Impact of agricultural extension services on the adoption of improved wheat variety in Ethiopia: A cluster randomized controlled trial
Although many studies have shown that sub-Saharan African countries could increase agricultural productivity and output through better technologies and improved crop varieties, the adoption of yield-enhancing technologies by smallholder farmers...
Patterns of Use of Residue Biomass in Cereal–Sheep Production Systems of North Africa: Case of Tunisia
This paper analyzes the complex relationships of factors influencing residue biomass management in cereal–sheep production systems in semi-arid areas of Tunisia. The Bayesian belief network (BBN) methodology was applied to identify factors...
Genome wide association and prediction studies of agronomic and quality traits in spring beard wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) under rain-fed environment with terminal moisture stress
Drought is the principal abiotic stress which affect grain yield and quality of wheat at the global level, more particularly in West and South Asia, North Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa. To identify marker-trait associations (MTA) and putative...
Rosemary essential oil enhances culture establishment and inhibits contamination and enzymatic browning: Applications for in vitro propagation of Aloe vera L.
Aloe vera L. is used largely in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and agro-food industries. The in vitro technique was proposed as an alternative method for large-scale propagation and/or conservation breeding programmes in response to the...
Variation in P-acquisition ability and acid phosphatase activity at the early vegetative stage of lentil and their validation on P-deficiency field
Plant available phosphorus (P) is limited in the vast rice-fallow areas where the soil is mainly acidic. Screening of fifty lentil genotypes in soil cylinder filled with solid-phase P-buffer identified genotypes with high P-acquisition ability...
Rangeland Biodiversity and Climate Variability: Supporting the Need for Flexible Grazing Management
Resting or grazing exclusion is an effective practice widely adopted to restore degraded, arid rangelands. To understand its effect on plant diversity, we studied Hill’s diversity indices during two growing seasons (2017–2019). The experiment...
Are continued public sector and CGIAR investments on wheat crop improvement research justifiable? A Moroccan case
In Morocco, the adoption of recent improved wheat varieties is low, casting doubt on whether investments in wheat research are paying off. This paper generates estimates of the returns to the national and international investment in wheat...
Performance of elite genotypes of barley, chickpea, lentil, and wheat under conservation agriculture in Mediterranean rainfed conditions
Conservation agriculture (CA) practices are becoming more important in Mediterranean rainfed areas due to their potential to minimize climatic risk, reduce soil erosion, and improve soil quality and water availability. Due to minimum soil...
Effect of Barley Variety on Feed Intake, Digestibility, Body Weight Gain and Carcass Characteristics in Fattening Lambs
Twenty lambs (18 ± 0.22 kg initial weight) were blocked by weight and individually assigned into pens to evaluate the effects of barley straw variety on digestibility, growth performance and carcass characteristics. The following four treatments...
Plant Resistance to Cereal and Food Legume Insect pests in North Africa, West and Central Asia: Challenges and Achievements
Even though host plant resistance has long been recognized as the foundation of integrated pest management, research in North Africa, West and Central Asia only started in 1980. The recent use of Focused Identification of Germplasm Strategy has...
