and information in the following areas:

• Gauging and assessment at different basins (soil, nutrient, water discharge, sediment, economic, yield loss quantification, effects on downstream), mapping risk areas and modeling for effective soil and water conservation.
• Introduction and evaluation of soil and water conservation practices including inventory and documentation (practices including IK) of SWC.
• Inventory and documentation (practices including IK) and Mountain development.
• Introduction and evaluation of multipurpose (MP) and high value fruits and trees/shrubs.
• Evaluation of soil – tree – crop -livestock interaction
• Introduction and evaluation of water harvesting technologies (proper harvesting, storage mechanisms, conveyance, abstraction, utilization).
• Validation and evaluation of Conservation Agriculture (CA).
• Inventory and documentation (Practices including IK) of CA.
• Hillside rehabilitation with enclosure and enrichment Plantation.