Evaluation of Mid Altitude Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) Variety at Siltie Zone, Southern Regional State of Ethiopia

Abstract

Sorghum is one of most vital crops cultivated over a wide extreme ecological habitat in Ethiopia. Five released Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) varieties with one local check were tested in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four replications during 2017 to 2018 cropping season at two locations. The experiment was carried out to identify and select the best high yielding sorghum varieties for the target area. The varieties consisted of Baji, Birmash, IS-9302, Dagim, Geremew and local check. Traits used were plant height, panicle length, thousand seed weight, grain yield and farmers’ preference level. The analysis of variance revealed significant (P<0.05) differences in the grain yield for those sorghum varieties at Silti and Hulbareg districts in the 2018. Variety Baji gave the highest grain yield among tested varieties at both locations, which gave grain yield (2322 kg/ha) advantage by 24.35% followed by Birmash (2235.96 kg/ha) by 21.44% over local check (1756.48 kg/ha) in 2017. In the year 2018 the same variety bits from all by grain yield and have yield advantage of 29.29% over local check (1641.30 kg/ha) at both locations. Varieties Baji (1^st), Birmash (2^nd) and IS-9302 (3^rd) were the highest and stable in grain yield across locations and Local was the (4^th) stable across environments. Direct matrix ranking showed that the variety Baji was preferred and ranked first followed by Birmash and Dagim, indicated they were the most preferred ones. Therefore, they are recommended to demonstrate with production packages in study areas and similar agro ecologies.