Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Rhizobiology Research Efforts: Achievements, Lessons & Way Forwards Tulu Degefu Hawassa University, Department of Biology ILRI-N2Africa Annual Partners Review and Planning Workshop Lalibela Auditorium, ILRI Campus, Addis Ababa January 2016

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Presentation Outline Objectives Achievements and Progresses Lessons Learnt Main Challenges Way Forwards

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Introduction N2Africa –is a research-in-development project –targets at putting N 2 -fixation to work for smallholders To achieve this, (G L *G R )*E*M model is adopted –(G L *G R )*E*M can work well if G R and G L are selected carefully Assured for effectiveness and competitiveness and Fitted to E and M Thus, the rhizobiology work at Hawassa –primarily focuses on screening G R, test their interaction with G L and evaluate effectiveness

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Objectives To provide the necessary inoculant technologies to close the yield gaps on farmers’ fields by achieving through evaluation of elite strains –To isolate & characterize rhizobium strains –To evaluate the effectiveness of the new isolates –To investigate their interaction: G L x G R –To test the performance of the evaluated strains under prevailing E and M –To recommend best strains for inoculum development for target legumes To demonstrate increased yield of at least 10% above the current practice (clearly visible to farmers) as a threshold for recommendation of inoculant technology for production of target legumes. To follow-up and demonstrate quality of inoculants at different levels, from factory gate to its application at farmers fields To evaluate effect of seed dressing practices on effectiveness of inoculants on some target legume crops (such as chickpea)

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Achievements and progresses at HwU –Number of new rhizobium strains collected 70 new rhizobium strains nodulating faba bean were isolated (HwU), authenticated, characterized and tested for preliminary effectiveness

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Achievements and progresses at HwU… 60 strains nodulating common bean obtained from previous collections were tested for effectiveness –Only 7 of them were effective, majority are non-infective

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Achievements and progresses at HwU… 63 strains nodulating chickpea were tested for effectiveness. –7 of the strains were relatively effective than others

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Achievements and progresses at HwU… 6 new rhizobium strains nodulating soybean were isolated from Boricha and authenticated

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Legume Year Qty of collectionZones of collectionRemark Faba bean E. Arsi, W. Arsi, SW. Shewa, Finfinie zuria, N.shewa, Jimma, Illubabor, Assosa, E. wollega &W. wollega Authentic ation and symbiotic effectiven ess test is underway Soybean Lupin Chickpea Haricotbean Lentil20077 Field pea Total250 Achievements and progress at HARC NB. Rhizobia collection work is in fact being executed through government project. However, N2 Africa has also supporting the rhizobiology activity. Rhizobia collection

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Achievements and Progress at HARC… Screening of elite common bean rhizobial isolates HB-A15 is superior to others

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Achievements and Progresses at HARC… Screening of elite common bean rhizobial isolates Source of elite isolates; Haramaya university- 4 isolates Hawassa university – 7 isolates HARC - 8 isolates Screening at green house is continuing in batches

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Achivements and progresses at HARC... Effect of Agrochemicals on (fungicides, pesticides) on Rhizobial Inoculant Performance and Yield of Chikpea Progress: Field trial was attempted during Sept., 2015 but failed due to dry spell during emergency. However, to generate preliminary information, preparations are finalized to commence pot experiments as of February,2016.

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa –National rhizobial carrier based biofertilizer users guide has been produced in Amharic, Afan oromo and English languages by EIAR. –Ethiopian Biofertilizer Standards (EBS) has been prepared by EIAR in collaboration with ESA and get approved by the board of ESA in December, –Biofertilizer registration guideline has been produced by the leading role of COMPRO-2 in collaboration with MoANR and ILRI-N2 Africa. –What else? Quality control and regulation package

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Lessons Learned QC and regulation needs focus. National SOPs for labs need to be developed and implemented. Strain release modality need to be mainstreamed Protocol development should be there for elite isolate exchange with in the NARS. Commercial producers and NARS (strain generator) should work hand in hand.

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Opportunities Identified The existence of green economy policy in the country The emerging of different partners supporting rhizobiology research efforts High soil microbial biodiversity in the country Growing integration with biotechnology research lab Promising response of biofertilizer as an ISFM High demand of biofertilizer in the farming community There is an opportunity to isolate soybean strains from Boricha and test their effectiveness

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Main Challenges Glass house space shortage Delay of financial reports release and budget transfer at the EIAR HQ Delay of financial reports in implementing centers such as Jima Overlap of national commitments on researchers Late annual planning meeting Late but rush signing of CRA document at EIAR Less flexibility of financial laws (hardly possible to procure small fixed assets) Less capacity building room Poor incentives for researchers Deaths of some strains due to (Interrupted power supply) Lack of molecular tools (to check to genomic change of strains through time) –Do some strains lose essential genes during storage?

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Way Forwards A total of 6 elite rhizobia will be provided for field verification (2 chickpea, 2 faba bean and 2 soybean and 2 common bean) Chemical and inoculants dressing of seeds will be determined at field condition Institutionalization of quality control system will be worked in collaboration with other institutes Evaluated strains can be used for various further investigations –For MSc thesis and other studies –Some strains to be re-checked

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Effective strains should be tested on soil and under field conditions to forward for inoculant production Boricha could be a new target site for Soybean in the region Proposed Activities for Planning of 2016 –Evaluating effective strains on soil in greenhouse (Tadele) –Genotyping Effective strains at WUR (Ashenafi) –Investigating G L x G R in chickpea and common bean (Ashenafi)

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa