Participatory On-Farm Evaluation of Improved Bread Wheat Technologies in Some Districts of Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

Six released varieties of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L) were evaluated on 27 framers fields in Lemu, Angacha and Mareka districts of Southern Ethiopia in 2010/2011. The objectives were to test the adaptability and acceptance of bread wheat technologies and create awareness to the farmers. The pooled analysis of variance showed mean square due to varieties were highly significant (P < 0.01) for Plant height, spike length, number of seeds/spike and number of days to mature; and significant (P< 0.05) for yield (t/ha). The interaction of treatments and location was highly significant (P < 0.01) for these characteristics implying that the traits were highly influenced by the environments. The mean from combined grain yield of varieties (1.78t/ha) was lower than that of Mareka (2.02t/ha) and higher from Lemu (1.69t/ha) and Angacha (1.74t/ha). Farmers of all districts ranked variety Digalu first. Tay took the second place in Mareka and Lemu; and the fifth in Angacha.

Keywords: Bread wheat, released varieties, evaluation, adaptation