Indigenous knowledge, developed over generations and owned by communities or individuals within a community, offers alternative strategies and perspectives on resource management and use. However, as emphasized in the contemporary agricultural history of Ethiopia, the most effective indigenous agricultural knowledge has not been well documented and some of them are replaced by modern techniques. This study was therefore conducted to assess and document community-based techniques to control pests and diseases and the practical implications of indigenous farming techniques. A focus group discussion, key informant interviews and semi-structured questionnaires were conducted with 150 farmers. The result showed that a substantial number (92%) of the farming community uses indigenous based plant protection measures. Indigenous farmers (92%) splash liquids made of cow urine to control the adverse effect of fungi. Farmers are also using different seed selection methods for next season planting. About 29% of the farmers do single head-based seed selection prior to mass harvesting, 34% are collected as "Qerm" and 45% select their seeds during threshing. Indigenous farming knowledge varies with the natural feature of the growing location and cropping system, including the rainfall pattern, soil fertility status, crop, and weed type. The observed positive effect of indigenous agricultural practices on crop production substantiates the need to include these essential approaches in the cultivation system along with the modern agronomic techniques. This might reduce the dependency on expensive and pollutant agricultural inputs. However, sociodemographic factors such as educational level, marital status and farming experience have been found as a determinant factor that influences utilization of indigenous farming knowledge. It can be therefore inferred that documenting indigenous knowledge and proving its applicability scientifically could contribute to organically oriented agricultural production and consequently reduce agriculture's contribution to environmental pollution.

A field experiment was conducted in north Gondar to investigate the response of malt barley varieties to different inter-row spacing under contrasted environment. The experiment was laid out using randomized complete block design with three replications. The treatments were three different inter-row spacing (i.e., 20, 25, and 30 cm), six malt barley varieties (i.e., Holker, HB1963, Sabine, Ibone174/03, EH1847, and Freygebse), and two locations (Miligebsa and Kino). The result sowed that days to 50% heading, days to 90% physiological maturity, plant height, spike length, and number of kernels per spike were significantly ( ) affected by the main effect of location and varieties. Similarly, effective tiller number, biomass yield, grain yield, and straw yield were significantly ( ) influenced by the main effect of variety, inter-row spacing, and location. Important interaction was also observed between varieties × inter-row spacing × location on days to 50% heading, spike length, biomass yield, grain yield, and straw yield. Location × variety interaction significantly influences the days to 90% physiological maturity and effective tiller number. Similar significant ( ) trend was also observed between varieties with inter-row spacing on effective tiller number and thousand kernel weight even at level of significance. It was found that optimization of row spacing was found to be influenced by location and varietal difference. Hence, on the basis of the result, it can be inferred that 25 cm row spacing combined with the varieties “HB1963,” “Hollker,” and “Sabine” was optimum for maximum yielding potential under potential environment (Miligebsa).

Precision sustainable agronomic practices are crucial for achieving global food security as well as mitigating climate change. A field experiment was conducted at the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences in Gödöllő from 2023 to 2024. The study aimed to evaluate the effects of soil tillage and foliar nutrient supplementation on winter barley yield, associated characteristics, and soil CO₂ emissions. Employing a split-plot design with three replications, the experiment included four nutrient treatments (control, bio-cereal, bio-algae, and MgSMnZn blend) and two soil tillage type (i.e., plowing and cultivator). The study found that soil CO₂ emissions were influenced by the crop growth stage across both tillage treatments throughout the growing seasons, but the tillage system itself did not have an effect. Similarly, the leaf chlorophyll content was not affected by tillage and nutrient treatments. Plant height, the leaf area index (LAI), and thousand kernel weights (TKW) were significantly affected by nutrient treatments across the growing seasons. Both nutrient and tillage treatments also had a notable effect on the number of productive tillers in winter barley. Moreover, nutrient and tillage treatments consistently influenced grain yield across the two growing seasons, and their interaction significantly impacted both grain yield and thousand kernel weights. The bio-cereal nutrient treatment combined with plowing tillage yielded the highest values for most parameters throughout the growing seasons. Therefore, it can be concluded that the combination of bio-cereal nutrient treatments and plowing tillage can boost winter barley yields. Notably, soil CO₂ emissions peak during the crops’ reproductive stage, surpassing levels from early growth.

As compared with single agronomic crop management practices during grain formation, knowledge about integrated agronomic management practices on grain mineral composition and grain technological properties in durum wheat is limited. This knowledge is important for determining management strategies aimed at increasing grain yield without affecting grain nutritional quality. Integrated agronomic practices such as foliar nutrient application × seeding rate × varieties combined with growing locations were investigated to evaluate the dynamics of yield and grain quality traits. Two durum wheat varieties, three-level of micronutrients (i.e. control, FeSO₄, and ZnSO₄), and four levels of seeding rate (i.e. 100, 125, 150, and 175 kg ha^-1) were arranged in split-split plot design under two different growing locations (environments). The main plots were assigned to the varieties, subplots to micronutrients, and sub-sub plots to the seeding rate treatments. Zinc and iron were applied in a form of ZnSO₄ and FeSO₄ at the early flowering stage, both at a rate of 25 kg ha^-1. Results showed a linear increment in biomass (21.5%) and grain yield (23.5%) under a high seeding rate, even though the 1000-grain weight, the number of grains spike^-1, spike length, and the number of grains spike^-1 were decreased. Higher varietal and environmental response of seeding rate was observed between varieties. The grain protein content, gluten, and zeleyn index decreased as the seeding rate increased. Grain micronutrient content was significantly influenced by seeding rate and varietal difference. The grain protein content was higher in a dryland environment than in a wet environment. A combined use of density-tolerant varieties, high seeding rate, and foliar-based iron application can improve the grain yield from 2.01 to 3.20 t ha^-1 under a potential environment. Hence, all stakeholders should consider the genotype (G), environment (E), management (M), and their synergies, as far as grain yield and quality are considered simultaneously.

Ethiopia is one of the major producers of barley in Sub-Saharan Africa and has a growing malt beverage sector. Yet, despite a favourable bio-physical environment, malt barley productivity is much lower than the potential yield due to traditional land management systems, poor agro-technical crop management practices, and lack of high-quality seeds. Field experiments were therefore conducted to evaluate the improved malt barley varieties under a range of inter-row spacing in two different growing locations, for their yield and other associated traits. The treatments were arranged in randomized complete block design consisting of six malt barley varieties (i.e. Holker, HB1963, Sabine, Ibone174/03, EH1847, and Freygebse), and three levels of inter-row spacing (i.e. 20, 25, and 30 cm) in two divergence growing locations (i.e. Miligebsa and Kino). Agronomic practices such as weeding, fertilizer application, harvesting, and threshing were uniformly applied for all experimental units. The data presented under this dataset article includes phenological traits (i.e. days to 50% heading, and days to 90% physiological maturity), seed yield and yield components (i.e. seeds spike⁻¹, spike length, number of effective tillers, 1000-seed weight, total aboveground biomass, and straw yield). All the collected data were subjected to a statistical analysis software package using the general linear model (GLM) procedure of the SAS 9.2 version. This dataset article therefore provides information about how optimization of inter-row spacing varied variety to variety. Additionally, it provides how the environment diverges the efficiency of inter-row spacing for maximum potential yield. Hence, this information can allow other researchers to review the supplement data, methods, and make detailed analysis, which possibly giving rise to new lines of inquiry. This can also give rise to new collaborations and boost the reputation of the present research results within the scientific community. This dataset article is aimed to provide a dataset collected from an intensive malt barley field experiment for public use and to make it available to everyone around the subject matter to use as they wish.

Enhancing the nutritional content of crops is crucial for safeguarding human health and mitigating global hunger. A viable method for attaining this goal is the planned implementation of various agronomic practices, including tillage and nutrient provision. A field experiment was executed at the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences in Gödöllő in the 2023 and 2024 growing seasons. The study aimed to assess the effects of foliar nutrient supply and soil tillage methods on the grain nutritional composition and mineral content of winter barley. Employing a split-plot design with three replications, the experiment included four nutrient treatments (control, bio-cereal, bio-algae, and MgSMnZn blend) and two soil tillage types (i.e., plowing and cultivator). The results indicated that while protein content was not influenced by the main effects of nutrients and tillage, the levels of β-glucan, starch, crude ash, and moisture content were significantly (p < 0.05) affected by the nutrient treatments and by growing year, treated as a random factor. Notably, bio-algae and bio-cereal nutrients, combined with cultivator tillage, enhanced β-glucan content. All applied nutrient treatments increased the level of starch compared to the control. With regard to grain mineral content, the iron and zinc content responded to the nutrient supply, tillage, and growing year. However, applying a multiple-nutrient composition-based treatment did not increase iron and zinc levels, suggesting that individual applications may be more effective for increasing the content of these minerals in grains. Cultivator tillage improved iron and zinc levels. Moreover, manganese (Mn) and copper (Cu) were predominantly affected by nutrient availability and by growing seasons as a random factor. Therefore, to improve grain quality, this study emphasizes the significance of proper nutrient and tillage methods by focusing on the intricate relationships between agronomic techniques and environmental factors that shape barley’s nutritional profile.