On Farm Demonstration of Improved Malt Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) Varieties in Alicho Wuriro and Gumer Districts of SNNPRS, Ethiopia

Abstract

Farmers were provided with three improved malt barley varieties for demonstration at Alicho wuriro and Gumer districts of southern Ethiopia during the 2017 cropping season with the objective to demonstrate improved malt barley variety under farmer’s condition through their participation. A total of twelve farmers; six from each district were used for demonstration. Single plot with 10 m x 10 m size was used on each farmer’s field. The analysis of paired samples revealed there is highly significant difference (p<0.05) for location and among the varieties in grain yield. Grain yield ha^-1 had significant and positive correlation with spike length and highly significant and positive correlations with thousand grain weights (0.95). Control variety (IBON-174/03) showed percentage increase by 11.77 and 19 % in grain yield over Sabini and HB-1533 under similar management; the rank analysis indicated that IBON-174/03 was highly preferred by farmers in terms of seed color, early maturity and resistance to lodging under farmer’s condition. Therefore, IBON-174/03 was recommended for production at Alicho wuriro and Gumer districts and similar agro ecological conditions to improve malt barley production and productivity under smallholder farmers.

Keywords: Demonstration, malt barley, grain yield