Performance of Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Varieties in Buno Bedele, South West Oromia, Ethiopia

AbstractBread wheat is cultivated in a wide range of high and mid-altitude areas of Ethiopia ranking ۴th in area coverage and ۲nd in productivity. Although many improved bread wheat varieties have been released nationally and regionally, these varieties are not well disseminated and popularized. In Western Ethiopia “Buno Bedele Zone”, there is no varieties evaluated by our Research center and farmers are using any variety when they did get which is risky if there would be an occurrence of new diseases and other stresses. To alleviate such a crop’s potential challenge, recently released bread wheat varieties were tested for their phenotypic performance to confirm their environmental adaptation using Randomized Complete Block Design in three replications for two consecutive years (۲۰۱۹/۲۰۲۰ to ۲۰۲۰/۲۰۲۱) on two separate Gechi and Chora districts. Quantitative traits such as plant height, spike length, Biomass, and grain yield were collected and analyzed using RStudio and Genstat ۱۸th edition software’s. Qualitative trait such as days to maturity and days to heading were also collected. The combined analysis of variance indicated that the ۱۲ tested varieties differed significantly for all traits. The highest combined mean grain yield was recorded by the variety “Liben” (۴۴۴۳ kg ha-۱) followed by “Ogolcho” (۴۲۶۸ kg ha-۱).Abstract Bread wheat is cultivated in a wide range of high and mid-altitude areas of Ethiopia ranking ۴th in area coverage and ۲nd in productivity. Although many improved bread wheat varieties have been released nationally and regionally, these varieties are not well disseminated and popularized. In Western Ethiopia “Buno Bedele Zone”, there is no varieties evaluated by our Research center and farmers are using any variety when they did get which is risky if there would be an occurrence of new diseases and other stresses. To alleviate such a crop’s potential challenge, recently released bread wheat varieties were tested for their phenotypic performance to confirm their environmental adaptation using Randomized Complete Block Design in three replications for two consecutive years (۲۰۱۹/۲۰۲۰ to ۲۰۲۰/۲۰۲۱) on two separate Gechi and Chora districts. Quantitative traits such as plant height, spike length, Biomass, and grain yield were collected and analyzed using RStudio and Genstat ۱۸th edition software’s. Qualitative trait such as days to maturity and days to heading were also collected. The combined analysis of variance indicated that the ۱۲ tested varieties differed significantly for all traits. The highest combined mean grain yield was recorded by the variety “Liben” (۴۴۴۳ kg ha-۱) followed by “Ogolcho” (۴۲۶۸ kg ha-۱).