Adaptability Study of Yield and Yield Related Trait Performance of Improved Food Barley (Hordeum Vulgare L.) Varieties in North Shewa Zone Oromia, Ethiopia

Abstract

Barley is one of the founders, old world agriculture and the first domesticated cereal crop. It is a staple food, adapted to and produced over a wider range of environment . This trial was conducted on sixteen improved food barley varieties with one local check at Fitche Agricultural Research Center for two consecutive years. The objective was to identify adaptable, stable and high yielding varieties. The seed was sown in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. Nine agronomic traits data were evaluated. Analysis of variance detected significant difference among varieties for most observed traits both separated and combined analysis. Observation attained significant differences over years and locations for almost all traits. The combine ANOVA and the AMMI analysis for grain yield across environments revealed significantly affected by environments, hold 68.4% of the total variation. Genotype and genotype by environmental interaction were significant and accounted 12.1 % and 17.8 % respectively. Principal component 1 and 2 accounted 9.6% and 4.3 % of the GEI respectively with a total of 13.9 % variation. The interaction effect of variety by year and variety by location imposed significant effect on most traits. Among evaluated varieties; HB1307 and HB1966 had significantly higher mean value of grain yield. Moreover, the yield advantage of 32.9% and 38.8% were estimated for HB1307 and HB1966 respectively over the local check. Therefore, these varieties were suggested for further demonstration and popularization in the areas with similar agro-ecology.