African Journal of
Agricultural Research

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Agric. Res.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1991-637X
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJAR
  • Start Year: 2006
  • Published Articles: 6902

Article in Press

Phenotypic trait characterizations of Enset(Ensete ventricosum (Welw.) Cheesman) landrace with Quantitative and Qualitative methods, in Gurage Zone, Central Ethiopia

Ashenafi Mitiku and Kibebew Fikre

  •  Received: 16 May 2024
  •  Accepted: 25 June 2024
Enset (Ensete ventricosum) is a perennial plant and used as a multi-purpose crop in Ethiopia. Quantitative characterization of Enset is one of curtail information to determine the yield of enset and also qualitative characterization is important to determine the genetic variability of Enset. Wolkite university was conserving enset landrace since 2014 which is collected in different enset growing areas with the objective of evaluating enset landrace with both Quantitative and Qualitative trait characterization methods at the Yefereziye enset conservation site from 2020 to 2021. The evaluation was conducted as a single plot experiment method with a total of 15 plants within a column each plant was planted with inter and intra row spacing of 1.5m. The data were collected randomly and tagged five Enset landraces within a row. The data shows a higher significance (P< 0.001) within enset landrace. Based on Pseudostem height, Pseudostem circumference, and plant height quantitative characterization the following enset landrace Ankogena(136.6cm, 127.8cm and 466.6cm), Ginbeniye (113.6cm, 156cm and 354cm) and Erake (119cm, 124.8cm and 410.4cm) enset landrace the higher performance respectively followed by Lemat, Fereziye, Gimbwe and Keribote enset landrace. Whereas the lower enset landrace performance was recorded from Cherkiwe (88cm, 60.6cm and 336.6cm) and Ayides 55.4cm, 6 8.4cm and 208cm) respectively. From the data Ankogena, Ginbeniye, and Erake enset landrace were a higher performance as compared to other enset landrace and recommended to the local farmer and for all food-insecure countries cultivating enset landrace to improve the livelihood.

Keywords: Enset landraces, number of suckers, Qualitative character and Quantitative character