Shallot (Allium cepa var. ascalonicum Backer) is an important vegetable crop cultivated by smallholder farmers for consumption and income generation in Ethiopia. However, scarcity of high yielding varieties as well as lack of superior planting material seriously constrains productivity of the crop. Research project was initiated aiming at studying adaption of true seed shallot for yield and components. A series of experiments were conducted using the randomized complete block design to identify the appropriate variety for production of bulb yield. The combined analysis of variance results for marketable bulb yield (kg/plot), unmarketable bulb yield (kg/ha), total bulb yield (kg/plot) and total bulb yield (t/ha). The results showed that the mean squares for main factors of genotype and year as well as interaction of genotypes x year were significant for marketable bulb yield (kg/plot). The overall marketable yield range of the shallot varieties was from 256.56-171.49qtha -1 and the average number of splits per plants ranged from 8-4.72. Improved Minjar shallot variety showed its superiority in marketable bulb yield (kg/plot), total bulb yield (kg/plot) and total bulb yield (t/ha) yields as compared to other varieties. Therefore, as there was no significant yield advantage between these varieties from true seed study area, so the experiment could be repeated across locations to come up with good conclusion for recommendation.

Field experiment involving five improved onion (Allium cepa L.) varieties and carried out at Kulumsa Agricultural Research Center during the 2018 to 2019 cropping seasons under irrigated condition to identify the best performing variety for seed production to the target areas of Arsi Zone. The onion varieties included in the field experiment were (Nafis, Robaf, Nasic Red, Bombe Red, and Adama Red). The experimental design was a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Phenological and growth parameters, seed yield, and yield components were studied. The result showed that Variety had a significant effect on most phonological and growth attributes as well as on yield attributes. The number of days to flowering and vigorously were significantly affected by variety; while plant height, days to boolting and branch number was not significantly influenced by variety. Flower stalks height and diameter, number of umbel per plant, and umbel diameter also significantly affected by variety. Seed yield per umbel and mean seed yield per hectare also showed a significance difference among varieties. The highest seed yield per hectare (1415.89 kg/ha) was recorded from Adama Red and followed by Nafis variety, whereas Nasic rerd, Bombe red and Robaf show no significance difference among each other, Therefore, it can be concluded that use of the improved onion varieties such as Adama red and Nafis is advisable and could be appropriate for onion seed production in the test area even though further testing is required to put the recommendation on a strong basis.

The experiment was carried out under rain fed conditions for three consecutive years (2017–2019) from mid-June to mid-October at Bekoji and Kofele sub sites of Kulumsa Agricultural Research Center, Ethiopia by using improved varieties to identify superior genotypes. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The results of analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that the presence of significant (p<0.05) differences among genotypes for all traits studied. Analysis of variance revealed that location by year effect had highly significant difference at (p<0.01) for all traits except specific gravity which showed significant difference at (p<0.05). Treatment by location showed significant difference except stem number plant-1, total yield, and specific gravity. Treatment by year showed significant differences except for days to flowering. The highest marketable tuber yield was obtained from genotype CIP 395037.107 followed by variety Belete and CIP 395015.6 genotype. Simple correlation analysis revealed that total tuber yield showed strongly and positively significant correlation with average stem number plant-1, stem height and marketable yield. Thus, it could be concluded that genotypes, year and location variations as well as their interaction had considerable influence on tuber yield and the potato’s attributes. The significant interaction effects of genotypes, location, year and positive and strong association between total yield and other traits indicates the need to test potato genotypes over season and location in order to select stable and high yielder genotypes.