Gemechu Keneni

• PhD (Applied Genetics)
• Researcher at Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research

A number of improved cultivars of food legume crops have been developed and released in the tropics and the sub-tropics. Most of these cultivars have been developed through conventional breeding approaches based on the development of crop varieties under optimum soil fertility levels. Nevertheless, it is hardly possible to say that the varietal pro...

Assessment of the genetic variability is an important step in improving nitrogen (N2) fixation potential of faba bean (Vicia faba L.) genotypes. The study was conducted to evaluate the genotypic variation for symbiotic N2 fixation traits of faba bean under contrasting phosphorus (P) fertilizer regimes. Twenty and 12 genotypes in the field and green...

My article describes about the genetic diversity of Ethiopian durum wheat landraces collections and some other improved varieties using simple sequence repeat. It was one of my chapters from my MSc thesis.

Cercospora leaf spot (CLS) is the most destructive fungal disease, deteriorating the production and productivity of mungbean (Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek). Mungbean is one of the most nutritionally and environmentally important legumes, with popularity currently increasing as a 'future smart food crop' due to its several health benefits. In recent y...

The objectives of this study were to assess the agronomic performance of common bean genotypes, previously selected for their response to infestation, by Mexican bean weevil and to identify promising lines that can be used as parents in a downstream breeding program. Field experiments were conducted using 144 genotypes under three different agro-ec...

Adzuki bean beetle, Callosobruchus chinensis (L.) (Coleoptera: Bruchidae), is one of the most important pests of pea (Pisum sativum L.) crops in Ethiopia. The study focused on the association of resistance potential in the no-choice test of pea genotypes managed at different fertility levels and trait contributions. Based on the significance of fer...

Field pea (Pisum sativum L.) is an important source of protein and income for smallholder farmers in Ethiopia. But recently, it has faced challenges due to a storage pest, the Adzuki bean beetle, Callosobruchus Chinensis (L.) (Coleoptera: Bruchi-dae). The response of 80 field pea genotypes managed under different soil fertility levels was evaluated...

The aims of the study were to determine expected genetic gains from selection and the extent and pattern of genetic diversity of common bean genotypes to Mexican bean weevil. Three hundred bean genotypes were artificially infested with the Mexican bean weevil. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications...

Striga has long been recognized to infest staple food crops like sorghum in Ethiopia. This study was designed to introgress Striga-resistance genes into popular and farmer-preferred varieties through marker-assisted backcrossing and to assess resistance based on Striga germination stimulant activity inagar-gel assay (AGA). The experiment was arrang...

Sesame is an important oil crop in Ethiopia and other regions in terms of both area coverage and production. However, productivity is low due to biotic and abiotic stresses. Therefore, dissecting the genetic basis of quantitatively inherited yield-related traits is instrumental to developing stable and high-yielding varieties. A genome-wide associa...

Sesame is an important oil crop widely cultivated in Africa and Asia. Characterization of genetic diversity and population structure of sesame genotypes in these continents can be used to designing breeding methods. In the present study, 300 genotypes comprising 209 Ethiopian landraces, and 75 exotic collections from different African and Asia coun...

Bruchids are a major storage pest of common bean. Genetic resistance is a suitable method to avoid grain losses during storage. The objective of the study was to introgress the arcelin-based resistance locus into selected advanced breeding line and to validate the molecular marker BRU_00261. A total of 208 progeny F4 families were phenotyped using...

Chickpea is one of the main annual crops in Ethiopia both in terms of its total cultivated area of pulses and its role in direct human consumption. The major problem to increase pulse production is the loss of seed viability and seeds damage from insect infestation particularly Adzuki bean beetle. Research works conducted on diversity study on chic...

Faba bean is one of the oldest legume crop grown around the world for its cheap source of protein and for being used in crop rotation with cereals to improve soil fertility through nitrogen fixation. This study was designed to determine the extent and pattern of genetic diversity and relationships among 48 Ethiopian faba bean genotypes using 37 SNP...

Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is produced worldwide, although more than 96% of the world sesame seed is produced in Africa and Asia. The objective of this study was to determine morphological properties and identify the genetic diversity of cultivated sesame genotypes grown in different parts of Ethiopia. Three hundred sesame genotypes collected from...

Sesame is an important oil crop both in area coverage and production in Ethiopia, serving one of the major export crops. However, productivity is low because of a lack of detailed information about genotypes, environment, and their interaction. Sixteen sesame varieties were evaluated at nineteen environments and grain yield and yield components wer...

Ethiopia is believed to be the possible center of genetic diversity for cowpea but little is known about its production and utilization across diverse agro-ecologies and cultures. This paper is aimed at documenting cowpea production, utilization, variety preference criteria and production challenges. The data were collected using semi-structured qu...

Background Sesame is an important oil crop widely cultivated in Africa and Asia continent. Characterization of genetic diversity and population structure of sesame genotypes in these continents can be used to designing breeding methods. In the present study, 300 sesame genotypes comprising 209 local, and 75 exotic collection, and 16 released variet...

Knowledge of the extent and pattern of genetic diversity within and among populations is crucial to identify useful breeding materials and design appropriate collection and conservation strategies. Genetic diversity of 160 durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf) accessions was studied using 15 morpho-agronomic traits. The field studies for morphological...

Cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp] is one of the important climate-resilient legume crops for food and nutrition security in sub-Saharan Africa. Ethiopia is believed to harbor high cow-pea genetic diversity, but this has not yet been efficiently characterized and exploited in breeding. The objective of this study was to evaluate the extent and pa...

The need to accelerate breeding for increased yield and better adaptation to drought is an issue of great concern because of the high demand for food and potential climate change poses further calamity. The study was designed to introgress drought-tolerant possessing genes into farmer-preferred varieties through marker-assisted backcrossing (MABC)...

This study was conductedto identify suitable parental genotypes for breeding for resistance to bruchid and to identify the farmers’ preferred traits incommon bean. For thisstudy, 144diverse common bean genotypes were planted in an alpha lattice design, with 3replications at 3locations. Participatory variety selectionwasdoneusing20farmers at each lo...

The objective of this study was to examine the genetic diversity present among 297 common bean genotypes using 2554 SNPs and 12 insects and seed-related traits. The phenotyping was done under laboratory condition while the genotyping was conducted by using the Illumina SNP BeadChip. High phenotypic diversity among traits were recorded, ranging from...

This study was undertaken to evaluate the extent and pattern of genetic diversity for immature pod traits in Ethiopia cowpea landrace collections. Eighty one landraces and improved cultivars were tested in a 9 x 9 simple lattice design. Analysis of variance revealed highly significant (P<0.01) or significant (p<0.05) differences among the genotypes...

Crops with a maximum of 5% natural out-crossing are considered as self-pollinated while those with more than 50% as cross-pollinated. Those with rates of crosspollination lying between the two, are considered as often cross-pollinated. The economically important often cross-pollinated pulse and oil crops in Ethiopia include: faba bean (Vicia faba),...

Striga [Striga hermonthica (Del.) Benth.] resistant genotypes are of interest to sorghum breeding programs in Ethiopia where the endemic parasitic weed is causing severe yield losses. This study was designed to evaluate 118 BC 2 F 3 lines developed through marker-assisted backcrossing (MABC) of well-adapted cultivars with Striga resistant parents....

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the major cereal crops widely grown by smallholder farmers under rain fed conditions in the Ethiopian highlands. Low soil pH and associated soil infertility problems are considered to be amongst the major challenges to acid sensitive crops production. Bread wheat varieties are susceptible to soil acidity, henc...

Triticale (X-Triticosecale Wittmack) is a result of chromosomal addition of wheat (Triticum spp.) as a female parent and rye (Secale cereal L.) as the male parent (pollen donor). Its genomic constitution (AABBDR or AABBRR) is an artificial cereal crop genus from these two cereal crops. Triticale has the best agronomic features of the parental speci...

Oats remain an important crop in marginal ecologies, for grain as well as for feed. They are well adapted to a wide range of soil types and can perform better than other small-grain cereals on acid soils. Low soil pH and associated soil infertility problems are considered to be amongst the major challenges to acid sensitive crops production. The st...

Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is one of the most important legumes used for food, feed and maintaining ecological balance. However, its productivity has been declining due to various biotic and abiotic factors. Arbuscular Mycorrhizal symbioses have been proved to enhance growth and yield responses of faba bean and other agricultural crops by counteract...

Thirteen faba bean varieties including 11 released between 1977 and 2007 and two promising genotypes were evaluated at seven contrasting environments in the central and southeastern highlands of Ethiopia during the main cropping seasons of 2007/2008 and 2008/2009. The objectives of the study were to evaluate temporal genetic progresses made over th...

A study was conducted to determine the optimum lime/CaCO3 rate and incubation period and exchangeable acidity equivalence for the amelioration of acidic nitisols collected from the central highlands of Ethiopia. A pot experiment was conducted at Holeta Agricultural Research Centre (HARC) in lath house using acidic soil samples collected from a dept...

The common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is among the most important grain legume crops in Africa. However, the common bean grain is heavily damaged by the Mexican bean weevil (Zabrotes subfasciatus Boheman). This study was conducted to determine the population structure and genome‐wide marker–trait associations of bruchid resistance in the common b...

Chickpea is one of the most cultivated grain legumes in Ethiopia for grain production and amelioration of soil fertility through N-fixation, and income generation. This study was conducted to estimate the heritability and correlation analysis of N-fixation in chickpea. Six F1 crosses were evaluated in lath house during the year 2014/15 using random...

The genetic diversity of 141 Ethiopian durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) landrace collections and 19 improved varieties was analyzed using primers of 12 SSR markers in 2015. The experiment was conducted at the National Agricultural Biotechnology Laboratory, Holetta, Ethiopia. The difference between the longest and shortest amplified fragment size...

Fourteen common bean (Phaseolus vlgaris L.) varieties that were released in Ethiopia from 1997 to 2012 as large-seeded food type common bean varieties were evaluated with the specific objectives to: (1) estimate the genetic progress made in 15 years of common bean breeding in Ethiopia; (2) assess changes in associated traits in the genetic improvem...

Faba bean (Vicia faba) and field pea (Pisum sativum) are important crops in terms of both area coverage and volume of total national annual production. They are primary sources of protein, income for resource-poor farmers and foreign currency for the national economy. They also serve as "break" crops for cereal mono-cropping system en route to rest...

This review paper presents the progress of research on rhizobia innoculants, biofertilizers and host legumes N fixation efficiency in Ethiopia. Rhizobial research on selected legumes (faba bean, field pea and chickpea) was first initiated by the Institute of Agricultural Research (IAR) in 1980's. Currently, the National Soil Testing Center (NSTC),...

Highland food legumes (faba bean, field pea, chickpea, lentil, grass pea, and Lupin) are vital components of the crop-livestock farming systems in the highlands of Ethiopia. The Highland food legumes dominate the food legumes’ area (80%) and production (81%) in the country. However, diseases cause an annual monetary loss of more than USD $219 milli...

Crenate broomrape (Orobanche crenata Forsk.) has become an alarming constraint to highland food legumes production in the northern parts of Ethiopia since the 1980s. Recent, surveys and field experiments on cultural, chemical, fertilizer and host plant resistance methods of controlling the parasite using faba bean (Vicia faba L.) as a test crop con...

Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is one of the earliest domesticated food legumes of the world. This study was designed to reveal the genetic diversity existing among 32 Ethiopian faba bean varieties grown at three locations (Sinana, Agarfa and Selka) using 23 phenotypic traits and 11 inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) primers. The combined analysis of v...

Soil test based phosphorous calibration study was conducted fababean on Nitisols of farmers' fields in West Shewa, in central highlands of Ethiopia. The experiment was arranged in a complete block design with six levels of phosphorous fertilizer (0, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 kg ha-1) with three replications. Results showed that grain yield of fababean w...

Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is by far the most important legume in Ethiopia and the most important single subsistence crop after the staple cereals. However, its production is constrained by biotic and abiotic stresses. Among the biotic constraints, the emerging faba bean gall disease, caused by Olpidium viciae, is the major and most destructive dise...

Ethiopia is known as the secondary center of diversity for chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). Plant breeders primarily interested in utilizing the available germplasm for improving phosphorus uptake and use efficiency have no background information on the genetic diversity for this attribute. A field study involving 155 chickpea genotypes was undertake...

Twenty common bean (Phaseolus vlgaris L.) varieties that were released from 1973 to 2014 were evaluated as small seeded food and canning types of common bean varieties. The objectives of this study was to estimate the genetic progress made in improving yield potential of common bean in Ethiopia, to assess changes in associated traits in the genetic...

Common bean ( Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is amongst the most important grain legume crops in Africa in general, and Ethiopia in particular. The Mexican been weevil ( Zabrotes subfasciatus Boheman) heavily attacks the grain of common bean. A total of 300 common bean entries were subjected to a ‘no-choice’ test at Melkassa Agricultural Research Centre, E...

Chickpea is one of the most cultivated grain legumes in Ethiopia for grain production and amelioration of soil fertility with less attention in research on N-fixation. Therefore, this study was conducted to estimate the magnitude of heterosis for nitrogen fixation and yield and yield associated traits in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). Six F1 crosse...

Abstract Although, common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is the second most important grain legume in Ethiopia, contributing to food security, household income and enhancing the national economy through export earnings, production is greatly curtailed by both field and post-harvest biotic and abiotic constraints. Among the post-harvest constraints, b...

Field pea is an ancient legume crop grown mainly for food in Ethiopia. Even though, there are over one thousand five hundred field pea collections, only a few studies has been conducted on the magnitude and pattern of genetic diversity at molecular level particularly with SSR markers. In this study, genetic diversity of 142 contrasting Ethiopian fi...

Field pea is an ancient legume crop grown mainly for food in Ethiopia. Even though, there are over one thousand five hundred field pea collections, only a few studies has been conducted on the magnitude and pattern of genetic diversity at molecular level particularly with SSR markers. In this study, genetic diversity of 142 contrasting Ethiopian fi...

Crop production is the main source of food, and drought is among the most important crop production constraints in the world, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. The use of improved cultivars can at least partly ameliorate the calamities of drought stress, and considerable investments and efforts have been made worldwide to develop drought tolerant...

Abstract Cool-season food legumes, mainly faba bean (Vicia faba), chickpea (Cicer arietinum), field pea (Pisum sativum), lentil (Lens culinaris) and grass pea (Lathyrus sativus), are economically and ecologically important crops in many countries. However, a number of biotic stresses (diseases, insects and parasitic weeds) constrain their productiv...

The highland or cool season food legumes including faba bean (Vicia faba), chickpea (Cicer arietinum), field pea (Pisum sativum) and lentil (Lens culinaris) are important sources of protein for human consumption, contribute not only to the incomes of millions of smallholder farmers but also to the export earnings of the country, and serve as "break...

Characterization of root nodule bacteria is used for selecting and using them as inoculants to improve legume production. To this end, faba bean (Vicia faba L.) rhizobia were isolated from nodules collected from acidic soils of Central and Southern-Western parts of Ethiopia. A total of hundred rhizobial isolates were collected and characterized bas...

Breeding chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) genotypes with better phosphorus use efficiency has a considerable economic and ecological significance. One hundred fifty-five chickpea genotypes were evaluated with and without phosphorus fertilizer in 2009/10 at Ambo and Ginchi, Ethiopia. A randomized complete block design with 2 replications was employed....

The efficient use of phosphorus fertilizer in an environmentally friendly and sustainable ways is preferred because of cost and ecological concerns. An experiment was conducted with 155 chickpea genotypes in 2009/10 at two locations (Ambo and Ginchi) in Ethiopia to study interrelationships, broad-sense heritability and genetic gains from selection...

Sixteen faba bean genotypes were evaluated in 13 environments in Ethiopia during the main cropping season for three years (2009–2011). The objectives of the study were to evaluate the yield stability of the genotypes and the relative importance of different stability parameters for improving selection in faba bean. The study was conducted using a r...

Eleven faba bean (Vicia faba L.) varieties released between 1977 and 2007, and two promising genotypes, were evaluated to estimate the genetic progresses made in 33 years of faba bean breeding in Ethiopia. The study was conducted at eight environments during 2007 and 2009 cropping seasons in a randomized complete block design with four replications...

Breeding of Abyssinian field pea (Pisum sativum var. Abyssinicum) genotypes effective for biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) has considerable economic and ecological significance. An experiment was conducted to study the magnitude of genetic diversity for attributes of biological nitrogen fixation. The experiment was carried out in 2007 in the gree...

Information on traits relationship, genetic variation and gains from selection for symbiotic and agronomic characters in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) are limited. An experiment was undertaken at two locations (Ginchi and Ambo) in Ethiopia in 2009/2010 to assess the relationship, genetic variation and genetic gain from selection for attributes of s...

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is an economically and ecologically important food legume crop. Ethiopia has a large collection of chickpea germplasm accessions; but, it has not been extensively characterized for desirable sources of agronomic and symbiotic significance for use in breeding programs. A study was conducted at two locations (Ambo and Gi...

Breeding chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) cultivars combining desirable symbiotic and agronomic characters has both economic and ecological significance. An experiment was conducted at Ambo and Ginchi, Ethiopia, in 2009/10 to characterize and evaluate 155 genotypes of chickpea for symbiotic and agronomic performance. A randomized complete block design...

Plant breeding is one way to confront the challenge of bridging the widening gap between the demand and supply of food. Despite the importance, however, plant breeding has its own negative side effects. The replacement of landraces with a few genetically uniform varieties depletes genetic diversity and provides ideal conditions for diseases and ins...

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is attacked by a number of insect pests, including the adzuki bean beetle (Callosobruchus chinensis L.). Genetic gains from selection to infestation by adzuki bean beetle were studied using 130 chickpea genotypes in 2009/2010. The test was conducted under ambient condition in the Entomology Laboratory of Holetta, Ambo...