Evaluation of soybean varieties at Arbaminch zuria district of Gamo zone in southern Ethiopia

Abstract

The study was conducted using sixteen soybean varieties gained from Pawe Agricultural Research Center. The varieties were tested for yield and yield-related traits at Arbaminch zuria district during the 2017 and 2018 main production periods. The study was conducted by using a randomized complete block design with three replications. Variance analysis for the individual year on yield and yield component showed significant differences (p<0.05) among genotypes except for seeds per pod in the year 2018. During the 2017 cropping season, the highest yield was obtained from Gazale (1948 kgha-1) and Niyala (1922 kgha-1 whereas the lowest grain yield was obtained from AFGAT (956 kgh-1). While in 2018 Nova (1110 kgha-1), Dhedessaa (1050.9kgha-1) and Nyala (988.9 kgha-1) showed better yield than other tested varieties while the lowest grain yield was observed on Korme (504.6 kgh-1). The combined test for analysis of variance showed a significant differences among genotypes for grain yield and components of yeild exculding the number of seeds per pod. The highest plant height was recorded for AFGAT (107.7m) whereas the highest number of pods per plant was obtained from Jalale (61.03) followed by Dhedessaa (60.23). The maximum hundred seed weight was gained from Nyala (15.67g while the highest branch number was obtained from Jalale (4.2) and Gishima (4.1). Nyala and Gazale had the highest grain yield of 1455 kgha-1 and 1445 kgha-1, respectively, while AFGAT (819Kgha-1 had the lowest grain yield. The result obtained from Niyala (1455 kgh-1) and Gazale (1445kgh-1) gave better yields than other tested varieties. Therefore, varieties Nyala and Gazale can be recommended for the study area and areas with similar agro-ecologies for demonstration.