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larly
happy that most of the released varieties showed tolerance to Fusarium wilt.
Once again, farmers are involved. After they had selected materials from the trials and evaluated performance of released varieties, they requested seed of the improved varieties; they also suggested that the seed be multiplied both off-season, under irrigation if possible, and in the main season. There are now lines at Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Center that are resistant to wilt, rust and frost, and are tolerant to drought, and these will be released soon.
The driving force for this success was the strong linkage between Debre Zeit and ICARDA's lentil-breeding program. Good progress has also been made in breeding for resistance to wilt and root rots in chickpea.
Farmers are pleased with this; indeed they have been congratulating Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Center on its achievements. For the scientists, technicians and others who work there, these are perhaps the most welcome congratulations of all.
Dr Geletu Bejiga is National Lentil and Chickpea Program Coordinator, and Dr Negussie Tadesse is Pathologist, Lentil and Chickpea, Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Center, Alemaya University of Agriculture, Alemaya, Ethiopia. Dr Willie Erskine is Leader of the Germplasm Program at ICARDA.
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 entil is an important part of the farming system in Ethiopia. Farmers and their families use it to make wot, a soup, which supplements their diet with lysine, an amino-acid essential for the human body. The diets in Ethiopia, where barley and tef are the staple food, are often deficient in lysine.
Fluctuations in yield of lentil therefore can have serious implications for food security. The lentil crop is menaced by a number of diseases-one of the worst being rust (caused by Uromyces fabae). Ethiopia's researchers have long been fighting this, and released their first rust-resistant variety, 'R-186,' in 1980. But it was severely hit by frost in the highlands--an illustration of how difficult it is to fulfill all the criteria!
The next step was to release the first ICARDA variety, 'ILL-358,' under the name 'Chalew.' This was a high-yielding variety with good disease resistance, but consumers did not like its yellow seed coat and cotyledon; their preference is for a grey seed coat and red cotyledon. So new varieties 'Adaa' (derived from an ICARDA line, FLIP86-41L) and 'Gudo' (FLIP84-78L) were developed in collaboration with ICARDA and released in 1994. Another variety, 'Alemaya' (FLIP88-63L), which is highly resistant to rust, was released in 1997. The involvement of farmers in evaluating advanced materials, as part of ICARDA's Nile Valley Regional Program activities, was found to enhance the identification of suitable materials for release.
'Adaa' has become the most popular lentil variety, due to its large grey seed coat and red cotyledon, and its resistance to rust .
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In November- December 1997, a rust epidemic wiped out all the local landraces (farmers' varieties), and the only unaffected
varieties both in research centers and farmers' fields were 'Adaa,' 'Gudo,' and 'Chalew.'
However, rust is not the only serious disease of lentil. Work is being carried out to identify and develop lines with multiple resistance to rust, wilt, and root rots. Ethiopia, in collaboration with ICARDA, has already developed uniform and effective "sick-plots" for wilt, where landraces and introductions are evaluated. Indeed, the National Lentil Improvement Program has found 57 lines with rating 1 (highly resistant) under a high level of disease pressure, and a further 6 and 34 with ratings 2 and 3, respectively. This gives a good chance of finding lines, or combinations of lines, which have both the resistance needed and other characteristics essential for farmer acceptance. Researchers were particu
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