Registration of a New “Improved Huruta” Shallot Variety with True Seed Production Potential

Abstract: Shallot (Allium cepa var. ascalonicum Backer) is an important vegetable crop cultivated bysmallholder farmers for consumption and income generation in Ethiopia. However, scarcity of highyielding varieties as well as lack of superior planting material seriously constrains productivity of thecrop. The crop has degenerate seed production potential and it is usually established using bulbs. Theperishability of the fleshy planting material and its sheer bulkiness and predisposition to fungal andviral disease creates difficulties in handling the material. What is more, large quantities of bulbs arerequired to plant a relatively small area of land, which exacerbates the problem of shortage of plantingmaterial. Also it is the edible part of the plant that is used for planting, which compromises thepotential for consumption and marketing. Therefore, a research project was initiated aiming atproducing true seeds from the non-seed producing Huruta variety. A series of experiments wereconducted using the randomized complete block design to identify the appropriate planting date andplant growth hormone application (gibberellin acid, GA3) for bolting and seed production. As a result,the original non-seed producing Huruta variety was essentially improved for production of true seedsand bulb through seed-to bulb to seed selection method. Thus, a shallot (Allium cepa var. ascalonicumBacker) variety with the original name Huruta (DZ-SHT-91) was tested. The variety was evaluated forproduction of bulbs and true seeds over several years (2010 to 2017) at 12 different locations as wellas on fields of 28 farmers along with three onion varieties, namely, Adama Red, Bombay Red and Kelafohybrid as well as three shallot (Huruta produced from bulb, Atilase and Dz-94) varieties. Theperformance of the shallot variety was evaluated against commercial onion varieties propagated bytrue seeds to verify its stability and superiority for bulb and seed productions. The shallot variety wasmore stable over locations and years. It had an average true seed yield advantage of about 321% overthe three onion and shallot varieties. It had also average marketable bulb yield and marketable bulbweight advantages of 35 and 31%, respectively, over the three onion varieties. Therefore, this varietywas selected, verified, and declared as Improved Huruta shallot variety with potential of producing trueseed. Owing to its advantage over the tested commercial onion varieties for production of true seedsand bulb as well as many other superior bulb quality traits, this variety was approved for cultivation atmid and high altitude areas of eastern Ethiopia and similar agroecologies of the country. Therefore,the release of this new shallot variety will contribute to enhanced production of the crop not onlyowing to its high bulb yield but also because it affords farmers the opportunity to effectively andefficiently propagate the crop using true seed. Enhanced production of the cop will also lead toimproved farmers’ income and livelihoods