LIVES theses and dissertations
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Item Assessment of potentials and challenges of small-scale irrigation: The case of Abagerima Watershed, Lake Tana Sub-Basin, Ethiopia(Thesis, 2017-09-15) Kassawmar, B.Item Indigenous chicken farmers’ traits preferences, breeding objectives and marketing systems in Seka Chekorsa and Kersa Districts of Jimma Zone, Southwest Ethiopia(Thesis, 2018-02-15) Teshome, F.A survey with the objectives of studying (trait preference, breeding objectives, management & marketing systems of indigenous chicken) was undertaken in two districts (Seka Chekorsa and Kersa) of Jimma zone which were selected based on their potential for village chickens production. The two districts were stratified into highland (HL), midland (ML) and lowland (LL) agro-ecologies and 385 households, 122 from HL, 155 from ML and 108 from LL were purposively selected for this study. Respondents interview and focus group discussions (FGDs) were employed as surveying techniques and the survey data were analyzed using statistical package for social science (SPSS Ver.20). The overall mean land size, family size and cattle size per household were 0.76±.37 ha, 5.05±.11 and 2.04±.05, respectively. The average chicken size per household were 4.44, 3.24 and 3.70 in HL, ML and LL, respectively and the effective population size ranged from 5.64 to 6.84 with an inbreeding coefficient of 0.08. The average age at first mating (months), age at first egg laying (months), eggs laid per hen per clutch, clutch number per hen per year, clutch length in days, total egg production per year per hen, female and male reproductive life span (years) were 6.16, 6.64, 11.52, 4.11, 24.40, 43.63, 3.19 and 3.52, respectively. Egg production, body weight and adaptability were ranked 1st, 2nd and 3rd preferred traits by farmers across all agro-ecologies with index values of 0.50, 0.15 and 0.13, respectively. Body weight (55.6%), comb type (34.3%) and plumage color (10.1%) for male and body weight (59.7%), finger accommodation between the pelvic bones (25.2%) and plumage colors (8.6%) for female were the major selection criteria of farmers in chicken genetic improvement. The Sick chickens, poor productivity and feather color were farmers culling criteria of chickens in the study area. The urgent need of money in the family (31.4%), time of cultural or religious festivals (31.4%), time of disease outbreak (27.0%) and time of cropping season (10.1%) were reasons for farmers selling chickens. The mean price during ordinary and festivals market for mature cock (121.8, 134.3), mature hen (73.3, 79.9), grower (63.6, 65.0) and egg were (2.1, 2.25) birr, respectively. Disease (39.0%), predators (22.1%), feed resource (19.0%), lack of proper housing (10.1%) and lack of marketing access (9.9%) were the major constraints of chickens’ production in the study area. Lack of feeds availability, chicken housing, diseases and predators were factors that hinder the chicken’s productivity. Indigenous chicken were high in adaptive trait than exotic but low in productive trait and community based village chicken breeding/genetic improvement could bridge the problems. Health care and diseases control were very low, especially, vaccination given for chickens was weak, that used as precaution for disease preventive, so vaccination for chickens need attention to save flock of chickens from diseases outbreak. Housing system, especially, at night time need improved shelter by properly constructing house to escape chickens from predators and extreme weathers.Item Effect of estrus and ovulation synchronization protocols in local goats during the breeding season(Thesis, 2017-12-30) Gidena, A.Sixty four (n=64) non-descripte local does weighing approximately 25 -40kgs was selected for this study. one rural kebeles of Kilte-Awlaelo district was purposively selected in the semiarid part of the district. Study animals were ear taged and kept as per their group of treatment in the Farmers Training Center of the Kebele. Data collected were analyzed using SPSS version 20. Experiment was designed to determine the effect of different synchronization protocols. The double PGF2α group of goats (n=16) received an intramuscular(IM)injection of PGF2α analogue (125μg cloprostenol as total dose 0.5ml) on day 0 and the second dose was given 14 days apart with the same amount. The Ovsynch group of goats (n = 16) received an IM injection of a GnRH analogue (10μg Receptal as a total dose 1ml) on day 0 and a treatment of PGF2α analogue 125μg cloprostenol), on day 7 followed by a second injection of the GnRH analogue on day 9. The 3rd treatment group (n=16) with GnRH – PGF2α was given the same dose as above 7 days apart. Estrus response and conception was higher in double PGF2alpha, GnRH-PGF2alpha-GnRH , GnRH-PGF2alpha and control group treatment groups (81.25%, 81.25, 75.00% and 50.00% respectively). However, there is a greater variation among the control group and other treatment groups in comparison. The maximum onset of estrus time in this study were recorded as 26.30h, 30.55h, 54.00h and 24.30h for control, doublePGF2α, GnRH – PGF2α – GnRH and GnRH – PGF2α respectively. Conception rate were determined by observing the non-return to heat and also by conducting pregnancy diagnose using an instrument called PREGTONE- Pregnancy examination test. Among the treatment groups does treated with Ovcynch (GnRH- PGF2α) show the highest conception rate (91.70%) as compared to double PGF2α treatment group (61.54%). However, conception rate and estrus response not differ significantly (p >0.05). The interval to the onset of estrus in different parity were not differ significantly (p>0.05). In addition, there was no significant difference between body score and estrus sign. The overall conception rates after synchronized estrus by different protocols were 73.91%. Parity and BCS of does not influence estrus response, onset of estrus and estrus duration but influenced certain estrus sign and conception rate. It could be concluded that the Ovsynch treatment appeared to be similar to the double PGF protocol in terms of the reproductive response. However, this needs to be tested on a larger herd size. Furthermore, it would seem that the use of combination of GnRH and PGF2α improves some reproductive traits in local goats. Research trends on ovulation synchronization in nonbreeding seasons are expected in future using different goats breeds with duplicate experiments in distinct areas of the region.Item Integrated use of nps blended fertilizer and cattle manure on growth, yield and quality of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) under Dabo Ghibe Kebele, Seka Werada of Jimma Zone, Southwest Ethiopia(Thesis, 2018-02-15) Ababiya, A.Irish potato (Solonaum tuberosum L.) is An important leading tuber crop in Ethiopia. It is an important food security and cash crop for smallholder farmers in Ethiopia. However, the yield of the crop is low at national as well as regional levels which, constrained mainly by low soil fertility. A new blended fertilizer (NPS) containing nitrogen (19% N), phosphorous (38% P2O5) and sulfur (7% S) is recently introduced aiming at substituting DAP in Ethiopian agriculture. There is a need to optimize the fertilizer under farmers’ conditions particularly its use along with organic resources. Therefore, a field experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of combined application of NPS blended fertilizer and cattle manure (CM) on growth, tuber yield and quality of potato on a Nitisol at Dabo-Gibe Kebele, Seka werada in 2016/2017 under irrigation. The objective of this study was to determine the optimum rate of mineral NPS blended fertilizer and CM rate on growth, yield and quality of potato. The treatments consisted of four NPS blended fertilizer levels (0, 50,100 and 150kg ha-1) and four Cattle Manure levels (0, 10, 20 and 30t ha-1).The experiment was laid out as a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) in a factorial arrangement and replicated three times. Data on days to 50% flowering, days to 75% physiological maturity, plant height, main stem number, total tuber yield (t ha-1), marketable tuber yield (t ha-1), unmarketable tuber yield (t ha-1), total tuber number per hill, marketable tuber number per hill per plant, unmarketable tuber number per hill per plant, dry matter content and specific gravity were collected and statistically analyzed using SAS version 9.3 software. Results revealed that combined application of NPS blended fertilizer and CM significantly (P<0.05) influenced days to 50% flowering, days to 75% physiological maturity, plant height, total tuber yield (t ha-1), marketable tuber yield (t ha-1), total tuber number per hill, marketable tuber number per hill and specific gravity. However, main stem number and dry matter content were not affected by the combined application of NPS blended fertilizer and cattle manure. Unmarketable tuber number and yield was also not affected by the main effects of NPS blended fertilizer and CM and as well as their interaction. The highest total tuber yield (40.23 t ha-1) was obtained by applying 150 kg ha-1 NPS bended fertilizers+30 t ha-1CM. Based on the partial budget analysis, combined application of 100 kg ha-1NPS bended fertilizers+30tha-1CM gave the maximum net return of Birr 138,513 ha-1 with an acceptable marginal rate of return (51.1%). The total nitrogen, available phosphorus and organic carbon content of the experimental soil were also increased due to the interaction of mineral NPS blended fertilizers and cattle manure at their highest rates. In conclusion, the results revealed that combined application of 150 kg ha-1NPS fertilizers and cattle manure at 30 t ha-1 significantly increased total tuber yield (40.23tha-1) of potato and restore of N, P and organic carbon of soil. In economic point of view, combined application of 100 kg ha-1NPS blended fertilizers and 30 t ha-1CM is found economically feasible and can be recommended for potato growers around Seka Wereda.Item Performance of farmer managed Bovans Brown layers fed on different locally available rations(Thesis, 2018-01-30) Tekulu, E.The study was conducted to evaluate the effects of feed supplementation on feed intake, body weight change, feed conversion efficiency, egg production, morbidity, mortality, egg quality and profitability of Bovans Brown layers for 90 feeding trial days under farmers management. Randomized Complete Block Design was used with 4 treatments and 5 replications each. A total of 100 Bovans Brown layer with uniform Body weight and age were blocked randomly into 20 farmers 5 bird per farmer and were allocated randomly in to one of the 4 dietary treatments. Locally available feed resources (maize, nouge cake, sesame meal, limestone and salt) were used to formulate the experimental diets. The CP and ME content of treatment rations ranged 12.5- 16.87% and 2245-2909.51kcal/ kg DM, respectively. The amount of feed consumed was determined by obtaining the difference between the quantity feed offered and the quantity feed remaining on the feed trough. Body weight of the birds was measured at the beginning and end of the study. Egg quality traits were determined six times during the study period by taking three eggs from each farmer per two week. The result from the analysis of variance shows that, DFI % of the treatment rations (0, 96.425, 97.575 and 97.301 (SEM=9.646)); BWG (g/bird) (32.0, 56.8, 62.0 and 61.6 (SEM=3.538)); HDEP (%) (49.244, 56.668, 60.356 and 58.74 (SEM=1.006)); HHEP (%) (49.244, 56.668, 60.356 and 57.51) (SEM=0.971)); egg weight (g) (55.3, 56.1,56.2, and 56.3 (SEM=0.102));egg mass(g/hen/day (27.26,31.37,32.07and 33.07(SEM=0.527)); FCE(g of eggs/g of feed ( 0.00, 0.972,1.096 and 1.08 (SEM=0.105)); Mortality by predator (% ) (0,0,0 and 8 (SEM=2)); Shell weight (g) (4.908,5.312,5.354,5.35(SEM=0.055)) and shell thickness(mm) (0.368, 0.388, 0.398 and 0.386 (SEM=0.004)) were analyzed for T1, T2, T3, and T4 , respectively. The result shows production performance and egg quality traits except Albumen quality and yolk colour were affected by feed supplementation .The partial budget analysis of the birds in T1, T2, T3 and T4 was calculated as 3324.00, 3385.68, 3499.00 and 3427.35 net return in Ethiopian birr respectively ; indicated that net return increased as the level of dietary protein and dietary energy increased because these nutrients improved the production performance and egg quality traits of hens. Therefore, it is concluded and recommend that feed with comparatively higher 16.87% CP and slightly lower 2752 kcal/kg ME diet could be better for BB layers under farmer’s condition. Protein-rich feeds are expensive .Hence; future research should focus on the possibility of using cheap conventional and non-conventional protein-rich feed resources as feed supplement for scavenging chicken. The egg quality from Bovans Brown layers was a good quality at village level, while the average number of eggs/bird/year may need further study through considering the amount of feed provided by the farmers and scavenging feed resources on that area by crop analysis.Item Potential Threats to Honeybee Health with Emphasis on Varroa mite in South Wollo Zone of Amhara Region(Thesis, 2015) Tsegaye, A.