Evaluation of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) variety performance in the lowlands area of wag lasta, north eastern Ethiopia

Abstract

Sorghum is the most important cereal crop in moisture deficit areas of eastern ethiopia. It is widely distributed throughout Ethiopia and it is the most important cereal in the lowland areas because of its drought tolerance. Eight released sorghum varieties were evaluated in four environments in the Wag-Hemra and Lasta in the main production season for two consecutive years (2016 and 2017). The objective of the trial was to identify high yielding sorghum varieties that possesse farmers preferred traits for production in both testing sites. The trial was conducted using a randomized complete block design with three replications. The GGE statistical model was used to analyze genotype by environment interaction and to assess the stability of sorghum variety for grain yield. A combined analysis of variance for grain yield and yield-related traits showed that the main effects of both genotypes and environments, and the interaction effect, were highly significant (P ≤ 0.001). The mean values of grain yield ranged from 1300 kg ha−1 (Dagim) to 2800 kg ha−1 (Melkam) with the overall mean values of 2100 kg ha−1. Based on the GGE biplot analysis, high yielding variety Melkam (2800 kg ha−1) showed better performance and stability across the test environments. In addition, the result of participatory variety selection (PVS) revealed that Melkam ranked first and second preferred sorghum variety in Lasta and Waghimira agro-ecologies, respectively. Therefore, we recommend Melkam for production in both agro-ecologies and similar areas of the country. This variety will play a role in enhancing farmers’ income through increasing grain yield, especially in the dry lowlands areas of Wag-himra and Lasta.