Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Center, P.O. Box 32, Debre Zeit, Ethiopia.
Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Altenbergrain 21, 3013, Bern, Switzerland.
Planta. 2019 Sep;250(3):753-767. doi: 10.1007/s00425-019-03209-z. Epub 2019 Jun 20.
Tef is a resilient crop from the Horn of Africa with significant importance in food and nutrition security, and currently gaining global popularity as health and performance food. Tef [Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter] is the most important cereal of Ethiopia in terms of production, consumption and cash crop value. In Ethiopia, tef is annually grown on about 3 million ha with total grain production of over 5 million tons. As such, it accounts for about 30% of the total cultivated area and one-fifth of the gross grain production of all cereals cultivated in the country. In spite of its supreme economic and agricultural significance in Ethiopia, its productivity is relatively low with national average yield of about 1.7 t/ha. This has primarily been due to the very little scientific improvement done on the crop. Tef has still been an "orphan crop" since it is globally a very much under-researched crop owing to its localized importance. Scientific research on tef in Ethiopia began in the late 1950s. The main objective of this paper is to provide an overview of the significance and major production constraints of tef, and the major achievements made to date in various tef research aspects including breeding, agronomy, crop protection, and agricultural economics and extension. Based on these reviews, the paper eventually concludes with remarks on the way forward by emphasizing on the identification of the major gaps and the improvement efforts required for realizing the ever-needed breakthrough in the productivity and production of the crop. The major focal areas of future efforts include increasing productivity of both grain and biomass, systematic conservation and mining of the genetic resources, tackling the lodging malady, mechanization of the crop's husbandry, understanding the overall physiology of the crop especially with respect to stress tolerance, unraveling the nutritional qualities, and development of recipes and value-added products.
埃塞俄比亚的特产苔麸（Eragrostis tef （Zucc.） Trotter）是一种适应力强的作物，在粮食和营养安全方面具有重要意义，目前作为健康和性能食品在全球范围内受到欢迎。苔麸是埃塞俄比亚最重要的谷物，无论是从产量、消费还是经济作物价值来看都是如此。在埃塞俄比亚，苔麸每年的种植面积约为 300 万公顷，总谷物产量超过 500 万吨。因此，它约占总耕地面积的 30%，占全国所有谷物种植的粮食总产量的五分之一。尽管苔麸在埃塞俄比亚具有重要的经济和农业意义，但它的生产力相对较低，全国平均产量约为 1.7 吨/公顷。这主要是由于对该作物的科学改进很少。苔麸仍然是一种“孤儿作物”，因为由于其局部重要性，它在全球范围内是一种研究得非常少的作物。埃塞俄比亚对苔麸的科学研究始于 20 世纪 50 年代末。本文的主要目的是概述苔麸的重要性和主要生产限制，以及迄今为止在包括育种、农艺学、作物保护和农业经济学和推广在内的各个苔麸研究方面取得的主要成就。基于这些综述，本文最终以强调确定主要差距和为提高作物生产力和产量所需的改进努力为结语，为未来的发展方向提出了意见。未来努力的主要重点领域包括提高谷物和生物量的生产力、对遗传资源进行系统保护和挖掘、解决倒伏问题、实现作物养殖的机械化、了解作物的整体生理学，特别是对胁迫的耐受性、揭示营养品质以及开发食谱和增值产品。
