• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.169-180
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• 2023

Oreochromis niloticus is the most ecologically and economically important fish in tropical and sub-tropical aquatic systems. Recently, due to sever anthropogenic stressors, hydrological variations and infestations of invasive alien species in Ethiopian water bodies, fish community structure and ecosystem of Lake Tana is changing alarmingly. So far, there is paucity of information on the morphometric relations and diet composition of O. niloticus in Lake Tana, gulf of Gorgora. A total of 309 fish samples were collected and their total length (TL), standard length (SL) and total weight (TW) were measured to determine morphometric relations; and gut contents were examined to identify most important food item in the diet of the fish. Results indicated that, the relation between TL and SL was significant (p < 0.001) and linear (SL = 0.942TL-2.41) while the relation between TL and TW was curvilinear (TW = 0.014 TL^2.8) indicating allometric growth. Among the total guts scrutinized, 53 (17.3%) of them were empty and the remaining 256 (82.7%) were non-empty. Phytoplankton constituted the largest bulk and occurred in 77% of the guts examined and volumetrically accounted 44.3%. Detritus and zooplankton had an intermediate importance by occurring 60.2% and 63.3% of all guts scrutinized and constituted about 25.6% and 15.5% of the total volume respectively. Contributions of macrophytes, insects, nematodes and unidentified food items were relatively low in their importance. Ontogenetic dietary shift was observed in the diet indicating an omnivorous feeding habit of the adult fish.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.128-138
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• 2018

Background: This study investigated the variation of soil organic carbon in four land cover types: natural and mixed forest, cultivated land, Eucalyptus plantation and open bush land. The study was conducted in the Birr watershed of the upper Blue Nile ('Abbay') river basin. Methods: The data was subjected to a two-way of ANOVA analysis using the general linear model (GLM) procedures of SAS. Pairwise comparison method was also used to assess the mean difference of the land uses and depth levels depending on soil properties. Total of 148 soil samples were collected from two depth layers: 0-10 and 10-20 cm. Results: The results showed that overall mean soil organic carbon stock was higher under natural and mixed forest land use compared with other land use types and at all depths ($29.62{\pm}1.95Mg\;C\;ha^{-1}$), which was 36.14, 28.36, and 27.63% more than in cultivated land, open bush land, and Eucalyptus plantation, respectively. This could be due to greater inputs of vegetation and reduced decomposition of organic matter. On the other hand, the lowest soil organic carbon stock under cultivated land could be due to reduced inputs of organic matter and frequent tillage which encouraged oxidation of organic matter. Conclusions: Hence, carbon concentrations and stocks under natural and mixed forest and Eucalyptus plantation were higher than other land use types suggesting that two management strategies for improving soil conditions in the watershed: to maintain and preserve the forest in order to maintain carbon storage in the future and to recover abandoned crop land and degraded lands by establishing tree plantations to avoid overharvesting in natural forests.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.129-160
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• 2019

Background: Characterizing and describing soils and land use and make a suggestion for sustainable utilization of land resources in the Ethiopian Rift valley flat plain areas of Lake Chamo Sub-Basin (CSB) are essential. Objectives: To (1) characterize soils of experimental area according to World Reference Base Legend and assess the nature and extent of salinity problems; (2) characterize land use systems and their role in soil properties; and (3) identify best land use practices used for both environmental management and improve agricultural productivity. Methods: Twelve randomly collected soil samples were prepared from the above land uses into 120 composites and analyzed. Results: Organic carbon (OC) and total nitrogen (TN) were varied along different land uses and depleted from the surface soils. The soil units include Chernozems (41.67%), Kastanozems (25%), Solonchaks (16.67%), and Cambisols (16.67%). The identified land uses are annual crops (AA), perennial crops (PA), and natural forest (NF). Generally, organic carbon, total nitrogen, percentage base saturation (PBS), exchangeable (potassium, calcium, and magnesium), available phosphorus (P₂O₅), manganese, copper, and iron contents were decreased in cultivated soils. Soil salinity problem was observed in annuals. Annuals have less nutrient content compared to perennials in irrigated agriculture while it is greater in annuals under rainfed. Clay, total nitrogen, available phosphorus, and available potassium (K₂O) contents were correlated positively and highly significantly with organic carbon and electrical conductivity. Conclusion: Management practices that improve soil quality should be integrated with leguminous crops when the land is used for annual crops production.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.2119-2128
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• 2015

Cancer is the leading cause of death around the world. Anticancer activities from many functional food sources have been reported in years, but correlation between cancer prevalence and types of food with anticancer activities from crop origin center in the world as well as food source with human migration are unclear. Hunger from food shortage is the cause of early human evolution from Africa to Asia and later into Eurasia. The richest functional foods are found in crop origin centers, housing about 70% in the world populations. Crop origin centers have lower cancer incidence and mortality in the world, especially Central Asia, Middle East, Southwest China, India and Ethiopia. Asia and Africa with the richest anticancer crops is not only the most important evolution base of humans and origin center of anticancer functional crop, but also is the lowest mortality and incidence of cancers in the world. Cancer prevention of early human migrations was associated with functional foods from crop origin centers, especially Asia with four centers and one subcenter of crop origin, accounting for 58% of the world population. These results reveal that coevolution between human's anticancer activities associated with functional foods for crop origin centers, especially in Asia and Africa.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.9
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• pp.1393-1400
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• 2018

Objective: This study was carried out to assess the haplotype diversity and population dynamics in cattle populations of Ethiopia. Methods: We sequenced the complete mitochondrial cytochrome b gene of 76 animals from five indigenous and one Holstein Friesian${\times}$Barka cross bred cattle populations. Results: In the sequence analysis, 18 haplotypes were generated from 18 segregating sites and the average haplotype and nucleotide diversities were $0.7540{\pm}0.043$ and $0.0010{\pm}0.000$, respectively. The population differentiation analysis shows a weak population structure (4.55%) among the populations studied. Majority of the variation (95.45%) is observed by within populations. The overall average pair-wise distance ($F_{ST}$) was 0.049539 with the highest ($F_{ST}=0.1245$) and the lowest ($F_{ST}=0.011$) $F_{ST}$ distances observed between Boran and Abigar, and Sheko and Abigar from the indigenous cattle, respectively. The phylogenetic network analysis revealed that all the haplotypes detected clustered together with the Bos taurus cattle and converged to a haplogroup. No haplotype in Ethiopian cattle was observed clustered with the reference Bos indicus group. The mismatch distribution analysis indicates a single population expansion event among the cattle populations. Conclusion: Overall, high haplotype variability was observed among Ethiopian cattle populations and they share a common ancestor with Bos taurus.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.217-224
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• 2020

Waterlogging and unintended lake formation become the main problem in some parts of the world. Starting from 1989, the waterlogging problem was observed in the farmland of the Jarso community of Konso Woreda adjacent to the Segen River in Ethiopia. Therefore, the objectives are determining the extent and causes of unintended lake formation using GIS/RS in addition to a preliminary field survey to mitigate the problem. The analysis of satellite images revealed that over the years invasion of the irrigable land by unwanted water had increased, as, in 1989, the size of the wetland area was about 8 Km²; in 2000 the size of the un-intended lake was only 8.23 ㎢. Alarmingly the size of the lake increased to 19.68 Km² in 2014. Silting up of Weir and changing the flow of River Segen and Human Intervention and changing the natural flow of River Yanda were the main causes of this unwanted prolonged water-logging. The ecological and social environment has been degrading as the people of the waterlogged area have been experiencing some settlement and losing their land. Another problem encountered was flooding from River Barka and invasion of the farmland. Sediment control best management practices (BMPs) i.e, Removal of sediment, providing sandbags and well-scheduled maintenance; Changing the junction point of Yanda and Segen River were suggested for the long-term and short term possible remedial measures. Gabion retaining wall on the bank of the Segen River to the face of Barka River was suggested to protect the farmland from flooding.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.200-205
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• 2012

Although a large number of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been identified from the bovine genome-sequencing project, few of these have been validated at large in Bos indicus breeds. We have genotyped 192 animals, representing 5 cattle populations of Ethiopia, with the Illumina Bovine 8K SNP BeadChip. These include 1 Sanga (Danakil), 3 zebu (Borana, Arsi and Ambo), and 1 zebu ${\times}$ Sanga intermediate (Horro) breeds. The Hanwoo (Bos taurus) was included for comparison purposes. Analysis of 7,045 SNP markers revealed that the mean minor allele frequency (MAF) was 0.23, 0.22, 0.21, 0.21, 0.23, and 0.29 for Ambo, Arsi, Borana, Danakil, Horro, and Hanwoo, respectively. Significant differences of MAF were observed between the indigenous Ethiopian cattle populations and Hanwoo breed (p < 0.001). Across the Ethiopian cattle populations, a common variant MAF (${\geq}0.10$ and ${\leq}0.5$) accounted for an overall estimated 73.79% of the 7,045 SNPs. The Hanwoo displayed a higher proportion of common variant SNPs (90%). Investigation within Ethiopian cattle populations showed that on average, 16.64% of the markers were monomorphic, but in the Hanwoo breed, only 6% of the markers were monomorphic. Across the sampled Ethiopian cattle populations, the mean observed and expected heterozygosities were 0.314 and 0.313, respectively. The level of SNP variation identified in this particular study highlights that these markers can be potentially used for genetic studies in African cattle breeds.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.400-420
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• 2019

The aims of the study were to analyze (1) the effects of Prosopis juliflora (Prosopis) on the spatial distribution and soil seed banks (SSB) diversity and density, (2) the effects of environmental factors on SSB diversity and density (number of seeds in the soil per unit area), and (3) the effects of animal fecal droppings on SSB diversity, density, and dispersal. Aboveground vegetation data were collected from different Prosopis-infested habitats from quadrats (20 × 20 m) in Prosopis thickets, Prosopis + native species stand, non-invaded woodlands, and open grazing lands. In each Prosopis-infested habitats, soil samples were collected from the litter layer and three successive soil layer, i.e., 0-3 cm, 3-6 cm, and 6-9 cm. Seeds from soil samples and animal fecal matter were separated in the green house using the seedling emergence technique. Invasion of Prosopis had significant effects on the soil seed bank diversity. Results revealed that the mean value of the Shannon diversity of non-invaded woodlands was being higher by 19.2%, 18.5%, and 11.0% than Prosopis thickets; Prosopis + native species stand and open grazing lands, respectively. The seed diversity and richness, recovered from 6-9-cm-deep layer were the highest. On the other hand, the density of Prosopis seeds was the highest in the litter layer. About 156 of seeds/kg (92.9%) of seeds were germinated from cattle fecal matter. However, in a small proportion of seedlings, 12 of seeds/kg (7.1%) were germinated from shot fecal matter. Thus, as the seeds in the soil were low in the study areas, in situ and ex situ conservation of original plants and reseeding of persistent grass species such as Cynodon dactylon, Cenchrus ciliaris, Chrysopogon plumulosus, and Brachiaria ramosa are recommended.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.427-437
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• 2019

Background: Climate change is believed to be continuously affecting ticks by influencing their habitat suitability. However, we attempted to model the climate change-induced impacts on future genus Rhipicephalus distribution considering the major environmental factors that would influence the tick. Therefore, 50 tick occuance points were taken to model the potential distribution using maximum entropy (MaxEnt) software and 19 climatic variables, taking into account the ability for future climatic change under representative concentration pathways (RCPs) 4.5 and 8.5, were used. Results: MaxEnt model performance was tested and found with the AUC value of 0.99 which indicates excellent goodness-of-fit and predictive accuracy. Current models predict increased temperatures, both in the mid and end terms together with possible changes of other climatic factors like precipitation which may lead to higher tick-borne disease risks associated with expansion of the range of the targeted tick distribution. Distribution maps were constructed for the current, 2050, and 2070 for the two greenhouse gas scenarios and the most dramatic scenario; RCP 8.5 produced the highest increase probable distribution range. Conclusions: The future potential distribution of the genus Rhipicephalus show potential expansion to the new areas due to the future climatic suitability increase. These results indicate that the genus population of the targeted tick could emerge in areas in which they are currently lacking; increased incidence of tick-borne diseases poses further risk which can affect cattle production and productivity, thereby affecting the livelihood of smallholding farmers. Therefore, it is recommended to implement climate change adaptation practices to minimize the impacts.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.466-472
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• 2016

The objectives of the study were to analyze the various nutrient contents of ready-to-use-supplemental-food (RUSF) developed with Eastern African ethnic plants and compare them with commercially available supplemental food (CASF) for infants. RUSF was made with three African plants, including Ficus sur, Amaranthus caudatus, and Prosopis juliflorafa and locally available food ingredients in DR Congo and Ethiopia and was cooked at $180^{\circ}C$ for 20 min in a conventional oven. Macronutrients were analyzed by the AOAC method. Contents of 17 amino acids were analysed with amino acid analyzer, and vitamin $B_1%$ niacin, vitamin $B_6$, and vitamin C were analyzed with HPLC. Isomers of vitamin E were analyzed by GC-FID. The price of RUSF was 0.133 USD per 100g. Contents of macronutrients were not significantly different between developed RUSF and CASF. Results of amino acid analysis showed that most amino acid contents were similar or higher in RUSF compared with CASF. However, glutamic acid and lysine contents were less in RUSF than in CASF. Vitamin E and vitamin $B_1$ contents were more than five times higher in RUSF (22.40, 6.26 mg/100 g, respectively) than in CASF (4.00, 0.80 mg/100 g, respectively). Niacin was about three times higher while vitamin $B_6$ was almost 20 times higher in RUSF than in CASF. However, ascorbic acid was significantly lower in RUSF (3.43 mg/100 g) than in CASF (42.08 mg/100 g). Our study found that the developed localized RUSF showed higher nutrient contents in most micronutrients analyzed except for ascorbic acid. Out of 17 amino acids, glutamic acid and lysine contents in RUSF were less than in CASF. Therefore, further study is needed in order to improve these nutrients contents.