Abstract

The main objective of this study was to evaluate 21 durum wheat genotypes for grain yield and agronomic traits under rain fed condition in three districts of Axum Agricultural Research Center, namely Hatsebo, Tahtay-Maichew and Ahferom during 2014 cropping season. Completely randomized block design with three replications was conducted for each location. The result of analysis of variance indicated that there was a significant difference among the genotypes for all the traits except harvest index. Thus, considerable variation was recorded among durum wheat genotypes. However, the effect of location on grain yield was non-significant. Among the genotypes, the highest grain yield was obtained from genotype 34thIDONMD/134/off2011 (2.39 t ha-1) across all environments. High value of genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) was calculated for panicle length, biomass yield, grain yield and harvest index both at Hatsebo and Tahtay-Maichew. However, at Ahferom, medium GCV was observed for these traits, which might be due to terminal moisture stress during the cropping season. High genotypic coefficient of variation, heritability and genetic advance as percent of mean were found in panicle length, biomass yield, grain yield and harvest index at Hatsebo and Tahtay-Maichew. This indicated that these characters could be useful basis of selection. The association of grin yield was positive and significant with harvest index (0.67), days to maturity (0.25), days to heading (0.22) and biomass yield (0.2), however the association between biomass yield and harvest index was negative (-0.54).

Key words: Durum wheat, genetic variation, heritability, quantitative traits.