1.2- Enset plant AlthoughEnsetis a very competitive and densely canopied crop, there are periods of time after transplanting and pruning when large amounts of space are under-utilized at the beginning of the growing season. Short season crops like pulses could be cultivated at this time, adding nitrogen to the soil, beforeEnsetgrowth closes the canopy. Tall crops like maize and sorghum, which can become competitively established, are already intercropped withEnsetin Wolayita-Hadiya-Kembata. Climbing annual and perennial legume crops are also a possible contribution to soil nitrogen and protein foods. Winged beans, climbing cowpeas and beans and local forage legumes could be adapted to benefitEnsetplantation fertility without reducing but hopefully increasingEnsetgrowth and production. Food prepared from Enset include bread, ferfer (a type of flat bread or injera) and porridge which may contain meat and/or vegetables. It is even possible to prepare alcoholic or non- alcoholic drinks.
2- Taxonomy of the Genus Ensete
2.1- Overview The genus Ensete was first described by Paul Fedorowitsch Horaninow (1796-1865) in his Prodromus Monographiae Scitaminarum of 1862 in which he created a single species, Ensete edule. However, the genus did not receive general recognition until 1947 when it was revived by E. E. Cheesman in the first of a series of papers in the Kew Bulletin on the classification of the bananas, with a total of 25 species. Taxonomically, the genus Ensete has shrunk since Cheesman revived the taxon. Cheesman acknowledged that field study might reveal synonymy and the most recent review of the genus by Simmonds (1960) listed just six. Recently the number has increased to seven as the Flora of China has, not entirely convincingly, reinstated Ensete wilsonii. There is one species in Thailand, somewhat resembling Ensete superbum, that has not been formally described, and possibly other Asian species.
2.2- Taxonomy It is possible to separateEnseteinto its African and Asian species. + African Species - Ensete gilletii - Ensete homblei - Ensete perrieri- endemic toMadagascarbut intriguingly like the AsianE. glaucum - Ensete ventricosum- enset or false banana, widely cultivated as a food plant in Ethiopia + Asian Species - Ensete glaucum- widespread in Asia from India to Papua New Guinea - Ensete lasiocarpum(Franch.) Cheesman - China, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar (Burma) - Ensete superbum- Western Ghats of India - Ensete wilsonii-Yunnan, China, but doubtfully distinct fromE. glaucum - Ensetesp. "Thailand" - possibly a new species or a disjunct population ofE. superbum Source: Ensete- From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ensete .