SPECIES DIVERSITY AND MANAGEMENT OF TERMITES USING ENTOMOPATHOGENIC NEMATODES IN GROUNDNUT (Arachis hypogaea L.) IN ETHIOPIA

Abstract

First and foremost, I want to thank and praise God, the Almighty, for His graces, strength, sustenance, blessings, knowledge, and opportunities. His benevolence has made me excel and be successful in all my academic pursuits. I am deeply grateful to Prof. Emana Getu for his assistance at every stage of the research project and for his invaluable supervision and tutelage during the course of my PhD degree. Throughout the writing of this dissertation, I have received a great deal of support and assistance. I would like to offer my special thanks to Dr. Awol Seid for making the nematode molecular work possible at ILVO, Belgium. I also would like to sincerely acknowledge him for awarding me an internship on "Nematode Taxonomy" at Sophia Agrobiotech Institute, INRAe, Sophia Antipolis, France during my study. I very much appreciate his support in publishing the first manuscript of this PhD dissertation. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Mulatu Wakgari for his insightful comments, suggestions on the manuscript, and valuable guidance throughout my studies. I am grateful for his unparalleled support and supervision during sample collection and fieldwork. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Dr. Muluken Goftishu for his unwavering support and trust on me. You have played a massive role in my development as a researcher and inspired me to be a better researcher. I wish to express my thanks to Dr. Gillian Gile, Arizona State University, and Dr. Lieven Waeyenberge, ILVO Belgium, for their support in molecular identification of termites and nematodes, respectively. I would also like to extend my deepest gratitude to Mr. Gebissa Yigezu, who is a talented and dedicated colleague, for his support during data collection and laboratory work. I very much appreciate the support by Mr. Solomon Yielma in the identification and maintenance of the isolated nematodes at Ambo Plant Protection Research Center. I wish to express my thanks VIII to Dr. Temesgen Addis, e-nema Germany, for his support in providing valuable comments on the proposal and the manuscript on molecular identification of nematodes. I would like to acknowledge Azeb Tegenu, Habtamu Tadesse, Misrach Melese, Gebi Hussien, Haymanot Bizuneh, Yegele Gebremaryam Marta, and Addis. without whom I could not have completed this dissertation and would not have been able to do my laboratory experiments, field work and data collection. I’m extremely grateful to my loving and supportive wife, Kidist Tekle, who provides unending inspiration. She has been supportive of me throughout this entire process and has made countless sacrifices to help me get to this point. She is also acknowledged for the support she made to the family during much of my graduate studies. Without her tremendous understanding and encouragement in the past few years, it would have been impossible for me to complete my studies. My deep and sincere gratitude also goes to my family for their continuous and unparalleled love, help and support. Specially, I am grateful to my sister, Misrak Kassaye, for always being there for me