Laila M Karlsson

Linköping University | LiU · Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM)

Enset (Ensete ventricosum) is a valuable traditional food security crop in Ethiopia. Improving propagation and production knowledge of enset enhances sustainable soil and land management by farmers while contributing to mitigating and adapting to climate change.

In Ethiopia, enset (Ensete ventricosum, Musaceae) has been utilized as multipurpose crop since ancient time, being a measure for smallholder farmers to mitigate prolonged droughts and thus climate change effects. However, there is little research on enset agriculture to provide appropriate advice to farmers. Enset management relies on farmers’ indi...

Presentation on the Alumni Workshop on Mitigating Climate Change and Environmental Pollution in East Africa as a Contribution to Sustainable Development at Adama Science and Technology University, Ethiopia 02 September – 08 September 2019 Workshop organised by the University of Rostock, Germany with collaboration of Adama Science and Technology Uni...

Ensete ventricosum (enset) has been cultivated in Ethiopia since ancient times. It is a multipurpose, drought tolerant and food security crop. When burying enset corms for vegetative propagation, manure is usually placed on the soil surface. However, there is no research-based evidence to justify this practice. We hypothesised that enset sucker pro...

In order to provide knowledge for enset agriculture, seed germination, seedling development and vegetative reproduction were studied to envisage improved cultivars by crossing and selection and to enhance on-farm practices by acknowledging and evaluating farmers' indigenous knowledge. Seed set vary considerably for enset, and the factors influencin...

Seed biology is important for emergence in the field and for future weed infestations. This chapter focuses on seed biology, germination, dormancy and efforts in predicting weed emergence from seeds from a European perspective. It presents a brief overview of population dynamics in time and space, the factors influencing the dynamics and how popula...

The multipurpose crop enset (Ensete ventricosum) has been traditionally cultivated in Ethiopia since ancient times. The main food product is the starch-rich fermented kocho made from the pseudostem and corm. There are many vegetatively propagated landraces utilised by farmers, but no concisions breeding have taken place, and there are requests for...

DAAD Alumni Workshop: Climate Change and Environmental Protection in East Africa Critical View to Causes, Effects and Solutions, Jimma, Ethiopia, 2016

Enset, the botanical species Ensete ventricosum, has been utilised as a crop in Ethiopia since ancient time. Everyone who has been in Ethiopia has seen enset plants: they are the large banana-look-alike plants (Figure 1) that are grown in groups in parts ofcountryside and there are often one or a few plants in gardens around the country, also in Ad...

Enset [Ensete ventricosum (Welw.) Cheesman (Musaceae)] is a multi-purpose and drought-tolerant crop, traditionally grown in Ethiopia. Food from enset has nutritive values similar to potato; it could improve food and livelihood security for many in larger geographical areas. Agronomical advice is needed which requires increased knowledge of manageme...

Mechanical control of Tussilago farfara is carried out mainly by soil cultivation. The aim is to deplete the energy stored in the rhizomes. The treatment includes cutting the rhizomes, to stimulate increased shooting, followed by renewed soil cultivation to destroy the shoots and incorporate them into the soil. Factors generally regarded as importa...

Plant species differ in their ability to transform available resources to biomass and to respond in a plastic way to environmental circumstances; we hypothesized that such differences among four weed taxa of Papaver would explain differences in their competitive response. We first compared two populations each of Papaver rhoeas L., P. dubium L. ssp...

Karlsson LM, Dalbato AL (2014) Propagation of the multipurpose Ethiopian crop Ensete ventricosum. Svensk Botanisk Tidskrift 108:34–41. In Swedish with English summery. Seeds were collected from five wild and nine cultivated enset plants. Germination was overall c. 25%. Seedlings were successfully grown in a mix of loam, sand and dried cow dung. Six...

SEXUAL PROPAGATION: A POTENTIAL TOOL FOR GENETIC IMPROVEMENT OF ENSETE VENTRICOSUM A.L. Dalbato1*, L.M. Karlsson1,2, T. Tamado3,4 & Y. Mikias5,6 1Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 2Linköping University, Sweden, 3Wolaita Sodo University, Ethiopia, 4Haramaya University, Ethiopia, 5Areka Research Centre, Ethiopia, 6Hawassa University, Ethi...

Chenopodium album seedling emergence studies were conducted at nine European and two North American locations comparing local populations with a common population from Denmark. It is hypothesized that C. album seedling recruitment timing and magnitude have adapted to environmental and cropping system practices of a locality. Limitations in the habi...

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ista/sst/2013/00000041/00000003/art00004 Ensete ventricosum is a drought-tolerant, multipurpose crop that has been cultivated in Ethiopia since ancient times. Traditional propagation is vegetative: each of hundreds of existing landraces is a clone. Improved cultivars are needed, which may be achieved through se...

Enset is drought-tolerant, multi-purpose crop which has, since ancient times, been part of a sustainable cropping system with high agro-biodiversity in Ethiopia. It could improve independent food and livelihood security more than currently and in larger areas. Enset is traditionally propagated vegetatively, and plants are harvested before seed-set....

Enset (Ensete ventricosum) is a drought tolerant crop, traditionally grown in Ethiopia. It has many usages: food, fodder, fibres and traditional medicine. Being perennial, enset improves local climate and soil conditions. It could contribute to improved food security in several drought-prone parts of the world. The aims of this study were to reveal...

Pansy, Viola × wittrockiana, is a popular ornamental plant. Effects of polyploidy on phenotype and four pollination methods on capsule and seed set were studied using ten octoploid (2n = 8x) and two hexadecaploid (2n = 16x) genotypes, originating from induced mutagenesis. Principal component analysis, using 19 phenotypic, phenological and physiolog...

Karlsson LM, Dalbato AL, Tamado T, Mikias Y (2012) Sexual and asexual reproduction of enset as tools to increase agro-biodiversity and agricultural productivity, p 38. In: Workeneh S, Dechassa N, Zewdu T, Bekele H (Eds) Book of Abstracts of the International Conference on Biodiversity Conservation and Ecosystems Services for Climate Change Mitigati...

Temperate forests are disjunct in the Northern Hemisphere, having become fragmented from the earlier widespread (Tertiary) boreotropical forest. We asked 'What are the contemporary patterns of population variation in ecological traits of a Tertiary relict in a macroecological context?'. This issue underpins our understanding of variation in populat...

To understand germination timing in an ecological context, the response to environmental events that affect seed dormancy is central, and has to be combined with knowledge of germination responses to different circumstances. In this study, seed dormancy, germination and emergence phenology of six annual co-occurring weedy Asteraceae species were in...

Germination requirements and after-ripening effects during one year of dry storage at 15/5 and 25/15°C (day/night) were compared for Conyza bonariensis and C. canadensis (Asteraceae). A logistic function was fitted to the results from tests over time in various incubation conditions, using three populations of each species as replicates. Time requi...

In an ecological context, knowledge of intra-species variation in dormancy and germination is necessary both for practical and theoretical reasons. We used four or five seed batches (replicates) of four closely related annuals co-occurring in arable fields in Sweden: Lamium amplexicaule, L. confertum, L. hybridum and L. purpureum. Seeds used for ex...

Seeds from two populations of Papaver aculeatum, collected in South Africa, were subjected to a series of experiments to investigate their dormancy and germination. Dormancy was weak: fresh seeds germinated to nearly 100% at 20/10 and 25/15 °C day/night if provided with light, up to 50% at 15/5, but not at all at 30/20 °C. Warm stratification incre...

Comparative studies of closely related taxa can increase understanding of adaptations and changes in seed dormancy and germination preferences in an evolutionary perspective. For such studies, a method to describe and compare the performance of taxa in a general way is needed. The germination ecology of four Papaver taxa was studied with the aim of...

This study examined germination and dormancy in Galeopsis speciosa (Lamiaceae), a common summer annual weed in cold-temperate areas. Seeds collected in southern Sweden were subjected to several experiments. The seeds were dormant at maturity. Seeds sown outdoors after collection produced a small number of seedlings that emerged early in the spring....

Fröbanken är mycket viktig för många arters spridning i tiden, vilket författarna kunde konstatera då ett tätt granbestånd avverkades. De fick bland annat glädjen att dokumentera livsdugliga fyrtioåriga frön av åkerogräs som åkerkårel och fiskmålla. KERSTIN NYSTRÖM, LAILA M. KARLSSON & PER MILBERG B akgrunden till denna studie är en bit mark söder...

A 40-yr-old soil seed bank was investigated. Soil samples were taken from the surface and down to 30 cm in a former agricultural area which was planted with spruce 40 yr before the investigation. The site was locate near Linköping, S Sweden. Viable seeds of, among others, Erysimum cheiranthoides and Galeopsis spp. were documented.

Lettuce biomass, silver accumulation in lettuce, and effect of activity of soil microorganisms on these items, were studied in a series of experiments. Lettuce was cultivated in two kinds of soil with different organic matter concentrations. Initially the soil was either sterile or non-sterile, and had been supplied with different silver nitrate co...

The shrub Viburnum tinus is widely distributed in mattoral vegetation of the Mediterranean basin. The purpose of the present study was to classify the seed dormancy type and examine the requirements for embryo growth, root protrusion and shoot emergence. Overwintered fruits were collected in western Spain in April 2001 and prepared in three ways: e...

SummarySeed dormancy of the tropical annual weeds Argemone ochroleuca Sweet and Argemone mexicana L. was studied in a series of experiments. Factors investigated included: light, darkness, five temperature regimes and combinations of periods of light, darkness and the different temperature regimes for various time periods (up to one year). Furtherm...

The effect of cold stratification on seeds of Erysimum cheiranthoides L., a late germinating summer annual in Sweden, was studied. Seeds were stratified in darkness on filter paper, either at +3°C or under natural temperatures outdoors and were tested for germination at regular intervals during ten months. Cold stratification reduced dormancy, but...