Abstract

Wheat is one of the major cereal crops produced at different agroecologies of the East Gojjam Zone of the Amhara region. However, access to improved bread wheat varieties is minimal. Due to this and other factors, the area's potential for wheat crops is not exploited. So, developing and promoting technologies that suit the area is necessary. Thereby, this experiment was conducted at Aneded, Basoliben, and Debre Eliyas districts to select and recommend high-yielding and diseases-resistant improved bread wheat varieties through participatory variety selection. Boru, Daka, Shaki, Lemu, Wane, and a local Kakaba were used as testing materials. The treatments were laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications for the mother trial and farmers were used as replications for baby trials. Both agronomic and farmers’ data were collected based on the recommended standards. Data collected from the mother trial was subjected to analysis of variance whereas pairwise matrix ranking was used for data collected from baby trials. The analysis of variance showed the existence of significant differences at (P≤0.05) among the varieties for days to heading, days to maturity, spike length, and grain yield. However, no significant difference was observed among the varieties for plant height. The grain yield ranged from 3920.8 to 6137.9 kgha-1 with a mean value of 5399.7 kgha-1 and a coefficient variation of 14.5%. The highest grain yield was obtained from Boru (6137.9 kgha-1) followed by Daka (5802.9 kgha-1). The lowest grain yield was obtained from Wane (3920.8 kgha-1), followed by Kakaba (5344.2 kgha-1). Boru and Daka varieties were also top-ranked by farmers due to their best agronomic performances. Thus, the two improved bread wheat varieties are recommended for production in the study areas and the areas having the same and/or similar agroecological characteristics.

Key words: Bread wheat, mother trial, baby trial, farmers’ preference, disease.