Enset (Ensete ventricosum (Welw.) Cheesman) belongs to the order sctaminae, the family musaceae. The Musaceae family is subdivided into the genera Musa and Ensete. Enset is an important staple crop for about 20 million people in the country. Recent publications on enset ethnobotany are insignificant when compared to the diverse ethnolingustic communities in the country. Hence, this paper try to identify and document wealth of indigenous knowledge associated with the distribution, diversity, and management of enset in the country. The study was conducted in eight ethnic groups in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Regional State. In order to identify and document wealth of indigenous knowledge, the data was collected mainly through individual interviews and direct on-farm participatory monitoring and observation with 320 farm households, key informant interviews. Relevant secondary data, literature and inter-personal data were collected from unpublished progress report from National Enset Research Project, elderly people and senior experts. Enset-based farming system is one of a major agricultural system in Ethiopia that serves as a backbone for at least ¼ of country’s population. Farmers used three morphological characters, two growth attributes, disease resistance and five use values traits in folk classification and characterization of enset. A total of 312 folk landraces have been identified. The number of landraces cultivated on individual farms ranged from one to twenty eight (mean of 8.08 ± 0.93). All ethnic groups in the study area use five use categories in order of importance: kocho yield and quality, bulla quality, amicho use, fiber quality and medicinal/ritual value. Of the 312 landraces 245 landraces having more than two use types. Management and maintenance of on-farm enset diversity is influenced by systematic propagation of the landraces, exchange of planting material and selective pressure. It can be concluded that the existing farmers’ knowledge on naming, classification and diversity should be complemented with maintenance of the creative dynamics of traditional knowledge and transmission of the knowledge are crucial for constructing sustainable management.

Enset Xanthomonas wilt (EXW) was first reported in 1939 and continues to threaten the sustainability of farming systems in south and southwestern parts of Ethiopia. The present study was conducted in the central zones of southern Ethiopia to assess farmers’ knowledge and perception about EXW, its etiology and mode of transmission, and its implications for the management of EXW. A survey was conducted in 240 households across Hadiya, Kembata-Tembaro and Wolaita zones of southern Ethiopia using focus group discussions and a structured questionnaire to assess farmers’ perceptions of causes and modes of EXW transmission, and their knowledge on symptom identification. In addition, EXW prevalence, incidence and severity were determined for each zone. Data were analyzed through descriptive statistics. The results showed that a significant number of farmers are aware of EXW, its symptoms, etiology and transmission and spread, but they are not able to readily relate modes of spread to control methods. Since 2002, EXW became prominent in Hadiya, with the highest EXW incidence and severity, followed by Wolaita, and Kembata-Tembaro. Farmers identified EXW as the major cause for declining production and productivity of enset in the region. EXW has spread widely and rapidly in southern Ethiopia, with significant socioeconomic impacts in smallholders’ livelihoods. There is a need for developing knowledge-based strategies and awareness-raising campaign for EXW management.

Enset (Ensete ventricosum (Welw.) Cheesman) is Ethiopia’s most important root crop. A total of 387 accessions collected from nine different regions of Ethiopia were evaluated for 15 quantitative traits at Areka Agricultural Research Centre to determine the extent and pattern of distribution of morphological variation. The variations among the accessions and regions were significant (p ≤ 0.01) for all the 15 traits studied. Mean for plant height, central shoot weight before grating, and fermented squeezed kocho yield per hectare per year showed regional variation along an altitude gradient and across cultural differences related to the origin of the collection. Furthermore, there were significant correlations among most of the characters. This included the correlation among agronomic characteristics of primary interest in enset breeding such as plant height, pseudostem height, and fermented squeezed kocho yield per hectare per year. Altitude of the collection sites also significantly impacted the various characteristics studied. These results reveal the existence of significant phenotypic variations among the 387 accessions as a whole. Regional differentiations were also evident among the accessions. The implication of the current results for plant breeding, germplasm collection, and in situ and ex situ genetic resource conservation are discussed.

Enset (Ensete ventricosum (Welw.) Cheesman) is a multipurpose crop used for food, fuel, housing materials, fencing and livestock feed. The major food types obtained from enset are kocho, bulla and amicho. Kocho is fermented starch obtained from decorticated (scraped) leaf sheaths and grated corms. Bulla is obtained by squeezing out the liquid containing starch from scraped leaf sheathes and grated corm and allowing the resultant starch to concentrate into white powder. Amicho is boiled enset corm pieces that are prepared and consumed in a similar manner to other root and tuber crops. Thirty-five cultivars of Ensete ventricosum were grown in RCBD (two replications) to study the different quantitative morpho-agronomic characters contributing to the diversity analysis at Areka and Chichu during 2012 to 2013 cropping season. Data on 10 quantitative traits were collected and exposed to statistical analysis. Analysis of variance revealed that there was significant difference between the two locations in all tested phenotypic characters. The mean squares due to cultivars, locations and cultivars x locations interaction were highly significant (P ≤ 0.001) for all the quantitative traits. The highest corm yields were recorded for varieties Chohot, Ashakit, Bose and Gazner. Farmers in the two locations ranked cultivar Ashakit first and Kataniya took second place whereas the first best performing cultivars (Chohot) was among the least preferred genotypes with low score (3). Among the studied character, phenotypic and genotypic coefficient of variation was highest for corm weight (36.17 and 27.28 tha-1 y-1). High heritability was estimate for plant height (77%). The phenotypic and genotypic coefficients of correlation indicated that corm yield ha-1 y-1 was positively correlated with most of the characters. The present study indicated a considerable amount of variability for the majority of the characters of interest in Ensete for exploitation. Key words: Corm, enset, genotype-by-environment interaction, quantitative traits.