The aim was to document the ethnoveterinary medicinal plants, their preparation, and application methods used by traditional healers in treating different animal diseases, in four districts with different culture and languages in southern Ethiopia. Information of ethnoveterinary medicinal plants was obtained through in-depth direct interview with the local healers and field observations. A descriptive statistics was used to analyze the reported ethnoveterinary medicinal plants and associated indigenous knowledge. The informant consensus factor (ICF) was calculated for each category of diseases to identify the agreements of the informants on the reported cures. Preference ranking was used to assess the degree of effectiveness of certain medicinal plants against most prevalent animal diseases in the area. The healers had a very high intention to keep their traditional knowledge secrete and none of them was ready to transfer their knowledge either freely or on incentive bases to other people; they need to convey their knowledge only to their selected scions after getting very old. A total of 49 plant species used to treat 26 animal ailments were botanically classified and distributed into 34 families. The most commonly used plant parts for remedy preparations were leaves (38.8%), followed by whole roots (20.4%). Calpurnia aurea (Ait.) Benth was the most preferred effective treatment against external parasite and skin problem, which is the most prevalent disease with the highest ICF (0.68). The study suggests that the community of the study districts depend largely on ethnoveterinary medicinal plants for the treatment of different animal ailments though the healers have a very high intention to keep their traditional knowledge secrete. Commonly reported plant species need to be tested for their antimicrobial activities in vitro and validated their active ingredients in order to recommend effective preparations and treatments to this community.

Chemical phosphatic fertilizers are mainly produced from phosphate rocks, a natural reserve that is depleting rapidly. These chemical phosphatic fertilizers are polluting the environment at an alarming rate as a result of injudicious application to farmlands. On the other hand, phosphate-solubilizing biofertilizers (PSBs) are often considered better alternatives to industrial phosphatic fertilizers in many ways. PSBs are microorganisms capable of solubilizing insoluble forms of phosphate into soluble plant-usable forms. This paper is written with the objective of discussing the impacts of phosphatic fertilizers and making the case for why we should shift to PSBs instead. Phosphatic fertilizers have numerous impacts on the environment (water bodies, land resources, and air), and micro- and macro-organisms, including humans. Chemical fertilizers also tend to be more expensive, especially for farmers in developing countries. On the contrary, PSBs tend to be safer and way more beneficial than their chemical counterparts in that they are environmentally friendly and cheaper options of availing plant-usable phosphorus. PSBs are also involved in other beneficial roles such as the production of phytohormones and secretion of anti-phytopathogenic metabolites. The phytohormones enhance plant growth and the metabolites render crops immunity against phytopathogens. Hence, it is vital to replace chemical phosphatic fertilizers with PSB inoculants both to prevent the irreversible impacts of chemical fertilizers and to take advantage of the numerous benefits of PSBs. Moreover, it does not seem as if there is an option given the fact that the global phosphate reserve is depleting and the impact of fertilizer on the environment is worsening as time goes by.

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is an important food and cash crop in Ethiopia; serving, as a food security crop due to its nutrition content, wider adaptability and early maturing behavior. However, the yield of the crop is constrained by a number of factors. Among which unspecified seed tuber size and limited availability and distribution of improved varieties are among the important limiting factors. A field experiment was conducted to study the effects of seed tuber size on growth and yield performance of potato varieties at Agarfa, Agricultural Technical and Vocational Education and Training College experimental field during 2017. The treatments consisted of three potato varieties (Gudenie, Jalene and Kellacho) and three seed tuber sizes (25-34, 35-45 and 46-55 mm). The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with a factorial arrangement and replicated three times. The results showed that, seed tuber size and varieties significantly affected phenological parameters, stem number, leaf area index, stem density, marketable, unmarketable and total tuber yield, shoot fresh and dry weight, underground fresh weight, and medium weight of tuber size. Leaf number, and underground dry weight and tuber size were significantly affected only by seed tuber size. Varieties and seed tuber size interact to influence plant height, leaf area, number of tuber per plant, dry matter concentration and harvest index. Gudenie and Jalene produced the highest total tuber and marketable yields. Large seed tuber size (46-55 mm) produced higher marketable tuber yields than medium and small tuber sizes. In conclusion, Gudenie variety and large seed tuber size showed superior performance both for tuber yield and tuber dry matter concentration compared with the remaining varieties and small tuber size. Therefore, farmers are encouraged to produce Gudenie or Jalene variety with the use of medium to large seed tuber size for potato production. Key words: Agarfa, Gudenie, Jalene, potato, seed tuber size and tuber yield.

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp) is one of the widely cultivated crops, contributing for sustainable farming development due to its excellent nitrogen contribution via symbiosis. The response of Bradyrhizobium inoculants depends on the compatibility of the strain and the legume crop. Therefore, the current work aimed to evaluate the symbiotic effectiveness of the Bradyrhizobium isolates with cowpea varieties tested on sand. For these purpose, five Bradyrhizobium isolates (CP-24, CP-10, CP-37, GN-33 and GN-102) and five cowpea varieties (Keti (IT99K-1122), TVU, Black eye bean, White wonderer trailing and Bole) were used. The experiment was arranged using CRD, with three replicates. The result of the experiment showed, significant (P ≤ 0.05) differences for all the measured parameters. White wonderer trailing inoculated with CP-24 exhibited the higher plant height (28.33 cm), whereas, the least plant height recorded when Keti (IT99K-1122) variety was inoculated with GN-102. The highest nodule number per plant (47.67) recorded from CP-24 inoculated Black eye bean variety. The highest nodule dry weight recorded from CP-24 inoculated TVU variety. A pink nodule color and green leaf observed from the cowpea varieties inoculated with Bradyrhizobium isolates. For all the parameters considered, the control treatments showed significantly lower performance compared with the inoculated treatments. Hence, this study proves the need for Bradyrhizobium inoculation to improve the growth, biomass and nodulation performance, and to use these isolates for field production of cowpea in the study area and similar agro-ecologies.

Supplying nitrogen to crops through selecting high N fixing legumes and effective inoculant is one of the key strategies to improve crop productivity. However, studies related to the effect of Bradyrhizobial inoculation on leaf growth, its functioning in relation to photosynthesis, and transpiration efficiency (WUE) of cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp] varieties in the tropics were inadequate. A two-year field experiment was conducted at three sites to evaluate the effect of inoculation on leaf growth, gas exchanges and photosynthetic efficiency of cowpea varieties. The study treatments were composed of four varieties, Keti (IT99K-1122), TVU, Black eye bean, and White wonderer trailing and three levels of inoculation (non-inoculated or inoculated with Bradyrhizobium strains CP-24 or CP-37). Gas exchange was measured on live plants at 67–77 days after sowing, between 8:00 to 11:00 a.m. and 14:00 to 16:00 p.m. Leaf growth parameters (leaf number and leaf area) were measured by destructive sampling, and the yield data was determined by harvesting plants in the three central rows at physiological maturity. Variety TVU performed best in terms of leaf number, photosynthesis rate, and WUE. Whereas, Black eye bean revealed superior performances for leaf area, leaf area index, and stomatal conductance compared with the rest two varieties. The effect of inoculation was significant with 14.0, 23.8, 13.7, and 11.0% advantage in leaf area, leaf area index, net photosynthesis, and WUE, respectively. Moreover, the performance of cowpea of the 2018 cropping season showed a relative advantage over 2019 in terms of leaf number, leaf area, leaf area index, net photosynthesis, and stomatal conductance. Therefore, inoculating cowpea varieties with effective Bradyrhizobium strain can be a viable alternative to enhance growth, gas exchange, photosynthetic efficiency, and grain yield.

Cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.] is a widely cultivated crop for food and animal feed, with a high potential for alleviation of climate change effects on crop production due to its biological nitrogen fixing ability. However, its yields are low in Ethiopia partly due to poor agronomic practices such as lack of improved varieties, low soil fertility, and limited input use including bio‐inoculants. Field experiments were conducted in the cropping seasons 2018 and 2019 at three climate change and food insecurity vulnerable sites in Ethiopia (Boricha, Dore, and Hawassa) to determine yield responses of cowpea varieties to Bradyrhizobium inoculation. Four cowpea varieties, Keti (IT99K‐1122), TVU, Black eye bean, and White wonderer trailing in combination with three inoculation levels (un‐inoculated or inoculated with Bradyrhizobium strains CP‐24 or CP‐37) were used in a factorial randomized complete block design with four replications. Results revealed significant varietal differences in crop yield and yield components over years and across sites. Averaged over the seasons, seed yield of TVU was higher by 52% compared to the low‐yielding Black eye bean variety. On average of the three sites, inoculation of cowpea with strain CP‐24 significantly increased seed yield (21%), pod number (16%), and 100‐seed weight (13%) relative to the control. Furthermore, the interaction between variety and inoculant resulted in a significant increase in seed yield and number of pods per plant of TVU × CP‐24 by 60 and 68%, respectively, as compared to the un‐inoculated treatment. Overall, inoculation of the cowpea varieties TVU and White wonderer trailing with Bradyrhizobium strains CP‐24 is recommended at all the three tested sites and similar agro‐ecological environments for improved productivity of cowpea.