Effect of Integrated Climate Change Resilient Cultural Practices on Faba Bean Rust (Uromyces viciae-fabae) Epidemics in Hararghe Highlands, Ethiopia

Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is an important pulse crop produced in the world for both human diet and animal feed as source of protein and carbohydrate. It is also an excellent complement of crop rotations for fixing atmospheric N and as green manure. China is the largest producer of faba beans in the world and in Africa, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia and Morocco are the dominant producers of faba bean. In Ethiopia, faba bean production is estimated to account for 3.94% of the total grain production. However, yields of faba beans have seen more fluctuationsthan area harvested and the world cultivated area has decreased in the last 50years. Climate variability, diseases, weeds and other pests are the major constraints of faba bean production. Diseases have always been the major limiting factors and faba bean is susceptible to several pathogenic fungi, the major ones include rust (Uromyces viciae-fabae (Pers.) J. SchrÖt.), chocolate spot (Botrytis fabae Sard.)and recently faba bean gall (Olpidium viciae) in Ethiopia.

Faba bean rust is a major disease of faba bean in almost every area in the world wherefaba bean is grown that can cause up to 70% of yield loss in early infection. The disease is severe and influences yield in areas like the Middle East, North Africa and parts of Australia.