Tef ( Eragrostis tef ) is an indigenous African cereal that is gaining global attention as a gluten-free “superfood” with high protein, mineral, and fibre contents. However, tef yields are limited by lodging and by losses during harvest owing to its small grain size (150× lighter than wheat). Breeders must also consider a strong cultural preference for white-grained over brown-grained varieties. Tef is relatively understudied with limited “omics” resources. Here, we resequence 220 tef accessions from an Ethiopian diversity collection and also perform multi-locational phenotyping for 25 agronomic and grain traits. Grain metabolome profiling reveals differential accumulation of fatty acids and flavonoids between white and brown grains. k -mer and SNP-based genome-wide association uncover important marker-trait associations, including a significant 70 kb peak for panicle morphology containing the tef orthologue of rice qSH1 —a transcription factor regulating inflorescence morphology in cereals. We also observe a previously unknown relationship between grain size, colour, and fatty acids. These traits are highly associated with retrotransposon insertions in homoeologues of TRANSPARENT TESTA 2 , a known regulator of grain colour. Our study provides valuable resources for tef research and breeding, facilitating the development of improved cultivars with desirable agronomic and nutritional properties.

Tef, a nutritious gluten-free cereal essential for making Ethiopia's traditional injera, varies in quality due to varieties and growing conditions. This study examined 35 tef varieties, revealing how variety, location, and season affect grain attributes and flour quality. Insights from growing tef in diverse Ethiopian agro-ecologies enhance understanding of its adaptability and quality. Physical and functional properties, including grain size, density, and flour absorption capacities, were analyzed, offering a comprehensive view of tef's potential in varying environments. Variety significantly affects tef characteristics, with genotype playing a major role in trait variation, influencing grain size, weight, and color. Sieve analysis showed that up to 45.78% of grain mass remained on larger sieves (425-600 mu m). Color metrics for tef varied, with white tef being lighter and redder than brown. Environmental factors like location and season influenced sieve separation outcomes and grain characteristics, except for the smallest sieve size and color parameters. The study also noted a relationship between grain size and color, with smaller, brown grains having lower lightness and yellowness. This study provides essential data: for future improvement and management of the tef; for quality assurance for consumers, processors, regulators and traders; and for designing of effective cleaning and processing techniques.

Main conclusion Seed priming with gas plasma-activated water results in an increased ageing resilience in Eragrostis tef grains compared to a conventional hydropriming protocol. Abstract Tef ( Eragrostis tef ) is a cereal grass and a major staple crop of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Despite its significant importance in terms of production, consumption, and cash crop value, tef has been understudied and its productivity is low. In this study, tef grains have undergone different priming treatments to enhance seed vigour and seedling performance. A conventional hydropriming and a novel additive priming technology with gas plasma-activated water (GPAW) have been used and tef grains were then subjected to germination performance assays and accelerated ageing. Tef priming increases the germination speed and vigour of the grains. Priming with GPAW retained the seed storage potential after ageing, therefore, presenting an innovative environmental-friendly seed technology with the prospect to address variable weather conditions and ultimately food insecurity. Seed technology opens new possibilities to increase productivity of tef crop farming to achieve a secure and resilient tef food system and economic growth in Ethiopia by sustainable intensification of agriculture beyond breeding.

Tef, Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter is the main crop grown in Ethiopia. However, its productivity remains low compared to its potential yield. A multi-location trial was conducted to evaluate selected best-performing lines from previous trials in terms of stability and yield coupled with farmers’ opinions and preferences, aiming to identify superior lines. A total of twenty tef genotypes, including a standard and a local check were field evaluated using RCBD with four replications. The lines were grown in 4 m² plots across eight different locations in Ethiopia during the 2018/19 and 2019/20 cropping seasons. Additionally, an on-farm participatory variety evaluation involving 198 participants, comprising farmers and agricultural experts, was conducted during the 2019 cropping season. Phenological and agromorphological traits were collected and subjected to statistical analysis to identify the best genotypes. The pooled analysis of variance revealed significant variation (at the 0.01% level) among genotypes, locations, and years for all traits except grain yield and days to maturity. While some genotypes produced comparable grain yields, none surpassed the standard check variety Negus. Additionally, Participatory variety selection was conducted during the crop maturity stage using the direct-matrix ranking method. Farmers sets their own selection criteria, these are crop stand, tillering capacity, panicle weight, lodging tolerance, culm strength, and pest infestation or infection. Based on their evaluation, the genotypes DZ-01-974 X GA-10-3 RIL 51, DZ-01-974 X GA-10-3 RIL 47 and DZ-01-974 X GA-10-3 RIL 68 were identified as farmers preferred varieties from direct matrix ranking evaluations and chosen for their performance in the field. Thus, this study highlights the feasibility of participatory variety selection in gaining insights into farmer’s perceptions, preferences, strengths and weaknesses of tef genotypes.

The present study was conducted in Awi zone in Jawi District, Western Ethiopia to evaluate and identify well-adapted promising varieties and estimate heritability associated with genetic variability. The experiment comprised 13 varieties, including a local check using RCBD with three replications. The analysis of variance revealed significant differences among the varieties for most traits except days to seedling emergency and total biomass. Based on the result, the highest grain yield was recorded for DZ-Cr-438 (1056.7 kg ha-1), followed by Areka-1 (945.0 kg ha-1). The highest phenotypic coefficient of disparity (PCV) was recorded for days to 50% seedling emergence, plant height, and grain yield. The genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) estimates was higher for panicle length and grain yield. High expected genetic advance values were observed for plant height and grain yield. This study found genetic variability for some important traits and suggested direct selection to improve grain yield.

Tef is the major staple food crop for Ethiopia which is cultivated by more than 6.7 million smallholder farmers. As an indigenous cereal, it is well adapted to diverse climatic and soil conditions; however, its productivity is very low mainly due to susceptibility to lodging. The objective of this study was to identify stable, high yielding and lodging tolerant tef genotypes for moisture stress areas of the country. A total of twenty genotypes including standard and local checks were tested. The field experiment was conducted using a 2m x 2m area with a completely randomized block design at six locations (Debre Zeit, Minjar, Alemtena, Melkassa, Sirinka and Axum) during the 2019 and 2020 main cropping seasons. Data were taken on plot and individual plant basis on eight pheno-agro-morphological characters including days to heading, days to maturity, grain filling period, plant height, panicle length, lodging index, above-ground shoot biomass and grain yield. The combined analysis of variance showed that the mean squares due to genotypes, locations and genotype interactions were highly significant (P<0.01) for the tested eight agronomical and morphological traits evaluated. Based on the current result, 39% of the tested genotypes had a higher yield advantage over the standard check Boset variety. On the other hand, 44% of the genotypes showed higher yields than the local check. Therefore, the promising genotype for lodging tolerance needs further testing in the variety verification trial and those genotypes are used as representative materials to develop varieties, especially for lodging tolerance.

The aim of this study was to estimate the genotype by environment interaction of artificially identified cold tolerant rice genotypes in the highland cooler parts of Uganda. The best twenty three cold tolerant genotypes and two susceptible genotypes were evaluated in seven environments, which were characterized by cold weather. Five by five alpha lattice design with three replications was used in each environment. Analysis of variance revealed significant GEI effect in most of the cold tolerance indicator traits. Leaf wilting score was one of the major measures of cold stress observed on evaluated genotypes and it was chosen for demonstration of AMMI ANOVA and GGE-biplot. AMMI analysis showed there were highly significant environments, genotypes and GEI effects on leaf wilting score. The partitioning of total sum of squares (TSS) revealed that the environment effect was a predominant source of variation followed by GEI and genotype. The first two PCA on GGE-biplot explain 72.72% of the total variation of GEI. In general, rice genotypes SCRID091-20-2-2-4-4, MET P9, MET P40, NERICA 1 and GIZA 177 took short duration to mature, had better yield and were cold tolerant in most of test environments.

The aims of the experiment are to determine and understand the effect of genotype, environment, and their interaction on grain yield of tef, and to identify and release stable and high yielding tef genotype for high potential areas of country.Twelve tef genotypes including two checks were laid out in randomized complete block design using four replications for two years (2016 and 2017) at twelve representative locations of high potential areas of the country.The trial was conducted on the plot size of 2m*2m with 10 rows per plot throughout all trial sites and 1.5m between replication, 1m between plot, and 20cm between rows.Agronomic and yield data were collected and subjected to statistical analysis in order to identify the best genotypes of the evaluated genotypes.Data from individual environments and combined over twelve locations were analyzed by using R 3.5 software version.The combined data analysis over locations and years indicated that the candidate variety Kaye Murri X 3774-1 (RIL18) performed better than the two checks and the other test genotypes.It gave 7.5% and 10.65% grain yield advantages over the standard check (Quncho) and local check, respectively.The significant genotypes x environments interaction effects indicated the inconsistent performance of genotypes across the tested environments.The candidate variety DZ-Cr-458 (RIL18) is the shortest vector from the AEC axis that identified as the most stable genotype.The National Variety Release Committee in Ethiopia investigated the two-year performance of Kaye Murri X 3774-1 (RIL18) and visited several locations where the new candidate variety was grown for evaluation under variety verification trial.Based on the critiques, the National Variety Release Committee the candidate variety was approved for release Kaye Murri X 3774-1 (RIL18), for high potential areas of the country with the vernacular name of "Ebba" as a standing witnessed for the earliest known tef scientist,

Rice crop is adversely affected by cold stress which is a common problem in the highland areas of central East Africa (Uganda, Rwanda, north east Tanzania and Kenya) and Madagascar. Cold stress is known to cause 26% to 80% yield loss. Currently, rice production in Uganda is mostly growing to the low altitude areas as there is lack of cold-tolerant varieties that can grow in the higher altitudes of the country. None of the released varieties in Uganda are tolerant cold. The few cold-tolerant lines that have been identified are short-grain types, though Ugandan consumers generally prefer long-grain size. This research aimed at identifying new sources of cold tolerant rice genotypes with preferred traits. A total of 50 lines arranged in a 5x10 alpha lattice design with two replications were used for both stressed and non-stressed experiments. Twenty one (21) days old seedlings were stressed at 10 o C in cold air for 10 days and the other remained under normal ambient temperature. IRRI Standard Evaluation System (SES, 2013) was used to score the effect of cold stress on leaf morphology (leaf wilting score) and on leaf color (leaf yellowing score) after 7 day recovery. This study revealed eight highly cold tolerant (SCRID091-20-2-2-4, GIZA 177, NERICA 1, MET P27, MET P23, MET P60, MET P20 and MET P5) in which only GIZA 177 was short grain and fifteen tolerant varieties (MET P32, MET P11, MET P2, MET P17, MET P3, MET P24, MET P16, MET P37, MET P18, MET P9, MET P40, MET P31, MET P39, MET P22, MET P36) were identified.

Tef is honored and the main dietary food for health existence and food security in Ethiopia. It is adaptable to a wide range of environmental conditions; however its production and productivity varied across the environment.

Breeding for high yield crop requires information on the nature and magnitude of variation in the available materials, relationship of yield with other agronomic characters and the degree of environmental influence on the expression of these components characters. Hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis is useful guide to evaluation of different genotypes. This study was conducted with the aim of identifying better performing drought tolerant tef genotypes and related traits with the help of principal component analysis and cluster analysis of major quantitative traits of the crop. Cluster analysis based on Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Means (UPGMA) clustering method from Euclidean distances matrix estimated 12 clusters of 49 tef genotypes. The genetic distance of for all possible pair wise of tef genotypes ranged from 1.90 to 11.21. Principal components analysis revealed that five principal components with Eigen-values greater than unity accounted for 79% of tef genotypes.

The present investigation was carried out to determine the relationship and genetic variability among 49 tef inbred line using principal component analysis for drought prone areas. To improve tef productivity, farmers need high-yielding and drought tolerant tef cultivars. The objective of this research is to evaluate genetic diversity among drought tolerant tef inbred lines for yield, yield-contributing traits. In this study, Component I had the contribution from the traits viz., days to heading, days to physiological maturity, plant height, panicle length, culm length, number of spikelets per panicle, number of primary panicle branches per main shoot, lodging index, above-ground biomass and harvest index which accounted 40% to the total variability. Grain filling period, number of total tillers per plant, number of fertile tillers per plant, days to mature, peduncle length, number of florets per spikelet and thousand-seed weight has contributed 14% to the total variability in component II. The remaining variability of 13%, 7% and 6% was consolidated in component III, component IV and component V by various traits like days to seedling emergence, culm length, peduncle length, lodging index, above-ground biomass yield, grain yield, harvest index, number of total and fertile tillers per plant. The cumulative variance of 79% of total variation among 18 characters was explained by the first five axes. Thus, the results of principal component analysis revealed, wide genetic variability exists in this drought tolerant tef inbred lines. Drought tolerant traits with high genetic variability are expected to provide high level of gene transfer during breeding programs.

Tef is a foremost staple cereal crop with substantial contribution in the GDP of Ethiopia. Tef grain is highly nutritious gluten-free as well as high quality forage. However, yield losses of tef due to erratic rainfall and drought are estimated to reach up to 77%. Lodging is also the major bottleneck limiting tef quality and yield losses estimated at 30% - 35%. Hence, the purpose of this research was design to evaluate, and recommend best performing tef varieties under irrigation farming system in both traditional and non-traditional tef growing areas in Ethiopia. The field experiment comprised 35 released tef varieties using randomized complete block design with three replications in 2m2 plot size were evaluated at six locations (eight environments). The result revealed highly significant (p < 0.001) varietal difference for grain yield at all locations under irrigation. For non- traditional tef growing areas (Somali region), there was highly significant (p < 0.001) varietal difference for all recorded traits except panicle length. This finding indicates that the lodging index in tef is reduced when it is cultivated under irrigation production. The variety by location interaction effect in Somali region showed that there were highly significant (p < 0.001) varietal difference for plant height, days to maturity and harvest index. However, there was no interaction significant varietal difference for grain yield, above ground shoot biomass, lodging index, panicle length and days to head in the three locations of Somali region. There was no single variety demonstrating steady superiority for grain yield across all tested environments. However, variety Gamechis was the best varieties at five tested environments. Performance of tef variety in non-traditional tef growing area (Somali region) is encouraging both for small holder farmers and large-scale investors to grow tef in the area. Thus, cultivated tef in this region is crucial to ensure food security in region as well as in the country. Moreover, growing tef in non-traditional regions has vital role to get additional quality feed source for their animals where it is a major problem in the region. In addition to tef yield increment using irrigation production but may also reduce variability in production through improved control of the crop environment. Therefore, variety Gamechis, Boset, Kora and Quncho should be used under irrigation production both in non-traditional and traditional tef growing areas where the experiment was conducted and other similar agro ecological areas.

አህፅሮት ጤፍ በኢትዮጵያ ከሚመረቱ የብርዕና አገዳ ሰብሎች ዋነኛው ሲሆን ከ65 በመቶ ለማያንስ ህዝብ ዋና የምግብ ሰብል በመሆን ያገለግላል፡፡ የጤፍ የዘር ቀለም ተለያይነት ያለው ሲሆን በአብዛኛው ነጭና ቡናማ/ቀይ አንዳንዴም ድብልቅ እና መካከለኛ የዘር ቀለም በየዓመቱ ከሶሰት ሚሊዮን ማሳ በላይ በመሸፈን ይመረታል፡፡ ይሁን እንጂ ከሌሎች ሰብሎች ጋር ሲወዳደር ምርትና ምርታማነቱ ዝቅተኛ ነው፡፡ ለዚህም ዋና ዋና ምክንያት በመሆን የሚጠቀሰው የተሻሻሉ ዝርያዎች በበቂ ሁኔታ አለመኖር ነው፡፡ የዚህ ጥናት ዋና ዓላማ እየጨመረ የመጣውን የቡናማ/ቀይ ጤፍ ፍላጎት ለማሟላት በተለያየ የምርምር አሰራርና ሂደት የተገኘ የጤፍ ዝርያን በመፈተሽ የተሻለ ምርት የሚሰጥና በአርሶ አደሩና በተጠቃሚው ተመራጭ የሆነ ዝርያ ማፍለቅ ነበር፡፡ በጥናቱም አስራ ሁለት የተለያዩ የጤፍ ዓይነቶችን ጨምሮ አንድ በቅርቡ የተለቀቀ እና አንድ የአካባቢ ዝርያን በማካተት በስድስት ወካይ ጤፍ አብቃይ ቦታዎች ላይ ተፈትሸው ፍላጎት (ደዘ-ክሮስ-442) የተባለው ቡናማ/ቀይ ዘር ቀለም ያለው ዝርያ ከሌሎች ማወዳደሪያ ዝርያዎች የተሻለ ውጤት በማስመዝገቡ በብሄራዊ የዝርያ አፅዳቂ ኮሚቴ ተገምግሞ ለምርት እንዲውል ተወስኗል፡፡ በተጨማሪም ይህ ዝርያ ቡናማ/ቀይ ዘር ቀለም ያለው ዝርያ ከተለቀቀ ከአስራ አምስት አመታት በኃላ የተገኘና የወደፊት የውጭ ገበያ ፍላጎትን ለሟሟላት ከፍተኛ አስተዋፅኦ ሊያበረክት የሚችል ነው፡፡ Abstract Tef [Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter] is the major cultivated cereal crop in Ethiopia and serves as staple food grain for over 65% of the population. The area under tef cultivation is over three million hectares of land each year. Depending on the type of seed color, tef grains are categorized into white and brown, while some admixtures and intermediate seed colors also exist. However, the productivity of tef is very low as compared to other cereals due, among others, to lack of high yielding varieties. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of released brown seeded tef variety called Felagot and to provide unique morphological and agronomic descriptions of this new variety. Twelve genotypes resulting from two independent crossesnd breed for at least seven generations plus local and standard check varieties were tested over two years (2014 and 2015 main season) at six tef growing locations namely: Debre Zeit light soil, Debre Zeit Black soil, Minjar, Adet, Bichena and Holetta using randomized complete block design with four replications. The study found that Felagot (DZ-Cr-442/ RIL-77C) which was obtained from a cross between Quncho (the popular variety) and Gea Lammie (local cultivar) exceled the other genotypes and it was approved for release by the Ethiopian National Variety Release Committee in March 2017. The main advantages of Felagot over the other tested lines were its higher grain yield together with high straw yield and brown seed color. In addition, it was released under the brown seed category after one and half decades. Furthermore, it is anticipated that because of the brown seed color Felagot will command high external market preferences and prices, and thereby contribute for future tef export market.

The national average yield of Tef is low at 1.75 t ha-1. This is partially due to lack of high yielding Tef genotypes for different Tef growing areas. Therefore, the present study was designed to develop high yielding, and desirable quality of improved Tef varieties suitable for high and optimum potential farming systems. Eight recombinant inbred lines (RILs) developed from a cross of DZ-01-353 x kaymurri plus two checks were laid out in a randomized complete block design using four replications in multi-environments for two years (2013 and 2014) to see the effect of genotypes, environments and GEI. ANOVA from additive main effect and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) for grain yield revealed highly significant (p<0.01) effect for genotypes, environments, and genotype by environment interaction (GEI. The effect of environment, genotypes and genotype by environment interaction accounted for 81.49, 3.98 and 14.15% of the total sum squares, respectively. A large sum of squares for environments indicated that the test environments were diverse with large differences among environmental means which causing most of the variation in grain yield. Therefore, results of combined data analysis across locations and over the years showed that variety DZ- Cr- 429 (RIL 125)/Negus/ performed better and stable across five locations over two years among tested genotypes. Thus, variety Negus was identified and released as best promising Tef variety for production in high and optimum potential tef growing areas in the country. This variety should be used in similar agro ecologies to increase grain yield productivity and ensure food security in the country.

Genetic improvement of native crops is a promising strategy to combat hunger in the developing world. Tef is the major staple food crop for approximately 73 million people in Ethiopia. As an indigenous cereal, it is well adapted to diverse climatic and soil conditions; however, its productivity is extremely low mainly due to lack of high yielder genotypes and susceptibility to lodging, biotic and abiotic stresses. To circumvent this problem, an experiment comprising 20 tef genotypes including the standard and local checks were evaluated in a randomized complete block design with four replications at nine environment to develop high yielding, stable and farmers preferred variety (ies) for high potential areas. Combined analysis of variance revealed highly significant (P ≤ 0.01) variations due to genotype, environment for most of traits and significant (p ≤0.05) genotype by environment interaction effects (GEI) for grain yield. AMMI analysis revealed 7.62%, 67.27%, 25.11% variation in grain yield due to genotypes, environments and GEI effects, respectively. The mean grain yield value of genotypes averaged over environments indicated that G12 (DZ-Cr-387 X Rosea (RIL-133) had the highest grain yield (2761 kgha-1) compared to the standard check variety Negus (2526kgha-1). In addition this candidate variety proved stable across environments for grain yield during the variety evaluation experiment. Therefore, this genotype was evaluated by the national variety released committee for release as a new variety for the year of 2019/20 and the technical committee approved it for fully released as new variety in 2020. Thus, this variety should be used as a commercial variety for potential tef growing areas to increase tef productivity and production in the country.

Worku Kebede, Yazachew Genet, Tsion Fikre, Kidist Tolosa, Solomon Chanyalew , Mengistu Demissie, Kebebew Assefa, Kidu G/Meskel, Atinkut Fantahun & Zerihun Tadele.2020.Tef (Eragrostis tef) variety development for moisture stress areas of Ethiopia.Journal of Innovative Agriculture.volume 7, issue 4, Pages 1-6. Tef is widely cultivated grain crop in Ethiopia by concerning 6.5 million smallholder farmers on about 30% of the full-scale region distributed to cereal crops. The goal of this experiment was to identify and release stable and high yielding tef genotype for moisture stress areas of country and to determine and understand the effect of genotype, environment, and their interaction on grain yield of tef. Fourteen selected tef genotypes obtained from two autonomous crosses and progressed through alternative for a minimum of eight generations, and a local and standard check varieties, were tested over a two years at seven tef growing sites in moisture stress areas of Ethiopia namely Debre Zeit, Alemetena, Dhera, Axum, Sirinka, Minjar and Mehoni, using randomized complete block design with four replications. Among the genotype tested, DZ-Cr-387 x 3774-13(RIL120B) was found predominant in terms of yield at tested moisture stress environments. This genotype was obtained through targeted cross between DZ-Cr-387 (Quncho) selected as a maternal parent for its high yielding capability and wide adaptability and, 3774-13 as a pollen parent for its extraordinarily white seed quality and earliness. The genotype DZ-Cr-387 x 3774-13(RIL120B) gave the average grain yield 2740 kgha-1 pooled across all environments. This genotype

Tef is a foremost staple cereal crop with considerable role in the domestic GDP of Ethiopia. In diverse parts of Ethiopia, declining levels and high variability of rainfall is among the main causes for low crop productivity. Therefore, the study was designed to assess, pinpoint and recommend promising tef breeding lines suitable for irrigation farming conditions in the semi-arid, temperate and cool sub-humid agro-ecologies of Ethiopia. The experimental plant materials comprised forty- nine tef genotypes including forty seven recombinant inbred lines (RILs) and two standard checks varieties Quncho and Boset. The forty-seven RILs were out-sourced from three simple crosses of four parental lines. The field experiment was conducted using 7×7 simple lattice designs at three locations (Mehoni, Koga and Werer) during 2016 and 2017. Data were taken on plot and individual plant basis on nine pheno-agro-morphological characters including days to heading and to maturity, grain filling period, plant height, culm length, panicle length, above-ground shoot biomass, grain yield and harvest index. The three locations displayed highly significant (P<0.001) differences for a number of traits. However, panicle length did not show marked difference between locations. The cropping seasons has also showed highly significant (P<0.001) variation aside from plant height. Averaged over locations and seasons, differences among the genotypes were significant for all traits except days to maturity. The pooled result at the two locations (Mehoni and Koga) showed Kaye Murri X 3774-13 RIL 55 has the maximum yield of 3.1 t ha-1. Thus, it is suggested to use the selected genotype for the sites and similar agro-ecologies. The use of irrigation system showed merit of achieving maximum yield of 4.7 t ha-1 at Mehoni during 2016 (Kaye Murri X 3774-13 RIL 66), but this is not consistent over locations and years. Nowadays, straw also has comparable values to grain yield, hence, the highest aboveground shoot biomass yield and lowest harvest index were indicated by Kaye Murri X 3774-13 RIL 110. Consequently, it would be advisable to use both (Kaye Murri X 3774-13 RIL 66 and Kaye Murri X 3774-13 RIL 110) to further test in the breeding program.

Genetic variability is a pre-requisite to crop improvement. The objective of the present study was to assess and quantify the genetic variability, estimate heritability and genetic advance for yield and yield contributing characters of drought tolerant tef genotypes based on agro-morphological traits. A total of 49 tef materials [(42 drought tolerant tef advanced lines, the parents of the advanced lines (Dtt2, Dtt13, Quncho and the cultivar Kaye Murri), two varieties (Tsedey and Simada) released for low moisture area and a local check cultivar from each location)] were planted in 7 x 7 simple lattice design at Melkassa and Alemtena in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia. Important agronomic data were collected and subjected to analysis using statistical analysis software (SAS). The combined analysis of variance (ANOVA) over locations showed significant location and genotype main effects (P≤0.01) for most of the traits. The genotype x location interaction effect was not significant (P\u003e 0.05) for all traits evaluated, except for days to physiological maturity and number of primary panicle branches per main shoot. Phenotypic coefficients of variation (PCV) and genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) for the characters such as days to physiological maturity, number of fertile tillers per plant and days to seedling emergence showed very small difference demonstrating that the observed variations for these traits were mostly due to genetic factors with little impact of environment. High heritability and genetic advance were noted for panicle length and days to heading signifying the ease of phenotype-based selection for the improvement of those traits.