Performance Evaluation of Teff (Eragrostis Tef (Zucc.) Varieties At Bedele District, Buno Bedele Zone Southwestern, Ethiopia

Abstract

Access of improved teff variety is highly limited in different parts of Ethiopia due to inaccessibility of different production factors. Bedele zone is one of such areas where the technologies are not widely addressed and adopted so far. The current trial was carried out during 2017 cropping seasons by Bedele Agricultural Research center.Three Teff varieties (Guduru,Quncho and Kenna) including local check were tested with the objective of selecting adaptable and best performing teff variety under farmers management. The trial was laid out in a randomized complete block design with seven replication along farmers. Plot size of experiment was 10m×10m (100m²) . Data on various characters, such as plant height, panicle length, Lodging Index, Biomass Yield and grain yield. Data was subjected to analysis of variance and there was highly significant difference (p<0.001) among the varieties for grain yield and some of agronomic traits. The mean grain yields of Guduru and Quncho varieties were 11.28 and 8.28 kuntal /ha while the yield of kena (7.20 kuntal/ha) was less than the local variety(7.67). Based on their selection criteria in the districts farmers were preferred first Guduru among the tested Teff varieties due to its high grain yields and resistant logging than other. Secondly, Quncho was preferred by the farmers due to it is very white seeded color and high market demand. However Qumcho variety highly affected by logging the same as local variety. Therefore, based agronomic traits (grain yield, days to maturity, plant height, panicle length, days to heading and farmers’ preference (grain yield, seed color, Straw Biomass ,Market Demand, Shattering tolerance  and Lodging Tolerance) Guduru Teff  variety was preferred by the target community and it is  recommended to be pilot scaled up.