Malt Barley (Hordeum distichon L.) varieties performance evaluation in North Shewa, Ethiopia

Abstract

Malt barley is the most important cereal crop grown in highland parts of Ethiopia. Even though Ethiopia has favorable environment and potential market opportunity, the share of malting barley production is quite low (about 15%) as compared to food barley. One reason for low production is the use of low yielding varieties. The present investigation was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications in Debre Berhan, Ethiopia, during 2015 and 2016 main cropping seasons to assess the performance of malt barley varieties for yield and yield related traits. Eight released and promising genotypes (Beka, EH1847, Bahati, Bekoji-01, Traveller, Holker, Sabini and Miskal-21) were evaluated. The mean square due to genotypes, year, and interaction effect were significant (P<0.05) for all traits studied except harvest index. Variety by year interaction effect also differed significantly for all characters except spike weight and harvest index. The highest yields were found from EH1847, Beka and Holker, (3.69, 3.53 and 3.72 ton/ha respectively) while the lowest yield (2.72 ton/ha) was recorded from Miskal-21. Variety EH1847 scored high yielding in both years hence, the use of either of EH1847 variety with full package for mass production in Debre Berhan and similar agroecology would increase malt barley production.  Key words: Evaluation, malt barley (Hordeum distichon L.), variety selection, yield, correlation.