Seed Production Studies on Vegetables
1994
Lema Desalegne | Seifu Gebremariam | Herath, Edward (IAR, Addis Abeba (Ethiopia))
Vegetable production is a popular farming enterprise among small farmers across the country. The choice of crops is governed by climate, resource availability, and market outlets. The commercial sector is also engaged in the production of some vegetables for domestic consumption and export. The industry at present relies mainly on imported seed. There is however, a small percentage of seed of a few vegetables saved for planting by small farmers and by the state farms Horticulture Development Corporation. Preliminary investigations conducted at in a few representative locations in the country have indicated high potential for producing good-quality seeds of the more popular vegetables grown in the country. Technology for seed production of onion, including cultivar improvement, maintenance of purity, breeder's seed production, and yield estimates have indicated that about 1400 kg ha-1 of onion seed could be produced under Melkasa conditions. Regarding other crops, yields of 150 kg ha-1 of tomato, 200 kg ha-1 of pepper, 1000 kg ha-1 of carrot, 800 kg ha-1 of beet, 300 kg ha-1 of head cabbage, 700 kg ha-1 of kale, and 2000 kg ha-1 of snap bean have been obtained from research plots. As a prelude to small-scale or commercial application of this technology, pilot seed production of these crops could be attempted, although they need improvements through further research
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