Evaluation of Field Pea (Pisum Sativum L) Genotypes Performance for Yield and Yield Components at Five Growing Environments of Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

Field experiments consisting of 24 field pea genotypes were evaluated for performance and correlation of yield and its components in five locations of Southern region, Ethiopia using a randomized complete block design with three replications during 2006/07. Data on some agronomical traits such as number of pods per plant, number of seeds per plant, number of seeds per pod, Harvest index, 100 seed weight, plant height, biological yield, and seed yield were recorded. Significant difference was observed in all locations among the field pea genotypes for grain yield. The top mean grain yield (2659 kg ha-1) over the locations was achieved by the genotype Gume followed by Milky (2625 kg ha-1), FpEx-Dz (2511 kg ha-1) and Weyyetu (2460 kg ha-1). Among the test locations maximum mean grain yield was produced at Angacha (3801.98 kg ha-1) followed by Hossana (2087.93 kg ha-1), Freeze (1734.96 t ha-1) and Waka (1428.8 kg ha-1). The mean seed yield and positive environmental indices value of the present study corroborated that Angacha was found to be a favourable environment for the majority of field pea genotypes. Combined analysis of variance (ANOVA) Genotype environment interaction (GEI) was highly significant for all traits of the study though; Markos, IG-51890 and IG-51700 identified to be stable for more than one trait and officially released variety should be demonstrated on farm for acceptability and two ‘pipe line ‘genotypes namely IG-51890 and IG-51700 for further evaluation in diverse environments of south Ethiopia. Strong positive correlation of number of seeds per plant, number of pods per plant, harvest index, biological yield and plant height with seed yield indicates that these traits should be used as selection criteria to improve grain yield.