Evaluation of lentil varieties for adaptation and yield performance under midland ecology of kaffa zone, south-west Ethiopia

ISSN: 2224-0616 Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. Tech. 9(2): 9-14, December 2019 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3329/ijarit.v9i2.45404 Available online at http://ijarit.webs.com https://www.banglajol.info/index.php/IJARIT EVALUATION OF LENTIL VARIETIES FOR ADAPTATION AND YIELD PERFORMANCE UNDER MIDLAND ECOLOGY OF KAFFA ZONE, SOUTH-WEST ETHIOPIA M.M. Geja Received 10 July 2019, Revised 22 November 2019, Accepted 24 December 2019, Published online 31 December 2019 Abstract A field experiment was conducted to identify the best adapted and high yielding lentil variety at Shishinda sub-testing site of Bonga Agricultural Research Center during 2012 main cropping season. The experiment was carried out in randomized complete block design with three replications. Eleven improved lentil varieties were used for this study. The varieties included in the study were Teshale, Alemaya, Alemtena, Assano, Gudo, EL-142, R186, Ada’a, Derso, Chalew and Chekol. The parameters studied in this experiment were days to flowering and maturity, plant height, number of pods plant-1, number of seeds pod-1, thousand seeds weight and grain yield. The analysis of the experiment showed significant (p<0.05) differences among varieties for all studied parameters. The varieties Assano, Alemtena, Derso, EL-142, and Gudo were found to be high yielder with the value of 1.71, 1.59, 1.39, 1.36 and 1.31 ton ha-1, respectively. In addition, farmers were invited to evaluate the performance of the tested varieties under field condition. Eventually, the farmers selected Assano and Alemtena as the most preferred varieties. Therefore, these varieties can be suggested to use for wider production in the study area. The involvement of farmers in variety selection processes may increases the adoption of new variety in the area. Keywords: Lentil Varieties, Farmers’ Preference, Grain Yield. Bonga Agricultural Research Center, Bonga, Ethiopia. *Corresponding author’s email: (M.M. Geja) Cite this article as: Geja, M.M. 2019. Evaluation of lentil varieties for adaptation and yield performance under midland ecology of kaffa zone, south-west Ethiopia. Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. Tech. 9(2): 9-14. DOI: 10.3329/ijarit.v9i2.45404. Introduction Lentil (Lens culinaris Medikus) is one of the most important cool season food legumes grown in many parts of the world as food crop (Erskine et al., 2011). Globally lentil production ranking sixth in production among pulses after dry bean, pea, chickpea, faba bean, and cowpea (FAO, 2010). The area cultivated worldwide in 2016 was approximately 5.5 million hectares with 6.3 million tons of lentil grain with the average yield of 1.2 tons ha-1 while approximately 113.7 thousand hectares with 166.3 thousand tons with average yield of 1.5 tons ha-1 in Ethiopia (FAOSTAT, 2018). Thus, the productivity of the crop per unit area of land is high in Ethiopia than the world average yield in the year 2016. Furthermore, lentil is a cash crop gaining the highest price in domestic market compared to all other food legumes and major cereal crops (Bejiga et al., 1995). Lentil plays a significant role in human and animal nutrition as well as improvement of soil fertility. The crop has great importance in crop rotation because of its ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen (Saxena and Wassimi, 1980). It is the most desired crop compared to other legumes because of its higher contents of protein, carbohydrate and calories (Muehlbauer et al., 1985; Iqbal et al., 2006). Obviously, lentil seed is heavily consumed in every day diet in the majority of people in Ethiopia (Hanelt, 2001). Lentil is mainly grown in the highlands of Ethiopia where rainfall is usually high (Jarso et al., 2009). However, it is highly susceptible to excessive moisture stress (Mulugeta, 2009) and very sensitive to water logging and even with short period of exposure it can cause complete crop failure (Brennan et al., 2002). Lentil is well adapted to various soil types ranging from sand to clay loam when there is good drainage (Janzen et al., 2014). A soil pH of 6-8 is conducive for lentil production, but it can also tolerate a moderate alkalinity (Mulugeta, 2009). It is widely grown in areas having an altitude range of 1700-2400 meters above sea level with annual rainfall International Journal of Agricultural Research Innovation & Technology 9 Geja (2019) Evaluation of lentil varieties for adaptation and yield performance in south-west Ethiopia ranging from 700-2000 mm in Ethiopia (Korbu, 2009). In addition, the crop is capable of germinating at a temperature above freezing point but optimum germination occurs at the range of 18-21°C. On the other hand, a temperature exceeding 27°C can harm the crop aggressively however the ideal temperature for optimum growth and yields of lentil is around 24°C (Abraham, 2015). The demand for lentil and the price of the produce has been growing steadily in recent years and there is a high need to increase its production for both domestic and export markets in Ethiopia (Abraham, 2015). Even though there are a suitable agro-ecologies and soil conditions for the production of lentil in Ethiopia, the production of the crop is currently limited to few areas. Kaffa zone is one of the administrative zones in the SNNPR, located in the south-west parts of Ethiopia. Besides, the long lasting rainfall in a year makes the area conducive for the production of different crops in the region. The major pulse crops widely grown in the area are faba bean, field pea, and common bean. ICARDA in association with Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research has been released several high yielding lentil varieties with recommended technology packages. Even though efforts have been made to popularize improved varieties of different crops, the cultivation of lentil is not well experienced in the zone and there is no research activity yet conducted with regard to the adaptation of lentil varieties. Therefore, to popularize, and expand its production for both domestic and export market, testing the varieties for their adaptability is one of the most important steps prior to cultivation in the study area. The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the adaptability and yielding performance of improved lentil varieties in Kaffa zone. (FLIP 96-49L), Chalew (NEL 358), and Chekol (ENAL-2704). Agronomic practices The experimental field was ploughed, leveled, and rows were prepared 20 cm apart from each other. Sowing was done by hand drilling the seeds in rows @ 160 seeds row-1. DAP fertilizer (NPK 18:46:0) was applied @ 50 kg ha-1 during sowing (Annual Report, 2010). Other than the treatment effects weeding, harrowing and fertilizer application were carried out uniformly in all experimental plots. Experimental design and layout The experiment was carried out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Each experimental plot had six rows with 4.0 m long and 1.2 m wide (4.8 m2) and the central four rows were considered as a (...truncated)